February 20, 2012

The FTC says I need to add this disclaimer to my blog: Some of the links that I post are affiliate links. However, please know that I only post something if I think it will be of help to others. I’m not a sell-out. Unless someone wants to pay me a million dollars.

Update: October 12, 2012

Apparently, these are the new FTC rules according to Jeff Hurt of Engage365:

According to the revised 2012 FTC Endorsement Guidelines, if a person receives money, product, discounts or services to promote and post about a product, that person must disclose the arrangement of compensation. When the person does not disclose that relationship, the FTC can take both the person and the organization to court.

Soooooooooooooo, here’s my disclosure:

My company is LivingOrder San Antonio. I promote anything related to our organizing and productivity services because that’s what businesses are supposed to do.

I wrote a book called Less Stress for Teachers. I promote the heck out of that for the reason listed above.

I serve on the expert panel at Clutter Diet. I am paid for the work I do there. I also signed up for their affiliate program. I believe in everything we do at Clutter Diet, so I encourage people to join. When someone signs up or purchases something from a Clutter Diet link I post, I receive a commission. If you love Clutter Diet, you can sign up for their affiliate program, too. [Note: This website closed on September 29, 2017, after nearly 11 years in business.]

As far as the products I blog about, if I am paid to endorse it, I will state it in the post. If I really like something, I will blog about it, whether I am paid or not. If that product is sold on Amazon, I post an affiliate link to that product, and I do make a small commission if someone buys that product. If I’ve discovered a new product I’d like to learn more about, but haven’t fully tried it out, I will state that in the post. I try my hardest to keep meanness and negativity out, so I refrain from posting negative reviews about specific products. If a company gives me a freebie to test drive and I hate it, I simply won’t talk about it. I also will not blog about products from companies which require that I get my blog post approved through them before posting. (You know who you are.)

I’m going to steal a line from the disclosure on the SA Busy Kids website and state that this policy is not retroactive.

Oh all powerful and omniscient FTC, if you require any more disclosure, please let me know now.