Commission Disclosure

Last Updated on March 29, 2017

In the USA the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) passed a law in December 1, 2009, that bloggers must disclose whenever there could be hidden interests or unspoken biases related to recommendations.

In Australia there are similar laws relating to professionals such as accountants, laws, real estate agents, etc (and I’m not a professional … in that sense I mean).

But the general idea is that readers should be made aware of any bias which I think is fair enough.

Now because this site is run by my USA company, I’ll follow the FTC guidelines.

First, the obvious: I make money as a writer and consultant.

Second, the less obvious: Per the FTC rules, if I interview someone and they pay for lunch, I would need to disclose this. Same goes if I use an Amazon link that pays me 8 cents instead of an Amazon link that pays me zip. If someone gives me a cool t-shirt with a logo and I wear it in a photo, same deal. Disclaimers all over the place. This would be tedious for me and even more tedious for you, my readers. To cover my ass and preserve your reading experience, please assume that, for every link, products I use, property dudes and businesses I recommend, the following all hold true:

Note: Definition of “Scrilla” means money, paper, fetti, chedda, a phrase coined by E-40.

Illustrations courtesy of Louis Gray and Jeannine Schafer