The Federal Trade Commission is making it mandatory for bloggers to disclose whether or not they receive something of monetary value when those items are mentioned on their blog.
I have read several disclosure policies, and they make my head spin. Why does all legal stuff have to be confusing? So, here is my disclosure policy in plain English (or at least the English of somebody that rambles and kind of talks in circles).
When I started this blog back in October of 2008 (that’s when this policy is valid from) I had no idea you could make money from a blog. I was just excited to share the deals with family and friends. Then in March of 2009 I found out that when I send people to coupons.com and they print a coupon I can get paid for that. I thought that was pretty cool! I’m not getting rich off of it, but I do get paid in cents whenever you print coupons from my site. So, thanks for that!
I occasionally receive products to review and giveaway. I will give you my honest opinion on a product. I also sometimes receive compensation for sharing information about certain stores. Safeway is an example of this: They gave me a gift card to experience their new low prices and share them with you, they also gave me extra gift cards to giveaway to my readers. Safeway was a perfect fit for my blog, because I already shop at Safeway and have done their weekly coupon match ups for awhile now. There are times when I mention a store and do not get paid by them. I LOVE TARGET!!!!! Nobody paid me to say that. It’s just something I have to shout out every now and then. I love Target, I love Target, I love Target! Everything I say on this blog is my own opinion, but sometimes it is my opinion – with benefits.
Occasionally a company will pay me a small monthly fee to advertise on my blog. I will not accept advertisers that I do not approve of. I have in fact turned people down before. This blog is a reflection on me and my beliefs, I will not support or promote items I do not personally believe in.
Wait, there’s more! Isn’t this fun? When I send you to another site like Amazon or Kohl’s for the great deals and you buy something through my link, sometimes the company gives me a small percentage of what you buy. Whatever I receive comes from the company and does not affect your purchase price. This is just plain fun for both of us! You get a great deal, and I get a little in return.
Having said that, my first priority is the deal; I don’t post stuff just to get a reward. Posting things to make a profit was never my intent for this blog, I love a good deal and I love to share them even more. For example, when I post things from American Girl for you to buy, I DON’T get a percentage (they don’t have an affiliate program). What I am trying to say is that sometimes I will earn a small percentage from the deals I post, sometimes I won’t. Either way, they are things that I think are a super deal and I think somebody will benefit from me posting them.
So, the whole point of this is to let you know that whenever I have received some kind of perk for sharing information with you, you should see something like this in my post:
**Thanks to such and such a company for providing me with a gift card to share this information with you, all thoughts on this subject are my own.
OK, this turned out WAY LONGER than any of the legal mumbo jumbo, but at least it was easier to understand (please tell me it was easier to understand!) If you are a fan of all that legal stuff than this is for you:
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
Disclosure: I gave myself a pat on the back in exchange for writing this post.
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Haha! That was the best Disclaimer I’ve ever read. Well, I’ve never actually sat through a whole disclaimer because they bore me but I read yours entirely. Thanks for providing us with awesome deals and insight. I’m glad that you are able to get something out of your generosity as well!
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