What are the risks of being an affiliate? (4)
Hello, may i know what are the risks of being an affiliate as an individual? (For example, should i be worried about copyright infringements?)
Also, would there be any advantages of registering a company (limited liability) in any case as compared to an individual?
Depends on what you do 
As for copyrights, almost all affiliates break them from time to time and most never face any trouble.
But the risk is there, so in order to minimize possible risks, play it as safe as possible.
Using an image of some unknown person is likely to result in less trouble than working with images of high level celebritites. There were cases where celebs sued affiliates and the results can be nasty in case they prove you damaged their image somehow. They are also likely to go after those who can afford to pay a hefty some, rather then chasing a lonely affiliate in some tier-3 country... so if you ever receive any cease&desist request, for example, comply with it without thinking further
There is a ton of royalty free image resources that you can explore for content too, many of them have good images that you can use. I wrote an article about this some time ago, so some of the sources listed might not work anymore, but worth a read for sure: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...s-2017-Edition
Registering a LTS company might help or not, depending on the laws in your country. For example, where I live, you as the owner of an LTD still hold liability for what the company does, it's not like you can generate a hude debt in the name of the company and then run with the money... same for any unlawful activity, you're still held responsible as someone had to make the decision and sign the contracts.
Having a company has it's advantages though, being able to register for VAT is one of the biggest ones. As a VAT registered EU company you don't have to pay VAT on the purchases from EU companies, for example from traffic networks. If you do this as an individual, you'd actually start by losing around 20% dues to the VAT charges, because they would have to charge it to you.
Thank you for the detailed explanation
Other than the copyright issue, are there any other risks involved in doing affiliate marketing to be aware of? In fact, where i live, income tax is quite similar for both personal and company. Next, I will check if i could apply for the VAT, as I am not based in EU. A company might be safer in case of any issues, since the liabilities would be limited to what was put into the company, as its a separate legal entity. Just that there will be alot more paperwork involved in operating with a company. So i was thinking if there is not much risk, i could just operate as an individual. Do most affiliate(solo) operate as individuals?
Originally Posted by evohatch
Other than the copyright issue, are there any other risks involved in doing affiliate marketing to be aware of? In fact, where i live, income tax is quite similar for both personal and company. Next, I will check if i could apply for the VAT, as I am not based in EU. A company might be safer in case of any issues, since the liabilities would be limited to what was put into the company, as its a separate legal entity. Just that there will be alot more paperwork involved in operating with a company. So i was thinking if there is not much risk, i could just operate as an individual. Do most affiliate(solo) operate as individuals?Is there anything to watch out for? Is applying common sense enough?
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