New FTC Guidelines???

CatInTheWall · Mar 1, 2012

Hey fella's

Anyone want to share what the new FTC guidelines are for us layman

. Has anything drastically changed? All my site's have a terms of use, DMCA notice, and privacy policy. They also all disclose in the footer I may receive commissions on sales. I'm I missing anything?

marishal · Mar 1, 2012

I'm pretty sure I saw something about posting fake reviews but it could have been just an affiliate marketing guideline.

CatInTheWall · Mar 1, 2012

Thanks for chiming in

I hope you can still add reviews from other websites like amazon.

Yukinari84 · Mar 1, 2012

marishal said:
I'm pretty sure I saw something about posting fake reviews but it could have been just an affiliate marketing guideline.

Posting fake reviews and testimonials is definitely the best way to land yourself a hefty fine from the FTC.

This also applies to using testimonials from the product owner's site on your review sites.

If a product owner posts fake or unverifiable testimonials on their sales page and you use that on your review site, you can get fined by the FTC along with the product owner if they come after the product owner.

The best things to do are:

1. Monitor the FTC's website on affiliate disclosure guidelines(they have a lot of info there including updates to ongoing court cases - this will give you an idea of what kinds of sites trigger an FTC audit).

2. Hire an a lawyer that specializes in internet marketing law.

zmoney · Mar 1, 2012

Are there NEW guidelines(within the last month or so?)? I haven't been watching for the last couple of months. Have a link for anything specific that you are talking about?

Yukinari84 · Mar 1, 2012

Here's a couple of links for the ongoing cases:

Code:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/01/fakenews.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/willms.shtm

Some informative articles:

Code:

http://performinsider.com/2011/11/the-one-ftc-article-you-must-read/
http://performinsider.com/2012/01/how-to-guarantee-the-ftc-will-bust-you/
http://performinsider.com/2012/02/jesse-willms-loses-everything-to-ftc/

As far as I know, the guidelines that released in 2009 have not been re-written. They(the FTC) are just continually increasing their monitoring and enforcement of their rules.

CatInTheWall · Mar 1, 2012

Thanks for the links and information Yukinari!

I think I may just get a lawyer who specializes in internet marketing. Has anyone done this and if so what did it run you?

Crono · Mar 2, 2012

I think he was talking about the new law that affects Americans starting March 1, 2012. If you are american you can no longer claim that your piece of crap product will make people billions and customers can ask for a list of customers to call that actually made the money you claim. It is the Business Oppurtunity law or something like that.

Elon Snup · Mar 2, 2012

Wow, that's a big change actually. Never heard of that before.

gogeta1005 · Mar 2, 2012

Crono said:
I think he was talking about the new law that affects Americans starting March 1, 2012. If you are american you can no longer claim that your piece of crap product will make people billions and customers can ask for a list of customers to call that actually made the money you claim. It is the Business Oppurtunity law or something like that.

Sounds like a good change actually lol.

Yukinari84 · Mar 2, 2012

Crono said:
I think he was talking about the new law that affects Americans starting March 1, 2012. If you are american you can no longer claim that your piece of crap product will make people billions and customers can ask for a list of customers to call that actually made the money you claim. It is the Business Oppurtunity law or something like that.

If that is the case, then below are some helpful articles on the subject:

Code:

http://www.krinternetlaw.com/internet-law/ftcs-new-business-opportunity-rule-becomes-effective-march-1-2012/
http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/01/ftc-business-opportunity-rule-what-it-means.html
http://www.aaronkellylaw.com/ftc-technology-news/get-ready-for-the-new-ftc-business-opportunity-rules/

One of the biggest changes for people selling business opportunities(yes, this does include internet marketing/work from home courses) is that you will be required to submit a 1 page open disclosure to every customer for them to read, sign, and return to you.

Below is a link to the FTCs new disclosure form and some information on it:

Code:

http://business.ftc.gov/content/business-opportunity-disclosure-document

rus1239 · Mar 3, 2012

Ricardo Jose Labra Labra?s $2.5 million judgment will be suspended when he pays $280,000 and records a $39,500 lien on his home.

Zachary S. Graham, Ambervine Marketing, LLC and Encastle, Inc. Graham?s $953,000 judgment will be suspended when he pays $110,000 plus most of the proceeds from the sale of a truck.

Tanner Garrett Vaughn Vaughn?s $203,000 judgment will be suspended when he pays close to $80,000 over a three-year period.

Thou Lee Lee?s $204,000 judgment will be suspended when he pays $13,000 plus the proceeds from the sale of a BMW.

Charles Dunlevy Dunlevy?s $143,000 judgment will be suspended when he pays an estimated $2,000 from frozen assets and the sale of a boat.

DLXM, LLC and Michael Volozin The $594,000 judgment will be suspended because of the defendants? inability to pay.

This is from ftc "fake news" case. That's crazy! The last defendant really lucked out because of his inability to pay.

New FTC Guidelines???

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