FTC disclosure

Plain-language statement

This statement is intended to satisfy the FTC’s requirement that material connections between an endorser and a marketer be "clearly and conspicuously" disclosed (16 C.F.R. § 255). We aim to surface this fact not just on a buried policy page, but on every page that contains affiliate links — in the footer, near outbound buttons, and in any newsletter that includes affiliate content.

What counts as a "material connection"

Under the FTC Endorsement Guides, a material connection is anything that might affect the credibility of an endorsement in a reasonable reader’s eyes. For Live Well Offers, this includes:

• Commissions, referral fees, or bounties paid by a merchant on qualifying sales.
• Free or discounted product samples provided for review.
• Sponsored stays, demo flights, or hosted experiences for travel coverage.
• Bonus payments for surfacing specific products during promotional windows.
• Personal or family relationships with anyone at a featured merchant.

We disclose all five categories when they apply. We will not write a positive review of a product owned by a friend or relative without saying so up front.

Free samples and review units

Merchants occasionally send us products at no cost so we can test them. When they do:

• We mark the review with a "Review unit provided by [Merchant]" line near the top.
• We are under no obligation to publish, and we routinely don’t — many review units never see the light of day because the product wasn’t good enough.
• We return or donate review units after testing unless the merchant explicitly says to keep them.
• A free unit never changes the rating we give. If anything, sample-fatigue makes us harder to impress.

Sponsored stays and travel

For some travel coverage — particularly hotels, retreats, and long-haul tours — we accept hosted stays so we can actually experience what we’re writing about. Every such piece carries a "Sponsored stay" badge and a sentence at the top of the review explaining the arrangement. The merchant has no editorial input.

If a sponsored stay disappoints us, we still write honestly about it. Some merchants stop offering hosted stays after a critical review. That is fine with us.

Disclosures in our newsletter

Every issue of our weekly digest contains an inline disclosure line in the header — "This email contains affiliate links" — and footnotes on individual items where a relationship needs spelling out. Subject lines for sponsored newsletter editions are prefixed with "[Sponsored]." We send no more than one sponsored edition per quarter.

How we enforce this internally

Every writer who contributes to Live Well Offers signs a Material Connections Acknowledgement when they join, and at the start of every fiscal year. Our editorial CMS requires a "Disclosure status" tag on every piece — none/affiliate/review-unit/sponsored — and pieces cannot publish without it. Our newsletter platform refuses to send an issue that contains an affiliate link without a disclosure line.

Where to direct questions

Compliance questions, including from FTC staff, can be directed to our General Counsel via livewelloffers@gmail.com. Consumer complaints about specific endorsements can use the contact form with topic "Editorial concern."