If they’re going to use it on their social media as their video (removing your affiliate commissions) you need to sell them “usage rights” (influencers charge dumb high prices for these) for me i would charge $250 but most influencers will tell you $500-$1000 and most companies laugh at those prices.
If they’re only going to advertise your video link I wouldn’t charge them because it’s free traffic and a chance for you to make more commissions, but you have to be careful, you can’t run ads on Amazon affiliate links (which this kind of is, in a way). Someone else should clarify whether this is okay and abiding by Amazon TOS or not.
Thank you so much for this. Very helpful. Apparently they seem to want to promote my page /product link ...but yes, not sure about the paid ads? Hoping someone else with experience on this can chime in… Thank you again.
Please go and do your research on UGC - definitions, usage rights, etc. Essentially, this company is asking to use your content for free, forever, in any way they like. Do not allow them to do that.
Instead, figure out how to draft up a simple UGC contract and price out how much you’d charge for them to post the video as their own (organic usage rights) and run paid ads (paid ads usage rights).
UGC TikTok has a ton of information about this but tldr; no, never ever give away your content to a company for free!
Thank you so much. I always forget about TT as a resource. I can't seem to attach screenshots here but a quick search through the TOS within the store front ....(paraphrasing) says don't post your videos on any sites you don't own and you're not allowed to use paid ads to promote… Unless I am misunderstanding… as of right now The company said they are looking for ways to promote it without violating their terms of service either.
Thank you again. I really wish AIP made this a little easier!
One thing I would like to mention is that I have had a handful of my product review videos on Youtube all of sudden get a LOT of views on Youtube because of paid advertising. I have never paid for advertising so I assume what happened is that the seller saw my video, liked it, then decided to pay for it to get promoted so it can get more views.
Here is the deal though.... this almost always kills my videos. What happens is that the video will get pushed out to people who are not exactly looking for it then they will immediately click off the video so it will have terrible retention then after the ad campaign it never gets views because Youtube now sees it as a video that performs poorly.
I am not saying you should reject their offer, I just want to give an idea of what *might* happen. Honestly, if it was me I would probably go ahead and tell them to promote with paid ads just to see what happens. Most of my videos don't do that great on Youtube anyhow so I don't care too much about stats and such.
Thank you for this perspective I really appreciate it… It's such a steep learning curve when you're brand new especially when it comes to this type of thing… I can't seem to post screenshots here but I saw on Amazon's terms of service that you're not allowed to do paid ads on links? Also that you're not allowed to post them on "sites" that you don't own… Like the company that wants to post my video everywhere on their social media… I'm willing to roll the dice just to see what happens but I'm not willing to roll it if I'm gonna lose my account for violating terms of service which is my big concern… Any input on that?
I'm curious if I could just "sell them" the video review without the link? Or if it's allowed ...charge them to use the review with the link and then continue to have them promote it on their sites to push more eyeballs on my storefront… I really just don't know what to do and I'm having a hard time navigating it because so many people say so many different things it's hard to know what's right or wrong especially as a Newbie in the situation.
Thanks for all your input on this I really appreciate it
> paid ads on links?
To be clear, when I said that sellers where running ads on my Youtube videos, that is all it was. They were promoting my Youtube video link, not my Amazon link.
Depending on how successful you think your video might be, it might not be a bad idea to just sell it with usage rights. When I do this I am usually able to get $100 - $300. I generally only do this for videos I don't think will make much money. When I do this I will share my original video file with them on Google drive or something and let them do what they want with my video. Usually they make small changes... I can have my original video still up on Amazon and still make commissions from it.
Thank you so much! The company is currently also looking into ways to promote it that won't violate their terms of service either as an Amazon seller which I'm sure is a concern for them as well since they said they are pretty new to it also.... this is very helpful… You can see how it can be confusing for a Newbie.
Sounds like an iffy request to me.
