I have a short list of people that I will promote products for as well. I also have an even shorter list of people that I will buy products from too (if necessary, since I am pretty fortunate to have a lot of relationships where I tend to get a lot of freebies), but in instances where I do have pay for something, that list is VERY short. Even if I know the person, I still have to "test drive" the product before I promote it, there's nothing worse than recommending something and if someone asks you a question about it and you have NO clue what to answer. Plus, if you really LOVE the product it has a greater tendency to show in your sales pitch, more so than the standard "you gotta have this" pitch. I've also been changing my list this past year, because a few people I used to really love are not living up to the "hype". It also could be more of the fact that I am changing my own business dynamics and they're just not for me anymore.