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About Us

About us

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Welcome to news.com.au checkout where you will find shopping information and inspiration brought to you by Australia’s number one news website, news.com.au.

news.com.au checkout is the go-to place for Australian shoppers to find trusted, authoritative and straightforward shopping advice and information on buying everything from laptops to beauty serums.

Our aim is to help Australians navigate the endless aisles of the internet and be the most trusted online shopping and discovery source for all Australians.

Our experience

In May 2020 news.com.au launched ‘Best Of’, a shopping section that quickly became popular with Australian shoppers looking for news.com.au’s recommendations on sales, deals and product roundups. In September 2023 we launched our expanded shopping and recommendation site – news.com.au checkout – bringing you more shopping content and recommendations with an improved shopping experience. Since then the team have tested, reviewed, researched and written about thousands of products and are adding more every day so chances are you’ll find information you are looking for.

We will let you know if a rice cooker has a dishwasher safe bowl (a major plus in our books) or if a robot vacuum cleaner can actually navigate around furniture (some are better than others).

We’ve tested coffee machines, activewear, vitamin c serums, air purifiers, eReaders and massage guns and many more products for your home and life. We go deep, often reading product manuals, combing through customer reviews – good and bad – or talk to experts about what to look for – the features that will make your life easier (refer to above dishwasher safe comment) and the ones you are likely to never use.

Why trust us

Our team of expert writers has years of experience writing about the products that make your home and life better and their goal is to help you find the right product with the help of our hands-on reviews, shopping guides and advice.

Our content is based on a range of different types of research – the team’s first-hand experience with products, hours of research (ever wondered who reads those product manuals? That’s us), scouring through pages and pages of consumer reviews, or information and advice from experts we trust.

Over the years, thousands of readers have used our guides to help them find the best product for their needs and our goal is always to provide the most relevant and trusted product and shopping information to Australian shoppers.

Our expertise

Our team of specialist shopping writers really know their stuff.

Consumer tech writer Lauren Chaplin has been reviewing and writing about laptops, mobile phones, headphones and gadgets for more than five years. She’s a former finalist in the Australian IT Journalism Awards and is an expert in simplifying the often complex jargon around tech products (what is the RAM and how much do I need?)

Shopping writer Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito previously worked as a content producer for comparison site Canstar Blue and spent her days learning what Australian shoppers really think by translating detailed national survey data into hundreds of highly respected consumer ratings – helping shed light on how well brands offer value for money and more.

Read all about the expert news.com.au checkout team

How we test and review products

When a product is tested, we keep it real. That’s why you will see plenty of before and after pictures of the team using a product in their own homes. As soon as the product is out of the box we are checking to see how complicated it is to assemble and set up, are the instructions easy to follow, does it take up a lot of space on our benchtops, is it noisy, fiddly to clean, hard to store and most importantly does it actually do what it’s meant to. From this we create an easy to read list of pros and cons and a more detailed What you Need to Know section.

To find out if a serum really delivers glowy skin, we try it ourselves. The same goes for moisturisers, mascaras and the hair products and tools we put to the test.

How we find our experts

As well as the expertise of the news.com.au checkout team, you will also find invaluable advice from industry leaders. Experts like former Food Director at taste.com.au Kim Coverdale, who has more than 25 years of experience in food publishing. Who better to give advice on what to look for when buying a kitchen appliance and share which one she owns?

Then there is Alex Kidman, an award-winning technology journalist and former editor at CNET, Gizmodo, PC Mag Australia, APC and Finder. You will want to read his laptop buying guide before getting a new one.

In addition to our go-to experts, we also search out and interview authorities in sleep, outdoors and adventures and even sexual wellness.

How we pick products and retailers

We pick products from well-known and reputable brands that are known for reliability, good customer service and that can be easily sourced by Australian shoppers. There is always a range of products in different sizes, styles and price points because we know the “best” product for you will differ depending on your particular needs and budget.

We link to many of Australia’s best-known brands and retailers and international sellers. When you click on or buy a product through one of our links we may receive a commission from the retailer.

Commission disclosure

Our shopping articles are free to read and share. We may receive payments for publishing our content and commissions when you purchase through links in articles. We receive it only if you don’t return the product.

How do I get in touch with the news.com.au checkout team?

We’d love to hear from you! Please send us any feedback, questions or your own amazing product recommendations the news.com.au checkout team should know about here: checkout@news.com.au

Meet the team

Hannah Paine

An experienced news and lifestyle journalist, for the past 10 years Hannah has written for some of Australia’s most popular titles including the The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail Australia and The Sydney Morning Herald. She joined news.com.au in 2018 and has covered everything from beauty and fashion to health and homewares – you name it, she’s written it. She is obsessive about testing new products and sharing her first-hand experiences with Australian shoppers and believes good skincare and clothes shouldn’t cost the earth.

