Affiliate Liability for Product Claims
I received a PM about liability risks for affiliates and wanted to share a response:
Yes.
First, affiliates have liability for their own claims. IM is a great example. All sorts of wild income claims are made by affiliates in their emails - claims the seller is not making. I periodically have to let some of my Warrior "guru" friends know they have stepped over the line.
Second, affiliates can be liable for false claims by the merchant. Legal action against **** Berry sellers comes to mind, where several big affiliates were also included in government lawsuits.
"Can" means there is not automatic liability. Much depends on the circumstances.
If a merchant says: "Drinking our special blend of motor oil will immediately cure cancer" and, as an affiliate you refer people to something you should know is fraudulent (and dangerous), you can have liability.
If an affiliate would not reasonably know of a legal problem, and they are sued, the first step would be to demand a litigation defense and indemnity for any damages from the merchant. But assuming the merchant is headed to bankruptcy court that will be of little use.
Insurance can be useful. The best thing you can do to limit risk is to better evaluate what offers and products you promote.
For example, for IM related products, I do not promote many products that are not my own, I know merchants by their first name name and have confidence in them (not products by anony123 who joined the forum last week), and avoid products making income claims.
.
| I would presume that as a product vendor, there could be some legal risk involved in selling products online, but do affiliates have liability as to whether the claims made about the product being promoted are true or false and whether the product vendor is/isn't misleading their customers in any way? |
First, affiliates have liability for their own claims. IM is a great example. All sorts of wild income claims are made by affiliates in their emails - claims the seller is not making. I periodically have to let some of my Warrior "guru" friends know they have stepped over the line.
Second, affiliates can be liable for false claims by the merchant. Legal action against **** Berry sellers comes to mind, where several big affiliates were also included in government lawsuits.
"Can" means there is not automatic liability. Much depends on the circumstances.
If a merchant says: "Drinking our special blend of motor oil will immediately cure cancer" and, as an affiliate you refer people to something you should know is fraudulent (and dangerous), you can have liability.
If an affiliate would not reasonably know of a legal problem, and they are sued, the first step would be to demand a litigation defense and indemnity for any damages from the merchant. But assuming the merchant is headed to bankruptcy court that will be of little use.
Insurance can be useful. The best thing you can do to limit risk is to better evaluate what offers and products you promote.
For example, for IM related products, I do not promote many products that are not my own, I know merchants by their first name name and have confidence in them (not products by anony123 who joined the forum last week), and avoid products making income claims.
.
Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.
FREE Report: 5 Ways To Grow Your Affiliate Income
Let Me Help You Sell: Sales Letters, Email Series, Pre-Sell Reports... PM me & we'll talk!