Review-comparison site

legalities & affiliates

[Rischen]

Hi,

I'm setting up a review-comparison site for goods and services. Are there any legal concerns that one must be aware of for such a site?

Also, are you able to review sites of companies with which you are affiliated?

I appreciate your time.

Best,

Rischen

[rogerd]

This is an area where proper legal advice is a really good idea. One key issue is whether you are doing the reviews or whether your visitors will be contributing content, too. Each carries their own kind of exposure.

If your visitors are posting content, you'll likely get some actionable posts. "XYZ company is a scam, the product was imported junk and fell apart in two days, their phone support never answered..." You can create tough disclaimers for user-posted content, but that doesn't mean you won't get sued.

If you are posting the content, you can't try to disclaim away all responsibility. Generally, truth and objectivity are a good defense when writing reviews, but even Consumer Reports gets sued once in a while.

Reviewing products that you are related to shouldn't pose a legal problem per se, although including a disclaimer would be ethical. If the site is tied to a particular set of products, though, it could strengthen the hand of another company who feels it has been inappropriately criticized in a bad review.

I'd recommend studying the TOS of other review sites, compile a list of what looks important to you, and then go to an attorney to draft your final terms and to establish boundaries for what you publish.

[shigamoto]

Also find if you will be held accountable for the content that the users post on your website. I know that some countries in Europe have that kind of law.

[BigDave]

If you are including honest reviews, you can expect pressure to remove or modify views all the time. And regular threats of legal action are a fact of life, but actual lawsuits are very rare if you don't cros the line into libel.

[Rischen]

Thank you, guys.

Good words, good thoughts and I appreciate your time.

I was thinking from the jump that I'd steer away from user posted comments. On sites where users can post reviews a lot of people flame and hose sites that they haven't even used for kicks and when people come forward with honest feedback, people think it's an inside job anyhow! I'll just review on a personal, surfer's tip and draft an ironclad tos!

Appreciate it again.

Keep yourselves well,

Rischen