Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Disclosure Requirements
If you earn a commission from a recommendation, you must say so — clearly, in plain language, with the recommendation itself, before the first affiliate link. That is the rule, and this guide explains exactly what it means in practice.
General information, not legal advice. This guide explains the FTC Endorsement Guides in plain language for educational purposes. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace reading the FTC’s own sources, linked at the bottom. Rules differ by country; check your local law.
The rule in one sentence
Under the US Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, revised in 2023), any material connection between an endorser and a seller must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. A material connection is any relationship that might affect how much weight a reader gives the recommendation: payment, free or discounted products, affiliate commissions, employment, or a personal or family relationship with the brand. If the connection exists, the disclosure is required. There is no minimum commission below which it stops applying, and no exception for small audiences.
The FTC’s plain-language guide, Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, explains how the rule applies to posts, videos, tags and pins. The principle is the same everywhere: a disclosure the reader never sees cannot inform their decision, so it must be placed where the reader makes the decision — with the endorsement itself, in words they cannot miss, before they click.
Clear and conspicuous: what the words mean
“Clear and conspicuous” is a defined standard, not a vague aspiration, and it has three working parts. Clear means plain language: the reader must understand that you are paid if they buy. Conspicuous means unavoidable: the disclosure must be where the reader’s eye is when they read the recommendation, not at the bottom of the page, in a footer, in a separate policy page, or behind a click. With the endorsement means attached to the recommendation itself, not to the site in general. A disclosure on an About page does not cover a recommendation on a review page. A disclosure at the end of a long post does not cover a recommendation made at the top of it. The FTC’s own phrasing is that the disclosure must be hard to miss and easily understood by the ordinary reader.
Two practical tests follow from that standard. First, if the reader has to scroll to find the disclosure, it is in the wrong place. Second, if the disclosure could be missed by a reader who is reading quickly, it is not conspicuous enough. Put it at the top of the page, before the first affiliate link, in a short plain sentence. That placement is the safest practice for articles, and the only safe practice for short posts.
Wording that works — and wording that does not
Plain wording is short and direct. The following is the kind of sentence this site will use when affiliate links are added:
“This page contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.”
For a short post or a video description, a shorter version of the same idea works, such as “Affiliate link: I may earn a commission if you buy” or a plain “Ad” or “Paid link” label where the platform’s conventions make the meaning obvious. The words “ad” and “sponsored” are clear disclosures. A plain sentence explaining the relationship is a clear disclosure. What does not work is abbreviation and vagueness: “sp”, “spon” and “collab” on their own are not clear, because a reader may not know what they mean. “Thanks to our partners”, “ambassador” on its own, and “in collaboration with” are not clear either, because they do not say that you are paid. A hashtag such as a tag naming the programme is not a disclosure unless the reader would understand from it that you are paid.
The disclosure must also be in the same language and the same medium as the recommendation. A spoken recommendation in a video needs a spoken disclosure in the video — a line in the description alone is not enough, because many viewers never open it. A recommendation in a story or a short video needs the disclosure on screen, visible long enough to read. The rule follows the reader’s attention: disclose where the attention is.
Where disclosure applies — and where people forget it
| Place | What to do |
|---|---|
| Article or review page | Plain sentence at the top, before the first affiliate link |
| Social media post | Disclosure inside the post itself, at the beginning, not behind a “more” button |
| Video | Spoken disclosure early in the video, plus a written one in the description |
| Disclosure in the email itself, near the recommendation and the link | |
| Live stream | Spoken disclosure, repeated, because viewers join at different times |
| Comparison or “best” list | Disclosure with the list, plus a stated method for the ranking |
The forgotten cases are the expensive ones. A link in a social media bio that earns commission needs disclosure where the link is used. A product mentioned because it was sent free needs disclosure even if no affiliate link is involved — a free product is a material connection too. A testimonial from someone who was paid, or given a free product, is still an endorsement, and the relationship must be disclosed. And a recommendation made because of a commission, rather than a recommendation that happens to carry one, breaks the rule in a deeper way: the FTC requires the endorsement to reflect the endorser’s honest opinion, and an opinion bought by the commission is not one.
Who is responsible — and what the FTC does about it
Responsibility runs both ways. The endorser — the affiliate — must disclose. But the advertiser — the merchant or network — is also responsible for its endorsers’ misleading claims, and must train and monitor them. That is why programmes terminate affiliates who fail to disclose: the merchant’s own liability is at stake. A programme whose terms require disclosure, and which you ignore, can close your account and forfeit unpaid commission. The FTC’s enforcement in this area has included action against companies whose endorsers failed to disclose, and against business-opportunity sellers whose earnings claims were unsubstantiated. This guide does not quote any penalty figure: published figures conflict across sources, and this site does not publish a figure it has not verified against the current official source. The absence of a figure in this guide is deliberate, not an oversight.
The Amazon rule on top of the FTC rule
Amazon Associates adds its own requirement on top of the FTC rule. Its Operating Agreement requires the statement “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases” to appear clearly and prominently on your site, and a violation of that section is treated as a material breach of the agreement. That means the Amazon sentence must appear wherever Amazon links appear, in addition to a plain FTC-style disclosure — not instead of it. The full Amazon rules are covered in our Amazon Associates beginners guide, and the programme’s rules change, so the sentence should be checked against the current Operating Agreement before it is used.
Disclosure outside the United States
The FTC’s rules are American, but the requirement is not an American invention. The United Kingdom’s advertising rules require advertising to be obviously identifiable, and the Advertising Standards Authority treats undisclosed affiliate relationships as misleading. The European Union’s consumer rules carry a similar transparency requirement for commercial communications. The wording differs by country; the principle does not. If your readers are in more than one country, the safe practice is a plain disclosure that satisfies the strictest of the regimes you operate under, placed with the recommendation itself. Do not assume that because you are not in the United States, the FTC rule does not touch you: if you recommend to American readers, American rules apply to that recommendation.
A checklist before you publish any affiliate link
- Is there a plain-language disclosure at the top of the page, before the first affiliate link?
- Could a reader who skims the page still see it?
- Does it say, in words an ordinary reader understands, that you may be paid?
- Have you disclosed free products and other connections, not only affiliate commissions?
- Is the same disclosure present in the social post, video or email where the link also appears?
- If it is Amazon, is the required Amazon sentence present too?
- Is the recommendation your honest opinion — would you recommend it without the commission?
If any answer is no, fix it before publishing. Our affiliate disclosure page states this site’s own policy: no affiliate links at launch, and the same rules applied from day one. The how affiliate marketing works guide explains the model these rules govern.
Sources
- FTC Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255 (eCFR) (last checked 14 November 2026)
- FTC — Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers (PDF) (last checked 14 November 2026)
- Learn To Make Money — Affiliate Disclosure
Last checked: 14 November 2026.