Vaping affiliate & TPD legislation

[iMaMbA]

Quick background: I am US based and looking to buy a website as a main source of income; came across a UK based e-cig affiliate site for sale which produces very decent income via commissions from affiliate links to e cig market sites. I am an avid vapor and have used box & mech mods for some time myself. Currently using the JUUL and Von erl after buying the nebox and having it leak 10 ml of juice into my pocket a few times over LOL.

Been doing my research on the UK market, rules and regs ect. I've seen the TPD which is beginning to take affect through the EU and am curious how you think this may affect an affiliate site such as the one im looking at. Does the TPD affect online vape sales or is it primarily directed at vape shops? any help/advice/filling me in more on TPD would be much appreciated..

Thank you!

 

[iMaMbA]

not a single reply or word of advice...

 

[junglist]

Hi @iMaMbA - sorry didn't see your original post. As far as I am aware the new CAP rules which need to be adhered to for the 20th May this year class all affiliate links as advertisements. You can read the code here:
https://www.cap.org.uk/~/media/Files/CAP/Help notes new/Electronic cigarette guidance 2017.ashx

Check out the list at the top of page 5. As you are US based then you are out of reach of CAP and the ASA who regulate advertising in the UK but bear in mind that it is an offence for a UK company to procure an advertisement as well so any UK ecig company running an affiliate system might find themselves in trouble.

I say might as this is new legislation and there are a heck of a lot of vape companies out there so how the hell they are going to police them all I don't know. It could be that they haul a few up and hit them hard as a message to the rest of the industry, it might be that they ignore the lot. We really won't know until after May. So there is an element of risk in buying a business now where the income is derived wholly through ecig affiliate deals, especially if a chunk of the affiliate scheme providers are UK based.

 

[cxm322]

Just forget about e-cig affiliate sites. Not just for the UK, but in general, but certainly if the site you want to buy is geared toward the UK.

All the links that are through UK affiliate networks will go dead because the affiliate networks will be up on the law and will ban ecig companies from day one to avoid lawsuits from the govt. The rest of the links that are directly to ecig stores that run their own in-house programs....screw 'em. They usually don't pay anyway. Never join an in-house affiliate program. If their too cheap to pay an affiliate network to get traffic, then they're too cheap to too dishonest to pay out commissions. They are usually looking for free traffic on the dime of hard-working affiliate marketers.

The person selling the site knows what they are doing, they are looking for a sucker to buy the site before 20 May. Don't be that sucker.

 

[GXM245]

It is more crucial than ever to now educate and inform each other gently and to build up our community to prevent further regulation in the future - which is somewhat likely once everyone gets used to the TPD. In that spirit, this is a good video for those who are still wondering what this is all about: