What Is Affiliate Disclosure?
Affiliate disclosure means telling your audience, clearly and up front, that you may earn a commission when they buy through your links. Here is what that means and why it is required.
Affiliate marketing disclosure is the practice of telling your audience, clearly and before they act, that you may earn a commission or receive some other benefit when they buy a product or click a link you have recommended. In regulatory terms, disclosure is how you reveal a "material connection" — a financial or other relationship between you and the seller that your audience would not reasonably expect and that could affect how much weight they give your recommendation.
The principle is consistent across every major market. An endorsement is more persuasive when the audience believes it is independent. If the person making the recommendation is being paid, that changes the meaning of the recommendation, and the audience is entitled to know. Regulators do not object to affiliate marketing itself; they object to affiliate marketing that looks like impartial advice.
The one-sentence rule
If you earn money or receive anything of value when someone buys through your link, you must tell them — clearly, in plain language, and close to the recommendation.
What counts as a disclosure
A disclosure is a short, unambiguous statement that an ordinary reader understands to mean “I am being compensated.” It does not need to be long or legalistic. What matters is that it is present, visible, and understandable. The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests wording as simple as “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post” or “Paid link.”
What disclosure is not
Disclosure is not a link buried in your footer, a line inside a separate “terms” page, a single notice on your homepage, or an ambiguous hashtag such as “#sp” or “#collab.” It is also not the same thing as tagging a brand. Tagging a company signals a relationship exists; it does not disclose that you were paid. These distinctions matter because regulators judge a disclosure by whether a typical member of your audience would actually notice and understand it — not by whether the information technically appears somewhere on the page.
Where to go next
To understand the trigger for disclosure, read what a material connection is. To understand why compliance is worth taking seriously, read why disclosure matters. When you are ready to write one, see how to write a compliant disclosure.
Authoritative sources
Last reviewed July 2026. This page is general educational information, not legal or tax advice.