Some Affiliate Managers Don’t Like John McCain

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You know about the CAN-SPAM law, but probably not as much as you should. Any merchant whose affiliates are sending solo e-mails better be on top of them.

Anne Mitchell, aka Aunty Spam, has reported on a case where affiliates got a merchant in a big mess with the FTC.

There are lots of misconceptions about CAN-SPAM, one being that merchants are not responsible for the actions of their affiliates.

Sorry, but that is covered by the McCain (vendor liability) Amendment to CAN-SPAM, and it says that if an affiliate sends Spam which advertises Company X, then Company X is on the hook.

And yes, it is being enforced. Just ask Optin Global, Inc., Vision Media Limited Corp., Qing Kuang “Rick” Yang, and Peonie Pui Ting Chen.

You probably don’t recognize any of those folks, but they have been trying to get in touch with you. They sent out millions of pieces of mortgage Spam, and the FTC just settled a lawsuit with them.

Under this settlement, the Spammers must pay $475,000 and establish an aggressive monitoring regime for any future affiliate program to assure that their affiliates are complying with the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act and California law.

This includes reviewing the subject line, text, and other details of any affiliate campaign in advance of any e-mail going out. Also, these characters must establish an opt-out mechanism for any e-mail campaign conducted on their behalf and they must ensure that all opt-out requests are honored.

I know this sounds awfully unattractive to affiliate managers with big programs, but seed the mail lists of your affiliates sending e-mail for you, and keep an eye on CAN-SPAM compliance.

If that means you’ll be getting too much e-mail from your affiliates, you might want to consider staffing up on the management side or downsizing on the affiliate side.