Reviews, Testimonials and Affiliate Links: FTC Basics for PLR Sellers
Reviews and testimonials can do a lot of the persuading on a sales page for a PLR product, an ebook or a course. They are also one of the areas where the Federal Trade Commission pays close attention. Here is a plain-language overview of the FTC guidance that matters most for small digital-product sellers, as of October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice; if you’re unsure about your situation, talk to a qualified attorney.
Testimonials Must Be Real and Honest
The FTC’s Q&A on its Endorsement Guides (last modified July 15, 2025) starts from a simple principle: an endorsement has to reflect the honest opinion of the person giving it. You also can’t use a customer’s review to make a claim you couldn’t legally make yourself.
The FTC went further in August 2024, when it announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials. The rule covers reviews from people who don’t exist or never used the product, including AI-generated fake reviews, and it allows the FTC to seek civil penalties against knowing violators. It also targets buying positive or negative reviews, undisclosed reviews from company insiders, and buying fake followers or views to misrepresent influence.
For PLR sellers, that means: never write sample testimonials “to get started,” and never reuse testimonials that came with a PLR package as if your customers wrote them.
Be Careful With Exceptional Results
According to the FTC’s guidance, if a testimonial describes an unusually good result, the ad needs to clearly disclose what people generally achieve, unless you have evidence that the testimonial reflects typical outcomes. This matters for anything that hints at income, such as “I made back the cost in a week.” The safest approach for most sellers is to feature testimonials about the product itself: clarity, ease of editing, usefulness.
Don’t Game Your Reviews
The FTC’s Q&A also flags review practices that can mislead buyers:
- Offering discounts or rewards only for positive reviews.
- Asking only happy customers to leave reviews.
- Selectively hiding, delaying or burying negative reviews.
- Pressuring customers to change or delete a negative review.
Inviting every buyer to leave an honest review, and showing reviews in a neutral order, keeps you on solid ground.
Disclose Connections Clearly
If you give someone a free copy, a discount, a commission or any other benefit, and they then review or promote your product, that relationship should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. The FTC says disclosures should sit where people will actually see them, and that vague tags like “gifted” or a disclosure hidden in a comment or behind a link aren’t enough.
If You Run an Affiliate Program
Affiliates who promote your PLR products need to disclose that they earn a commission, close to the link itself. The FTC’s guidance gives “Paid link” as an example of adequate wording next to an affiliate link, and says terms such as “affiliate link” alone or “commissionable link” may not be clear enough. You are also responsible for what your affiliates say, so give them approved claims and disclosure examples, and check their posts from time to time.
