Federal Trade Commission

If you are an internet marketer you have probably heard over the last week or so about the new Federal Trade Commission’s new rules that will be going into effect very soon.  If you have not heard about the new FTC rulings you should do a quick google search and be sure to read the whole thing.  I will provide a link to the FTC page later too.  It is pretty vague so there are some interpretations of it out there.

WARNING DISCLAIMER ALERT

And before we start, I want to make the disclaimer that I am not a lawyer, do not claim to know how to be a lawyer, etc.  Everything is at your own risk (and not mine).  I am just a lowly internet and technology geek that does some Internet Marketing too.

There are really only a few things that will affect internet marketers but it WILL probably affect you if you sell stuff on the Internet.

Change #1:

First off, if you are an affiliate marketer, you now need to make it very clear that you are profiting from the sale or recommendation.  This will affect anyone that has an affiliate link on their site to any affiliate program.

I will try to find some sample disclaimers and post them up here.  I am sure there are probably a number of them out there by now.

Sample Disclaimer for blog posting with link to an affiliate link

Paste at the bottom of the blog entry:

“Note: In order to comply with FTC regulations, if you purchase (insert item name here) by clicking any of the links on this site, I will receive a commission from the product’s creator/manufacturer.”

Change #2:

The 2nd major change that the FTC is implementing deals with Testimonials.  If you have a testimonial that provides performance quotes like “Make 3X the money” or “I Made $1 Million with this program in just 4 days” you need to have a disclaimer that states that the results are not typical and what the typical results really are.  You should also have proof somewhere on your site that the outrageous claim is true.

So in the above example, lets look at it this way:

Testimonial:

“I Made $1 Million with this program in just 4 days, Joe – Dallas, TX”

* Results are not typical, the average person that buys this program and sticks it on a shelf while they lay on the couch watching TV and eating potato chips will make $0.  For details on Joe’s non typical success in just 4 days click here.

Now if your testimonials do not make claims like that are more of the flavor: “I love this program”, “Things are starting to look up since I purchased this program”, etc are fine.  They make no “claim” to success, etc but are more on the line of general well wishes.

Common Questions:

When does it go into affect? These changes go into effect on December 1st, 2009.

What is the penalty? Steep!  $11,000 per incident.

Do I really have to go and change all of my sites? Well, after December 1st, yes.  But any site or blog post that existed prior to December 1st, 2009 is exempt. (as of the time of this writing)

The FTC is putting together a FAQ and should be available on the FTC website in the near future.

Bottom Line:

Bottom line, if your being honest and using REAL information you should be able to back up the claims with proof.   Show the proof and provide the average and you will be just fine.

So, is the new FTC ruling something to be scared of?  I say no.  If you are an honest marketer that can back up the claims you are making then you should have no problems.  If you are making bogus claims then, you better start worrying.

You can read the vague details on the FTC website here: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm.  Just so you know, if you are writing about a product and creating a link to it you are considered an endorser and must divulge that you are getting some type of compensation for the referral.

It is amazing that these rules have not been updated since 1980.  A lot of things have changed since 1980, just think about it.  5MB hard drives were the size of cinder blocks in 1980.  The timex sinclair was the hot computer back then.  And to save a program you had to get your old tape recorder out and plug it into the computer and listen to the funny noises that were being recorded to that old button tape player.

*** If you learned something from my blog, your results are not typical. The average reader usually says, “I should have just watched tv”.  Absolutely nothing in this post should be considered legal or professional advice.  Seek the care and advice of a lucid person, preferably one that likes you.

Next Post: Special Thanks To Gary Ambrose and Keith Wellman

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