I get a lot of legal questions from affiliates about a ton of different issues.
A lot of them are really good questions that should be addressed. – But not by me
So I talked to the legal council of the biggest affiliate companies in the world and asked if they would take your questions. They agreed.
So fire away!
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2473 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
1) I have seen a lot of “free” advertisements for products like teeth whiting products. I see you have to pay for shipping and then within a few weeks if you don’t cancel you get billed for like $70.00. Is this legal? Is this ethical?
2) I know a specific web hosting affiliate that is shaving. I know because it was a friend that signed up and he still has hosting with this specific company. The hosting company gave me some BS about the sale getting reversed but it’s total crap. They are screwing people, what should I do?
Awesome! I do have a question. I’m creating two sites (2 totally different topics..one is mine and the other for fiance) for affiliate marketing. Can I create an LLC and put different sites under the same LLC? or Can I put them under my company’s LLC? That would be great…Thanks!!!!!!!!!
I keep throwing around the idea of creating an LLC as my affiliate marketing business. Every time I sign up for an affiliate program I have to give out my social security number and that makes me a little nervous. What are the other benefits as an affiliate marketer of becoming an LLC vs me staying as an non-LLC individual. Thanks.
I also created an LLC for my affiliate business to shield myself from liability just in case. You can then apply for an EIN and begin using that instead of your SS when setting up accounts with networks. If you want to set up a bank account for your LLC, I believe they require a EIN.
Currently i am not doing any kind of affiliate marketing but interested in knowing the legal affairs of it.
“The legal affairs of it”….that’s a great question. ha.
I want to know, legally speaking, why Scott Richter has been put in Jail yet.
Of all the people that spam like he does, he is the only one still up and running, how?
Besides the fact his father is his legal council.
Traditionally, the Federal Trade Commission has used their authority to close down sellers of business opportunities which fail to have a disclosure document.
People who sell online business opportunities have not been targeted by the FTC, so far.
Does your legal counsel think that the FTC is about to use their new business opportunity rule to shut down/get fines from those marketing affiliate programs as biz ops?
Is it possible for an affiliate making $500 a month on Acai Berry rebill offers to get fined $100,000 by some crazy state AG with the possibility of jail time?
Can an affiliate in Canada be charged for Pushing acai with no t&c ?
What legal obligations do you have as the offer publisher to ensure your affiliates follow can spam in promoting your offer?
Do any of the affiliate networks who you represent and or serve as council use a “non compete clause” with all of their employees?
a. If the answer is yes, do they terminate the employee when caught running a web site “on the side”?
b. If the anser is NO, why not?
Background: Thier have been a number of cases over the years where an employee of a given affiliate company has used her/his knowledge of top earning affiliates to exstract the relavent data, use it on their own site, and enrich themeselves. I am VERY familiar with the CJ incidence a number of years ago where the employess were asked to stop with their own sites but they chose to resgin instead. I am familiar with other cases in great detail but can’t go into them because I’m under an NDA.
Thank you in advance.
If someone wants to sue me, go for it. I’m so broke and still can’t make money online. If you sue me I will give you all my debt in the settlement. If I get sent to the prison I will finally will get 3 square meals a day and free healthcare. I’m not afraid of dropping the soap, no one will want to tag this old ass.
I started my affiliate business in Canada and then moved to usa, but all accounts and everything else is still under canadian address. Do I have to change everything to usa and pay taxes here?
How can we know if the that company is really paying their affiliates?
Yeah, Now A Days there are lots and lots of questions are being asked while signing up for any Affiliate Programs, It’s a very big process and I do not like it at all.
Are there any special considerations for affiliates in highly regulated industries like financial services and health care?
a. if i was starting an affiliate marketing company today, what state should i be based out of? ie. what is the most “affiliate friendly” state to be running an affiliate marketing business in?
b. what is the most “affiliate friendly” corporation type? (ie. LLC, s-corp?)
Not commenting on this, but I ran across a pots from 3 years ago regarding 20 million keywords. Can you tell me where you purchased them? I am looking for a current copy.. Thank You
I purchased search.com’s database of all searches done for a couple years… stripped them out into single words (lots of typos and mispellings) then uploaded that.
Most of the biggest adult sites have advertisements like “Join Facebook of Sex” , “Adult Facebook” etc ..
