HubPages Removed My Affiliate Link Disclaimers in Hubs

1. 84

   Life and Luxuryposted 5 years ago

   Amazon Associates has two disclaimer requirements for listing affiliate links. One disclaimer has to be listed somewhere on your account for the public to see. Another has to be listed not far out of range from each link.
   
   The second type of disclaimer I refer to should say something like, "I might earn a commission from links".
   
   Amazon has been known to delete Affiliate accounts for not following the rules. My question is why would HubPages delete Amazon disclaimers when it is part of being in compliance with one of our earnings programs?
   
   How can I get these disclaimers back in the hubs without getting them removed?

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   1. 89

      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Because it's already on the page.
      
      "HubPages and Hubbers (authors) may earn revenue on this page based on affiliate relationships and advertisements with partners including Amazon, Google, and others."
      
      Amazon won't delete your account.

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      1. 84

         Life and Luxuryposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         @theraggededge
         
         I just saw this in the footer for each page. Thanks.

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      2. 79

         samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Like @theraggededge said, the footer at the bottom is enough!

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         1. 84

            Marketing Meritposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry Samantha, but I am inclined to disagree.
            
            For those who may not have seen it, the relevant parts of the Amazon email are as follows:
            
            To meet the Associate Program's requirements, you must (1) include a legally compliant disclosure with your links and (2) identify yourself on your Site as an Amazon Associate with the language required by the Operating Agreement.
            
            To comply with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations, your link-level disclosure must be:
            
            1. Clear. A clear disclosure could be as simple as “(paid link)”, “#ad” or “#CommissionsEarned”.
            
            2. Conspicuous. It should be placed near any affiliate link or product review in a location that customers will notice easily. They shouldn’t have to hunt for it.
            
            In addition, the Operating Agreement requires that the following statement clearly and conspicuously appears on your Site: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”
            
            The FTC want the disclosure as close as possible to the affiliate link. While most agree this is impractical, there are concerns regarding sidebar and footer disclosures as the reader may reach the affiliate link first and/or not scroll down far enough to see the disclosure.

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2. 95

   Susana Sposted 5 years ago

   Hubpages needs to take a look at this because Amazon is actively toughening up. Recently, Amazon has been sending out warnings to website owners who don't have affiliate disclaimers clearly visible *before* the affiliate link (most people put them at the very beginning of the post). Some who didn't see the warning email have been dropped.

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   1. 84

      Marketing Meritposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      This is on my ‘to do’ list for today. Am looking at a free Wordpress plugin for my websites called Ad Inserter. The settings allow you to automatically insert disclosure text at the top of each post.
      As you say Susana, footer disclaimers are no longer deemed sufficient.

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         theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I keep mine in the sidebar where it is visible on every page

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I wasn't even aware of this.  I would think the team would take care of this, but will email them a link to this forum to inform them just in case. Thanks.

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3. 92

   Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

   I need to do this as well on my other site. So far, no problems with Amazon.

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4. 92

   Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

   Thank you, Samantha!

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   1. 79

      samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      That being said, our product team is looking into updating how we message the use of affiliate links across all of Maven properties including HubPages. For now, please don't add individual disclaimers. We will come up with a universal solution. Stay tuned for updates!

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      1. 84

         Life and Luxuryposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         samanthacubbison,
         
         Thanks for providing this direction.

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5. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   Even if they decide the footer is not enough, they would take that up with Hubpages rather then individual users.

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   1. 84

      Life and Luxuryposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Your statement makes me feel positive. I hope so, Psyche.

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6. 70

   makingamarkposted 5 years ago

   It struck me ages ago that HubPages seemed to be rather out of sync with the fact that Amazon has caught up with the Federal Regulations on disclosure of affiliate links (i.e. this is not conspicuous disclosure at Amazon's insistence - this is an FTC requirement!)
   
   READ
   1) https://www.privacypolicies.com/blog/ft … isclosure/
   2) https://www.privacypolicies.com/blog/ft … onspicuous particularly relevant re "clear and conspicuous"
   
   "the FTC decided that if you were getting paid to endorse a product, but didn't let people know that you were getting paid, you are deceiving them."
   
   and
   
   "Same Screen
   The best placement, from the standpoint of proximity, is to have the disclosure on the same screen as the triggering claim.
   
   With affiliate marketing, often there is not a single word or phrase that fully constitutes a "triggering claim," but rather a large piece of content. If there is any single word or phrase that can be considered the "trigger" for disclosure, it is the affiliate ad link - the hyperlink that actually leads to a sale process.
   
   Ideally, the hyperlink and the disclosure should appear together on the same screen.
   
   Scrolling
   It is common, especially in the case of blog posts, for affiliate marketers to assume that a disclosure at the end of a post is sufficient, even ideal.
   
   The problem with that is the user is required to scroll to the bottom of the blog post to see the disclosure, while the triggering links are actually contained within the body of the post. It is highly likely that the user will decide whether or not to click on the links before making it to the bottom of the page (if, indeed, the user even gets that far, which is not certain).
   
   Therefore, the FTC generally does not consider "below-the-fold" disclosures sufficient.
   
   Instead, place your disclosure at the top of the blog post. This can be a detailed explanation of your relationship with the brand or product, but it can also be a very simple word or phrase, like:
   
   Ad
   Sponsored Post
   Please note: This post contains affiliate links."
   
   So what's so difficult about putting the disclosure at the top or next to each link?
   
   Or, alternatively - putting it another way -
   * how hefty are the fines? and
   * who is due to pay them if the FTC decide a site is not disclosing affiliate links in an appropriate way - and HubPages removed those included by the site creator?

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