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Can affiliate marketers be held accountable for the products they promote? (9)

05-24-2020 03:07 PM #1 wisdompower (Veteran Member)
Can affiliate marketers be held accountable for the products they promote?

If a given product runs into legal issues and a user sues the product owner for any damages the product caused, can we as affiliates be held accountable for promoting the product?

05-25-2020 10:38 AM #2 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Usually it's the product owner who get's the heat, since they are the ones who handle billing and deliver the product. But in case of large scale scams, the regulators might decide to come after those who do the promotions too, especially if it looks like an organized operation.. but the chances of getting into trouble are fairly low for a small affiliate who just runs ads and uses affiliate links.

To give you an example, I mentioned it in some other thread, we had a case with gambling here in my country... they banned unregistered gambling and the officials fined even people who just registered gambling domains and promoted these unregistered casinos on their sites... it was a pretty rare example for sure, but as you can see, it CAN happen.

05-26-2020 01:29 PM #3 dr_ngo ()

100% yes.

1. John Chow has a judgement against him for $3.5 million for being an affiliate of MOBE. Other MOBE affiliates were sued as well.

2. Sandra Bullock and Ellen Degeneres sued 100+ different affiliate marketers for falsifying their endorsement of affiliate products

3. More affiliates being sued for being affiliates of health and beauty products

Affiliates underestimate the risks:

- They think that only the advertisers or the affiliate networks get sued because they're bigger.

- They think that they can't be found because they're using WHOIS on their domains, etc. There's always a link somewhere. For example, if you're doing business with an affiliate network or advertiser, that network can be subpoena'ed and they'll be forced to handover your information.

So many legit opportunities now in 2020, no reason to take unnecessary risks.

05-26-2020 05:02 PM #4 wisdompower (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by dr_ngo View Post
100% yes.

1. John Chow has a judgement against him for $3.5 million for being an affiliate of MOBE. Other MOBE affiliates were sued as well.

2. Sandra Bullock and Ellen Degeneres sued 100+ different affiliate marketers for falsifying their endorsement of affiliate products

3. More affiliates being sued for being affiliates of health and beauty products

Affiliates underestimate the risks:

- They think that only the advertisers or the affiliate networks get sued because they're bigger.

- They think that they can't be found because they're using WHOIS on their domains, etc. There's always a link somewhere. For example, if you're doing business with an affiliate network or advertiser, that network can be subpoena'ed and they'll be forced to handover your information.

So many legit opportunities now in 2020, no reason to take unnecessary risks.
Scary stuff indeed! I was close to joining John Chow, but stayed away after reading a few bad reviews. Then came across digital altitude, empowerment network, and the like. Stayed away again because I had to put in money and read some weird stuff about them.

Health and beauty products sound risky. Ironically, I'm into them now.

05-27-2020 03:12 PM #5 wisdompower (Veteran Member)

Quick question - what about big players like Amazon? I guess seeking a commision for an affiliate sale on Amazon for a dietary supplement does not seem risky at all. Right? Wrong? So, if one sells on Amazon through FBA for these 'risky' products, will Amazon stay clear if a legal issue surfaces?

05-27-2020 08:25 PM #6 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by wealthycpa View Post
Quick question - what about big players like Amazon? I guess seeking a commision for an affiliate sale on Amazon for a dietary supplement does not seem risky at all. Right? Wrong? So, if one sells on Amazon through FBA for these 'risky' products, will Amazon stay clear if a legal issue surfaces?
If you check the examples that Charles linked above, all of them have one thing in common... misleading claims, fake endorsements, made-up celebrity commentary ... so it's not really about the product, but about the deceptive marketing strategies.

So it all comes down to HOW you promote the stuff you're running. Even if you chose a legit product from amazon but totally lie about it's price, effectiveness, make false claims, post fake testimonials etc... you can still get into trouble. The chances are low, but it can happen. And of course, if you promote some shady product like the known crypto scams or something that messes with rebills, the chances of problems go up.

06-22-2020 01:18 PM #7 wisdompower (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
If you check the examples that Charles linked above, all of them have one thing in common... misleading claims, fake endorsements, made-up celebrity commentary ... so it's not really about the product, but about the deceptive marketing strategies.

So it all comes down to HOW you promote the stuff you're running. Even if you chose a legit product from amazon but totally lie about it's price, effectiveness, make false claims, post fake testimonials etc... you can still get into trouble. The chances are low, but it can happen. And of course, if you promote some shady product like the known crypto scams or something that messes with rebills, the chances of problems go up.
I realize that "karma is bitch." Sooner or later it bites back. If I am aware that a particular product is possibly shady because I myself haven't tested it, it's best to tell the customer that I either don't know or warn them that it will lead them to doom in case I am sure. I think, in nine out of ten cases where people recommend shady products (with their knowledge) is to make a quick buck. And only in one out of ten cases they may be supremely sadistic or there may be some unknown reason.
I have come to a tentative solution for this - like I ask myself "if I were them and bought the product, would I have been happy with it?" If the answer is "no" I will stay away from the promotion. If the answer is "yes" and by rare chance the product runs into trouble, I have the truthful explanation why I recommended it.

06-22-2020 08:29 PM #8 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by wealthycpa View Post
I realize that "karma is bitch." Sooner or later it bites back. If I am aware that a particular product is possibly shady because I myself haven't tested it, it's best to tell the customer that I either don't know or warn them that it will lead them to doom in case I am sure. I think, in nine out of ten cases where people recommend shady products (with their knowledge) is to make a quick buck. And only in one out of ten cases they may be supremely sadistic or there may be some unknown reason.
I have come to a tentative solution for this - like I ask myself "if I were them and bought the product, would I have been happy with it?" If the answer is "no" I will stay away from the promotion. If the answer is "yes" and by rare chance the product runs into trouble, I have the truthful explanation why I recommended it.
Well yes, in an ideal world, it would work like this

But in reality, if the sellers would go by this rule, we could effectively pull maybe 50%, possibly even more products, from the market.

Not sure what it looks like in your country or across the world, but certain niches are flooded with garbage... I have kids, so I've spent a lot of $$$ in toy stores for the past few years and so many of the toys sold are total garbage, sometimes they break down withing hours Pharmacies are selling products that have zero effects, such as hair growth supplements or the whole homeopatics "drugs" range...

Same goes with services, plenty of them are not needed at all but we got used to pay for it.

But that's the way the economy works, we gotta spend money for shit that's useless to keep the ball rolling and support all the "bullshit jobs" that are worthless

Not saying I don't agree with you in a way, it's the best to hold certain ethic standards.

06-23-2020 07:09 AM #9 wisdompower (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Well yes, in an ideal world, it would work like this

But in reality, if the sellers would go by this rule, we could effectively pull maybe 50%, possibly even more products, from the market.

Not sure what it looks like in your country or across the world, but certain niches are flooded with garbage... I have kids, so I've spent a lot of $$$ in toy stores for the past few years and so many of the toys sold are total garbage, sometimes they break down withing hours Pharmacies are selling products that have zero effects, such as hair growth supplements or the whole homeopatics "drugs" range...

Same goes with services, plenty of them are not needed at all but we got used to pay for it.

But that's the way the economy works, we gotta spend money for shit that's useless to keep the ball rolling and support all the "bullshit jobs" that are worthless

Not saying I don't agree with you in a way, it's the best to hold certain ethic standards.
Haha, the whole world knows about "my country." I don't need to say anything... But again from my experience that's everywhere. Matter of degree...
Ah, well I have seen those who preach "ethics" are the ones who deviate the most, so no one suspects them. So, you better be careful with me.

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