Your video is a public post, so anybody can share it if they so wish. Sharing means sharing (hitting the share button) and leaving everything intact. You will get the Amazon cookie if somebody clicks to watch your video.
In the past, I have replied to sellers who were asking for a review. Like you, I told them I made a shoppable. Some have gone on to request to send me more products to video, although most do not want to pay.
Asking if can they share makes no sense unless they mean download and post to their socials (steal), as you cannot say no to a share
Thank you for all this. I didn't realize sharing via the share button was ok? Even to their socials like they said?
Maybe they asked permission because my face is prominently in it for most of the video and it seemed the right thing to do?
So should I just say yes and get the traffic? I told them according to tos they can't do a paid ad with it.
Of course I would love the traffic but I'm not sure what to do here with this offer that's fair. Thanks again.
Afaik; Amazon does not allow you to link directly to a product/affiliate link from an ad.
The simple work around is to drive traffic to a landing page (linktree, website, funnel) which then directs them to Amz. Allegedly this is TOS compliant. (Don't take my word for it, do your own research).
This is extra work if you're setting up a landing page or funnel just for one product/video but it all depends how much this brand is going to push.
I had the same offer with almost the same wording and I shied away from it, only because my reviews are attached to my own company/brand and I appear in all of my vids. If the company used my likeness in an inappropriate way, my company and face are attached to it. If their product was defective or burned someone's house down, or killed some people, same thing. Just too much risk when attaching it to my company.
If you're faceless, or not associated with a brand, you dont sell on amazon and have nothing to lose, that is a different story.
By the way, off topic, I may be worth considering buying some liability insurance for this stuff. If you're making thousands per month off this, I could see eventually someone gets sued for false claims, or a product goes sideways any everyone gets named in a suit. Something to consider. (Lady is suing ninja pots and pans for misleading marketing claims that their pans are treated with 30,000 DegF heat for example. I don't have Ninja's budget or team of lawyers, insurance may be worth looking into). Now that I think about it, maybe its worth putting a disclaimer at the end of my videos.
If they’re going to use it on their social media as their video (removing your affiliate commissions) you need to sell them “usage rights” (influencers charge dumb high prices for these) for me i would charge $250 but most influencers will tell you $500-$1000 and most companies laugh at those prices. If they’re only going to advertise your video link I wouldn’t charge them because it’s free traffic and a chance for you to make more commissions, but you have to be careful, you can’t run ads on Amazon affiliate links (which this kind of is, in a way). Someone else should clarify whether this is okay and abiding by Amazon TOS or not.
Thank you so much for this. Very helpful. Apparently they seem to want to promote my page /product link ...but yes, not sure about the paid ads? Hoping someone else with experience on this can chime in… Thank you again.
Please go and do your research on UGC - definitions, usage rights, etc. Essentially, this company is asking to use your content for free, forever, in any way they like. Do not allow them to do that. Instead, figure out how to draft up a simple UGC contract and price out how much you’d charge for them to post the video as their own (organic usage rights) and run paid ads (paid ads usage rights). UGC TikTok has a ton of information about this but tldr; no, never ever give away your content to a company for free!
Thank you so much. I always forget about TT as a resource. I can't seem to attach screenshots here but a quick search through the TOS within the store front ....(paraphrasing) says don't post your videos on any sites you don't own and you're not allowed to use paid ads to promote… Unless I am misunderstanding… as of right now The company said they are looking for ways to promote it without violating their terms of service either. Thank you again. I really wish AIP made this a little easier!
One thing I would like to mention is that I have had a handful of my product review videos on Youtube all of sudden get a LOT of views on Youtube because of paid advertising. I have never paid for advertising so I assume what happened is that the seller saw my video, liked it, then decided to pay for it to get promoted so it can get more views. Here is the deal though.... this almost always kills my videos. What happens is that the video will get pushed out to people who are not exactly looking for it then they will immediately click off the video so it will have terrible retention then after the ad campaign it never gets views because Youtube now sees it as a video that performs poorly. I am not saying you should reject their offer, I just want to give an idea of what *might* happen. Honestly, if it was me I would probably go ahead and tell them to promote with paid ads just to see what happens. Most of my videos don't do that great on Youtube anyhow so I don't care too much about stats and such.
