There has been some discussion over the weekend over eBay affiliates Shawn Hogan, Brian Dunning and Todd Dunning being sued by eBay over alleged cookie stuffing, and criminal charges on the matter being filed by the grand jury in California based on an investigation by the FBI. They’re being charged under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations). They’re facing potentially millions in fines and up to 20 years in prison.

For cookie stuffing, a practice which I’ve seen people argue is a legitimate affiliate marketing practice. I think this case will decide that argument once and for all.

The Importance of Ethics in Business

This entire case really points up to me the importance of running your business in an ethical matter. Maybe the defendants will be found not guilty, maybe they’ll be found guilty, but look at the inconvenience either way.

They’re guaranteed to have to deal with a lot of legal troubles. They have to spend money to defend themselves. And if they’re guilty? They may spend years in prison. And don’t forget that boatload of fines.

This is a risk you take if you aren’t ethical in your business. You may be able to convince yourself that you’re not doing anything illegal, but that’s what people have argued about with cookie stuffing for a long time.

Look at the practices that are being more carefully watched now with online businesses and offline businesses. The FTC is paying more attention to medical claims and income claims, for example. Are you keeping things perfectly clear in those areas? Can you prove the things you claim in your marketing?

This goes for those in network marketing as well as affiliates. If you make income claims, you need to know what typical results are as well as have proof for any income claims you make. If your product has health claims, your company had better have proof. Unproven claims have the potential to get you in trouble.

If you’re doing something in your home business that is making you feel a bit uncomfortable ethically, think carefully about why. Don’t justify it to yourself, don’t just trust the reasons someone else gave you for why it’s okay to be accurate. Know.

Think They Won’t Catch You?

Thinking you won’t be caught is pretty easy. Lots of people get away with dishonest business practices every day. Just look at all the scams out there.

How’s your luck? Are you certain you will be the one who won’t be caught? Is it worth the trouble?

I’ve met people with the attitude that they won’t get caught, and that they should be able to scam because they themselves were scammed. It’s lousy logic and completely unethical. Most people know that you can’t hurt other people to get back at those who hurt you. That doesn’t balance things out at all.

The Internet Won’t Always Be the Wild West

Sometimes people compare the internet to the Wild West, as it often seems to be a fairly lawless place. But it won’t always be so, as laws catch up to the reality of the internet.

There will be scams online for a long time, as laws vary from country to country. But if you live in a country, have your domain name registered in a country or have your site hosted in a country, it’s not going to be that hard for that country to expect you and your site to obey their laws.

That’s where laws from countries such as the United States can impact affiliates around the world. Many people have their sites hosted in the United States, and those hosts have to obey United States law. If you aren’t, you can lose your site even if the laws can’t touch you personally.

Honesty is Best in the Long Run

In the long run, keeping your business honest is the best way to go. It’s also better in the short run.

You’re less likely to have an honest business jerked out from under you. You build trust over time with an honest business. You don’t have to feel bad about what you’re doing to others with an honest business.

The post Affiliates in Legal Trouble for Cookie Stuffing – A Reminder to Think About How You Run Your Home Business appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

A post over on Jessica Knows about her experience with some reporters misreporting how she discloses on her blog got me thinking about how mom blogs in general seem to be the ones getting an awful lot of the attention when it comes to disclosure issues and advertising. There’s been a lot of talk lately about more regulation of social media marketing and how bloggers disclose. For some reason, mom bloggers seem to be a popular focus of attention.

This drives me nuts. Mom bloggers are far from the only ones getting merchandise to try in order to review it. That’s something that has been going on for a long time in many other areas, as commenter Crunchy Carpets pointed out, and as I’ve been wondering as well. I’ll quote her, as she has it right:

What I am curious about is why the ‘mom’ bloggers seem to be getting more heat about reviews than other areas on the blogosphere. Are the male tech writers getting scrutinized by mainstream media and the FTC? They all get sent free stuff. Are the video game or movie sites getting grilled for their ‘promotional’ efforts. They all get sent free stuff.
Movie sites get sent to sets and on press junkets and given all sorts of freebies in return for ‘good reviews. Their morals have been argued about for years. It is all nothing new.

All this doesn’t mean that I don’t agree with appropriate disclosure. It just means that I don’t see why it’s suddenly a big deal when mom bloggers get the things other sites have long been getting.

It strikes me as sexist too.

Momblebee makes similar points, as do some of the other commenters.

Free samples have been given in exchange for review for a long time, longer than blogging has been around. It’s nothing new. Perhaps the only new thing about it is that just about anyone can start a blog, and not have the costs associated with starting a print magazine or newspaper. It’s very open.

Yes, that means some people will lie about the products because they think only a good review should be posted. Yes, some people will be fooled into buying things they wouldn’t have if an honest review had been posted. Goodness knows that dishonest reviews are common enough in the work at home arena!

But does that mean we need special disclosure rules?

I tend to think not. I would expect the standard rules on making false advertising claims should be sufficient. Best aimed at the blogger, and at the advertiser more if there seems to be a pattern of encouraging false claims. It’s awfully hard for advertisers to control what bloggers say, after all, and still keep things honest in both positive and negative comments about the product.

There’s no doubt that the internet is very much a wild frontier in many ways as of yet. It’s much harder to control what goes on when it’s so easy for content to be created. That’s not a call for speedy, harsh regulation. There’s an advantage to the wild growth and free flow of information that the internet provides.

Should buyers beware when they read online reviews? Absolutely.

Should reviewers disclose if they got products free or have a relationship with the business whose product they are reviewing? Of course.

But no matter how the disclosure is done, it comes down to a matter of trust. A good source will be trusted with or without the disclosure.

A bad one may be trusted once or twice, but if they share false information people will learn. Certainly not as quickly as the FTC would like, but that’s going to happen even with regulation, as new sites and blogs will pop up faster than they can be reviewed… not to mention everything that is based from outside the United States.

Much as one might like all reviews to be honest, it’s not going to happen.

As a blogger or business owner, all you can do is keep yourself honest. Being transparent about when you get something for free is a generally good idea. If nothing else, it will help you if the FTC does keep getting serious about this. It also makes it clearer why you’re talking about a product that maybe you wouldn’t have otherwise. Say what you really feel, even when it’s not 100% positive.

Of course, the focus on mom bloggers may in large part be simply due to the media. And if you think the disclosure issues are going to be a problem, you’ll also want to pay attention to the part about “atypical results”. Lynn Terry has a really good post on this issue. The FTC doesn’t even want atypical results to be used, even if they’re your own experience. They only want typical results, which strikes me as beyond problematic. How can you discuss your own experience then? How do you know what’s typical?

If you review products, whether you’re paid to do so or just receive them free, or even if you’re hoping to get an affiliate commission for sales through your links, it’s really going to pay to think about what you’re saying. Have a disclosure policy and stick strictly to it.

And, of course, keep paying attention to the story as it develops. It doesn’t matter what kind of blog or site you have, if you’re talking about products you need to know what’s might impact your business.

The post Why Are Mom Blogs Getting So Much Attention from the FTC? appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.