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The FTC Guidelines for Bloggers & Online Disclosures to Change on December 1st will require saying specifically that if someone click on a link, the owner of the link (blog, website, etc) earn affiliate fees.
How does it relates to Zazzle? Does anyone know? Can someone from Zazzle comment on this please?
Thanks
Moshe
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Groups: Member
Joined: 5/11/2009
Posts: 172
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I think you summarized it perfectly. If you offer an affiliate link to Zazzle you must disclose that it is a paid link.
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Groups: Member
Joined: 9/4/2009
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..so much for free enterprise...sigh...
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Groups: Member
Joined: 5/11/2009
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You are suggesting that honesty interferes with free enterprise? Is that a bad thing?
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I don't see how that would effect Zazzle, because you don't get paid when someone clicks the link, you get paid if someone clicks the link and then buys something.
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Joined: 3/26/2007
Posts: 319
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It is absolutely critical that each person read the guidelines for themselves http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdfSeriously do NOt rely on what someone else says or discusses. It is going to be very expensive to go wrong at "guessing" what is required. AFTER having read the actual guidelines, then some time reading discussions might be useful. But don't start with those discussions because you may miss what is critical to your situation. http://artlicensingblog.com/
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Joined: 8/20/2008
Posts: 40
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I'm not sure but the FTC guidelines applies only to "endorsements" and "testimonials" Here is the guidelines, if you want to read it http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdf
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 10/19/2007
Posts: 1,635
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GLManley wrote:thepapershoppe wrote:I'm not sure but the FTC guidelines applies only to "endorsements" and "testimonials"
That is what I heard when I saw a story about this on the news. Of course, we all need to educate ourselves as this does not apply the same to one as it does to another. Much of this is geared towards bloggers or people who provide "testimonials" for a product or service when they are receiving compensation in doing so. There is probably a fine line of difference between the above mentioned and someone who has a blog and talks about recipes for the holidays and provides links to places where holiday gifts can be purchased. I agree that we all need to educate ourselves as to how this will affect us individually so thanks for posting this useful information!
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 12/9/2008
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You can read more about it here.... Federal Trade Commission
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 12/9/2008
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Groups: Member
Joined: 5/7/2009
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I also question the authority the FTC has over anyone who are not American. I'm Canadian, can I get fined for not disclosing that I could get paid if you click my link and buy something? (which I still don't agree is what the guidelines say, and yes, I did read them)
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Groups: Member
Joined: 8/20/2008
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katieryn wrote:I also question the authority the FTC has over anyone who are not American. I'm Canadian, can I get fined for not disclosing that I could get paid if you click my link and buy something? (which I still don't agree is what the guidelines say, and yes, I did read them) That's where it gets complicated. What if you are Canadian and the complainant is a US Citizen. It's difficult to police the internetz.
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 11/30/2007
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http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=124764&highlight=FTCCheck out the thread above for info on the FTC ruling in this affiliate forum. It answers lot of questions.
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 11/30/2007
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Here is a sample Disclosure Policy posted at http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=124764&page=2&pp=25&highlight=FTC For those of you who are not members, it is copied below and intended for blogs. Sample Disclosure Policy This policy is valid from 09 October 2009
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content will always be identified.
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Joined: 9/22/2009
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Location: Thornhill
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thanks everyone for the great response.
It's important to educate ourselves, true, but in the same time, I think it will be responsible of Zazzle to tell us what the guidelines should be.
- How it effects sellers that are not in the US, but we are still selling on Zazzle.com which is US based.
- How it effects all the rf links we are spreading around the internet.
- How it effects referrals between Zazzle stores
- How it effects all other promotional marketing efforts done everywhere, mainly Squidoo but in other places too (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc). How do you put a disclaimer in a Twitter message?
etc.
I am asking Zazzle to let us know as a community that will help each other. We shouldn't be alone here to figure this out....
Thanks
Moshe
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Location: Lake Norman Area
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malibuitalian wrote:GLManley wrote:thepapershoppe wrote:I'm not sure but the FTC guidelines applies only to "endorsements" and "testimonials"
That is what I heard when I saw a story about this on the news. Of course, we all need to educate ourselves as this does not apply the same to one as it does to another. Much of this is geared towards bloggers or people who provide "testimonials" for a product or service when they are receiving compensation in doing so. There is probably a fine line of difference between the above mentioned and someone who has a blog and talks about recipes for the holidays and provides links to places where holiday gifts can be purchased. I agree that we all need to educate ourselves as to how this will affect us individually so thanks for posting this useful information! I knew I had posted in here! I must have deleted it without paying attention!
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Joined: 6/13/2008
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DogsOnly wrote:I think you summarized it perfectly. If you offer an affiliate link to Zazzle you must disclose that it is a paid link. My legalese is horrible. Does it mean each link must have a disclosure, or that I need to make a statement on the site that there are affiliate links on the site?
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Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 932
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So people with websites have to swear they're not going to be dishonest about what's on their site. If they were going to be dishonest about it, what's going to keep them from being dishonest in the disclosure statement? Once again, gov't fail.
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 2/28/2005
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Location: Cleveland
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Softproduct wrote:DogsOnly wrote:I think you summarized it perfectly. If you offer an affiliate link to Zazzle you must disclose that it is a paid link. My legalese is horrible. Does it mean each link must have a disclosure, or that I need to make a statement on the site that there are affiliate links on the site? I've put the disclosure in my blogs and will reword it to add to my domains in a tab or the sidebar just to cover myself. It may be overkill, but I feel more comfortable addressing it than ignoring it. There are many opinions out there on this topic and until the muddy waters clear, I've taken the above steps.
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