Not sure to whom the "paid for reviews" comment was directed to, but as far as I know manufacturers do supply the item to be reviewed to BPL however there is no stated or implied condition that the review has to be positive.
In fact you will find several negative comments about many items reviewed there.
What is true is that there used to be more in both quantity and depth reviews than there are now.
Another site, OutdoorGearLab actually buy the items they review with some exceptions but not many.
I know for a fact, for example, that they bought at the standard price the tents from us (Tarptent)