Affiliate Disclosures and the FTC, Do I Need One?

Last Update: July 02, 2012
I just thought I would add some points about what the requirements are for having an Affiliate Disclosure.
According to the rules laid down by the FTC, there is a requirement that you need a page disclosing the fact that you are compensated in some way for the content you write about.

I live in the UK and I have Privacy Policy, Website Disclamer, Contact Me Page, 404 Error Page and a Site Map on most of my sites.
Now it seems I have to have an Affiliate Disclosure because several of the sites I own or are jointly owned have a .com at the end of the domain name.
This does not seem to be the case.
It is purely down to you making money via a commission payment after your visitor has read your review or post.
This is the only reason I can see for having one.

This is what the FTC say about certain aspects of the Affiliate Disclosure.
You can check this page out for yourself;
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs-revised-endorsement-guideswhat-people-are-asking

But here is what I think is more relevant.

1. There is no fine for not complying with an FTC guide.
2. We’re not monitoring bloggers and we have no plans to. If concerns about possible violations of the FTC Act come to our attention, we’ll evaluate them case by case. If law enforcement becomes necessary, our focus will be advertisers, not endorsers – just as it’s always been.

Also on the that same page it clearly says that you should not need to pay for a Disclosure to be created for you.
Plus it should not necessarily be a separate page stuck in the sidebar mixed in with the rest of the Pages.
But should be in plain view on every Post or Page that has a link on where you are likely to be paid a commission.
That is the important bit above.

How do I do this then?
There is a plugin that can add custom text into your Footer.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-post-footer/

And you could say something like this;
(Note: I got this from somewhere else and did not create it)

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s
16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials.”

But the one I really like which you could just copy and paste into any page or post as you are creating them is this;

Affiliate Disclosure - I am an Affiliate of many products promoted on this website and may earn a commission if you purchase something.

You can alter that to how you want but if that Post has an Affliate Link on then it should have a short sentence informing your readers.

If you have other posts which don't have any affiliate links in then you do not require a confession.

My Conclusion

I am not going to bother with the separate page or add yet another plugin.
I will just stick to the simple and plain message at the end of my Posts, which according to the FTC is sufficient.

Cheers

Neil
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anindochk Premium
Sometimes, we as bloggers do cross the line and promote every jack and Jill from the market. I think, the Affiliate Disclosure wouldn't do any harm for us.
Bigman Premium
I can see where they are coming from with this but this has been around for years.
I just don't understand why they have to be such a pain with it.
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