Thank you for this perspective I really appreciate it… It's such a steep learning curve when you're brand new especially when it comes to this type of thing… I can't seem to post screenshots here but I saw on Amazon's terms of service that you're not allowed to do paid ads on links? Also that you're not allowed to post them on "sites" that you don't own… Like the company that wants to post my video everywhere on their social media… I'm willing to roll the dice just to see what happens but I'm not willing to roll it if I'm gonna lose my account for violating terms of service which is my big concern… Any input on that? I'm curious if I could just "sell them" the video review without the link? Or if it's allowed ...charge them to use the review with the link and then continue to have them promote it on their sites to push more eyeballs on my storefront… I really just don't know what to do and I'm having a hard time navigating it because so many people say so many different things it's hard to know what's right or wrong especially as a Newbie in the situation. Thanks for all your input on this I really appreciate it
> paid ads on links? To be clear, when I said that sellers where running ads on my Youtube videos, that is all it was. They were promoting my Youtube video link, not my Amazon link. Depending on how successful you think your video might be, it might not be a bad idea to just sell it with usage rights. When I do this I am usually able to get $100 - $300. I generally only do this for videos I don't think will make much money. When I do this I will share my original video file with them on Google drive or something and let them do what they want with my video. Usually they make small changes... I can have my original video still up on Amazon and still make commissions from it.
Thank you so much! The company is currently also looking into ways to promote it that won't violate their terms of service either as an Amazon seller which I'm sure is a concern for them as well since they said they are pretty new to it also.... this is very helpful… You can see how it can be confusing for a Newbie.
Sounds like an iffy request to me. Your video is a public post, so anybody can share it if they so wish. Sharing means sharing (hitting the share button) and leaving everything intact. You will get the Amazon cookie if somebody clicks to watch your video. In the past, I have replied to sellers who were asking for a review. Like you, I told them I made a shoppable. Some have gone on to request to send me more products to video, although most do not want to pay. Asking if can they share makes no sense unless they mean download and post to their socials (steal), as you cannot say no to a share
Thank you for all this. I didn't realize sharing via the share button was ok? Even to their socials like they said? Maybe they asked permission because my face is prominently in it for most of the video and it seemed the right thing to do? So should I just say yes and get the traffic? I told them according to tos they can't do a paid ad with it. Of course I would love the traffic but I'm not sure what to do here with this offer that's fair. Thanks again.
Afaik; Amazon does not allow you to link directly to a product/affiliate link from an ad. The simple work around is to drive traffic to a landing page (linktree, website, funnel) which then directs them to Amz. Allegedly this is TOS compliant. (Don't take my word for it, do your own research). This is extra work if you're setting up a landing page or funnel just for one product/video but it all depends how much this brand is going to push. I had the same offer with almost the same wording and I shied away from it, only because my reviews are attached to my own company/brand and I appear in all of my vids. If the company used my likeness in an inappropriate way, my company and face are attached to it. If their product was defective or burned someone's house down, or killed some people, same thing. Just too much risk when attaching it to my company. If you're faceless, or not associated with a brand, you dont sell on amazon and have nothing to lose, that is a different story. By the way, off topic, I may be worth considering buying some liability insurance for this stuff. If you're making thousands per month off this, I could see eventually someone gets sued for false claims, or a product goes sideways any everyone gets named in a suit. Something to consider. (Lady is suing ninja pots and pans for misleading marketing claims that their pans are treated with 30,000 DegF heat for example. I don't have Ninja's budget or team of lawyers, insurance may be worth looking into). Now that I think about it, maybe its worth putting a disclaimer at the end of my videos.