As an affiliate you may not have a license to sell stocks, bonds, firearms, prescription drugs or to loan money or provide investment advice. These businesses are considered regulated businesses, and representations about or the provision of their services can only be done by individuals with appropriate licenses.

However, as an affiliate you still have the ability to hand off a site visitor who is interested in the services of one of these businesses. But you can only do this if you make no representations about such a service, are not involved in providing any physical products, and are not, in any way, involved in providing such services. This means that you simply place a banner or link from the provider of such services on your website. You are not allowed to change or add to any such materials provided by the merchant, provide any services or provide any customer service functions.

Individual merchants as well as affiliate networks have very strict guidelines about such services, and for them to do otherwise could put their licenses in jeopardy. Affiliates need to be careful to abide by the regulations.

So why do merchants want affiliates to advertise these products that require extra diligence, and what is the attraction to affiliates? Some of these products have created a great deal of interest, and a high volume of subsequent transactions. Mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans are good examples. People want to have the ability to comparison shop, and in many cases geography is not an issue in service provision. The internet provides a marketplace where both sides of a transaction can look for the best possible deal. Affiliates gain by bringing the two participants in the transaction together.