Melody Teh
Melody TehDeputy Editor

Melody has more than a decade’s experience in lifestyle media, previously holding senior editorial roles at Mamamia. She loves nothing more than trialling and reviewing the latest fashion, beauty, health and home products to help you decide if it’s worth spending your hard-earned money. When she’s not searching for the best bargains at work, she’s either on TikTok and Instagram getting easily influenced to buy the latest viral product or whiling away the hours online shopping from the comfort of her couch.

Marina Tatas
Marina TatasShopping writer

Marina has been helping Australian shoppers find products that are actually worth buying for more than five years. Since joining news.com.au’s shopping team in 2021, she has become an expert in sales and deals and curates news.com.au checkout’s must-read weekly shopping and deals article. For the past five years, she has covered mega sale events like Black Friday and Boxing Day, sifting through hundreds of deals to find the biggest discounts on the products worth adding to cart. She is also passionate about all things beauty having tested hundreds of serums, eye creams and moisturisers to provide first-hand reviews. She has previously worked at comparison site Finder as a Shopping Writer and has written for popular titles including Marie Claire, Women’s Health and The Carousel.

Susannah Hardy
Susannah HardyParenting Shopping Writer

Susannah loves nothing more than finding great deals to help make life easier for parents. She has written extensively on all things parenting for publications such as Practical Parenting, Babyology and Tell Me Baby and has worked for Finder, reporting on best buys for families. Susannah is a busy mum of two fast-growing girls, and uses her work finding the best products at the right price in her daily life.

Harriet Amurao
Harriet AmuraoShopping writer

Harriet knows a lot about helping Australian shoppers find the exact product they’re looking for. She started her career at popular fashion website Showpo where she analysed thousands of fashion pieces (how stretchy is that dress?, are those linen pants see-through?) to create the detailed product descriptions online shoppers rely on. She joined the news.com.au checkout team in 2022 and spends every day scouring the web for deals to share and new products to test and review. She’s always on the lookout for new trends and the dupes that are just as good as the expensive version. When she isn’t working, she’s most likely being influenced into buying trending TikTok products or gushing over her dogs.

Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito
Tahnee-Jae Lopez-VitoShopping Writer

Tahnee-Jae has years of reviewing experience, specialising in all the appliances and products that can help improve your home and life. From finding the best budget sheets to the mattresses that can help you get a better night’s sleep, she does all of the research to save you time and money.She previously worked as a content producer for one of Australia’s top comparison sites Canstar Blue, where she spent her days learning what Australian shoppers really think by translating detailed national survey data into hundreds of highly respected consumer ratings – helping shed light on how well brands offer value for money and more.Armed with a Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the Queensland University of Technology, she knows that detail matters and is dedicated to creating in-depth shopping guides to help you find the right product.

Philippa Tonkin
Philippa TonkinShopping writer

Philippa started her career at Vogue Australia before joining the news.com.au checkout team in 2022. She is passionate about finding and recommending fashion items that are great quality and value, ensuring you can wear them for years and save money in the long run. Her interest in skincare came from first-hand experience of searching for the best products for acne-prone skin and trying a long list of products in the process. Since joining the team she has tested everything from hair tools to jeans (spoiler alert: she loved them both). She is always on the lookout for the next viral TikTok trend to put to the test.

Stephanie Yip
Stephanie YipeCommerce Travel Writer

Stephanie loves to stretch her dollars on everything travel – from hotels to suitcases – and is always excited to share her knowledge of hacks and bargains so others can get more bang for their holiday buck. She was previously the Travel and Shopping Editor at Finder and has been featured in Travel Weekly, KarryOn and The Guardian. Stephanie can’t resist a good flight sale, is a stickler for travelling as light as possible (sorry books, hello Kindle) and is currently navigating how to travel with a toddler.

Lauren Chaplin
Lauren ChaplinConsumer Technology Writer

Lauren is a consumer tech expert with five years’ experience in reviewing and writing about laptops, mobile phones, headphones, televisions and all the gadgets that make our lives easier. A former finalist in the Australian IT Journalism Awards, she previously worked at comparison site Finder as the Senior Shopping Writer where she reported on everything from tech gadgets to the latest home products. When she’s not busy testing new tech products, you’ll find her road testing the latest game releases. Prior to starting her career in journalism, she completed a Bachelor of journalism at the University of South Australia and worked as a media advisor for JB Hi-Fi where she sold the very products she now writes about.

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/checkout/about-us