Hi, this is Meranda with Angie's List.
Thanks for the question. Service providers can not pay to be on the List. However, after receiving and maintaining high reviews from members, A- or B-rated service providers are given the opportunity to pay to advertise on the List and potentially reach more customers by offering discounts, such as through the monthly magazine, Big Deal offers or coupons, as long as they maintain an overall rating of B or better. If a provider’s rating falls below a "B" or if they fail to respond to our Complaint Resolution team, we will revoke their advertising privileges and remove their coupons from the magazine and AngiesList.com.
Advertising is just an option for highly rated companies and doesn't affect their grades — in fact many highly rated and Super Service Award winning companies are not advertisers.
Thanks for the question!
Source: https://support.angieslist.com/app/an...