Since Facebook is a registered trademark, is this actually allowed? I have even seen advertisements on which they use different random photos of well known people
Regards
Can setting up blogs where you advertise an offer “in their words” meaning no BS added put you in trouble?
Meaning “acai berry” for example, you take the text from their site, reword it, optimize your page and send them to another site when they are ready and if the advertiser is not doing it the best way, can you get in trouble if advertiser does?
Can you elaborate a little on ftc requirements now and in the months to come on using testimonials in affiliate promotions?
Trademarked Key Words If You Get a C&D Should You Just Turn Over The Domain ?
Downloading Videos From Youtube,Viemo, ECT then uploading them with a watermark to your Youtube ACCT. Any lawsuits for this?
Second making a video and using oprah or DR OZ for the Acai Berry Product then uploading to video sites? Any Law Suits for this or would they just C&D & report the video
I operate under an LLC. When utilizing a brand name domain to push a company’s own product though a third party publisher (amazon, ebay) am I really at risk for damages should there be a problem?
My understanding of this is that regardless of what you’re model is, your LLC protection will only hold up if you make sure to run your business as a distinct entity. That means taking steps to make sure your business is separate from you as an individual, such as having a LLC Operating Agreement in place. This will show that you’ve put thought into how you run your business and time to create processes for your business. Also, getting a separate bank account for the business and not co-mingling personal and business funds etc.
Is it legal to promote illegal products? I mean if I am in a country which bans sex toys, can I promote the product (which is of a US company?)
I’m currently operating my affiliate marketing company as an LLC based in California. I’m the only employee of my company, but I’m curious of what I should be doing to best take advantage of the tax benefits of being an LLC. This is probably a question better suited for a CPA, but is there any tried methods, write-offs, profit/loss reporting, I should be using to lower my taxable income as an LLC or sole proprietor? I’m not looking for anything kinky, only above board, creative methods. Thanks.
Hi,
Can i as a resident of buffalo NY, promote online casinos?
BM
I want to give away a whole bunch of free stuff on one of my websites.
I have a (legit, aweber) email list, and I want to send everyone an email that says “The first 5 people to email me back, get (blablabla product) for free!”. It would be a physical product that I would need their address for.
No harm in that, right? Of course there is. I’m sure somebody could pin my ass to the wall for something or other. What would that something or other be?
Do I need terms that say “you can’t sue me if this pair of Nike shoes doesn’t make you run faster”, or something like that?
Really though…
I join to the question about special regulations for healthcare and finance.
p.s. thanks for the opportunity to ask questions
I’m curious if anyone can advise on where I can find a basic contract for lead gen for a merchant. I’m looking to do some lead gen and would feel better about having a document with the specifics outlined, rather than relying on a phone conversation or an email.
In terms of other available free legal docs, such as NDA, Operating Agreements, etc, it would be nice to have a resource folder here at Shoemoney. Is that a possibility?
We are going to start a coupon site/deal site. The images that are used in displaying the deals, where do you get them from? I was told get it from the merchants site, for example a notebook computer from dell, get image from Dell’s site. Is that fine?
Many companies ask their affiliates not to bid on their keywords in PPC… fair enough.
Can they force you to put their brand terms in your negative keywords to prevent you from showing up for their brand as a broad match?
Thanks!
If I offer a website with informational articles, and one of the articles deals with advice relating to pregnancy / folic acid / etc, am I required to post a disclaimer that the articles on my site are for informational purposes only and to seek a doctor or call 911 in an emergency? Or can I assume that my readers are not going to sue me for the information being presented?
As a Canadian, will the revenues I make from affiliate marketing via ebay contextural results, google adsense, commission junction, etc, be taxable? If yes, what loopholes are available to me so that I can retain as much of the money generated from the business as possible?
Do I need to register a business name? If not, is it still a good idea to register one, and if so, should it be a LLC?
What are the legal ramifications of posting false information? ie. flogs, fake papers, etc.
I recently got an email from Amazon requesting transfer of a domain that used an Amazon trademark, I was happy to comply. But, what’s the worst that could happen, can a company sue for damages? Has this ever happened?
Assuming I buy “somegreatebookreadersite.com”, am I allowed to discuss a product on a dedicated blog without fear of trademark dispute, the site will not use the trademark name but it will discuss the product at length? Does the trademark holder have any cause for complaint given I am just discussing the product fairly and not passing myself off as the company?
Does this vary massively between countries? I am in the UK. How does this work on an international level?
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