Affiliate disclosure checker
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What it checks
- Present. Something in the title or description says the link earns you money: #ad, affiliate link, commission, sponsored, paid partnership.
- First. The disclosure is in the title or the first 125 characters of the description, not after the fold.
- Clear. No #aff, #spon, #collab or similar abbreviations the FTC says people do not understand.
- Not buried. Not sitting in a pile of hashtags, which readers skip and Pinterest ignores.
- Amazon's statement when the link is to Amazon or you pick Amazon as the program.
- The link shows where it goes. Third-party shorteners fail; Amazon's own short link gets a warning; full links pass.
- No unsupported claims. Guarantees, miracle cures and exact weight-loss numbers get flagged.
The rules in one paragraph
The FTC says a disclosure must be clear, conspicuous and placed where people see it before they act. Pinterest allows affiliate links but removes pins that mislead, redirect or hide their destination, and it offers a paid partnership label for brand deals. Amazon requires its own wording and bans link cloaking. The disclosure guide has the sources and twelve worked examples, and the affiliate marketing guide covers the rest.
Frequently asked questions
- Do affiliate pins on Pinterest need a disclosure?
- Yes. The FTC's endorsement guidance applies to any post where you earn from a link, on any platform, and it requires a disclosure that is clear and placed where people will see it. Pinterest allows affiliate links and expects the same honesty under its misleading-content rules.
- Is #ad enough?
- Yes, when it is at the start and not lost in a list of other hashtags. Words are better on Pinterest because hashtags are plain text there: "This pin contains affiliate links" leaves nothing to interpret.
- Where exactly should it go?
- The first sentence of the description, and on the page the pin leads to if that page has the links. Pinterest does not show descriptions in the feed, so the disclosure also belongs on the landing page or, for direct links, in the pin title when the description could be missed.
- What about Amazon?
- Amazon's Operating Agreement requires Associates to say clearly that they earn from qualifying purchases, using its wording, and forbids hiding Amazon links behind shorteners or cloaking. The checker adds Amazon's line when it detects an Amazon link or when you pick Amazon.
- Does this check the law for my country?
- It checks the FTC guidance for the United States and the two platforms' rules. The UK's ASA and other regulators have similar rules; a clear disclosure in the first line satisfies all of them in practice, but confirm your local rules if you are outside the US.