Product video review contracts?

E

Ed Ricker

Member
Hi guys, I am looking for some advice. I operate a YouTube channel that concerns drones, videography, and vlogs revolving around that sort of thing. I've had companies approach me asking for me to review their products, and I've always sent out contracts that basically allow me creative and honest freedom in how I make the reviews. I have wording about how I am able to recommend or not recommend the product to my viewers and that the company sending me the product can't tell me to change my opinion of the products. Also some stipulations on what they can and can't do with my videos and quotes, and the right to refuse products before they are shipped to me.

So far it's been great, but I had one Chinese company contact me last month wanting to send me some stuff. I told them they would need to fill out a contract with me first, and they ignored that. I made the mistake of giving them my mailing address in the same email, and they immediately sent me the products but now they are refusing to sign the contract. So now I have the products sitting on my table with no contract protection. They are accusing me of not telling them about the contract before they sent me the products, but I have multiple emails that prove I did. So, am I making this all a big deal, should I just review the products and move on with no contract hoping for the best, or should I stick to my guns here? Do y'all do contracts too?

Thanks for any insight you guys have!
Ed R
 
Well, since they didn't give you a contract to sign and you didn't agree to any terms before receiving the products, you can pretty much do whatever you want contractually speaking. If you're worried about how they'll use your content, then don't do the reviews until they've signed the contract. Just keep talking to them and if they're being stubborn about it, then don't do the review at all. I mean if they're being this troublesome about a simple contract, then imagine what they'll be like in the long run.

I personally think it's admirable that you have a contract because I don't give something like that out before I receive review products. In my case though, I normally get budget gaming/tech products that don't really require specialization to review. In your case, you're dealing with higher price items and you are pretty much a specialist to some degree. I think that in itself is enough reason to have your own contract.
 
Thanks Kristeen for the perspective. It's been difficult with this company because of the language barrier, but I'm also a bit leery of them not wanting to sign a contract that doesn't actually lock them in to anything. It's simply to protect me as a YouTuber. The fact that they don't want to sign a contract designed to protect MY freedoms is a red flag.
Asking for a company to sign a contract upfront would usually weed out any insincere or fraudulent companies and requests, but here I am stuck with 3 of their products now! I guess I will just wait and see what they say in the coming days.
Thanks again.
 
Yeah, I can totally related with the language barrier thing. I think their culture also plays a role in why it's sometimes difficult to deal with Chinese companies. They don't follow the same rules as many other countries when it comes to their corporate culture. The ones that especially don't travel out a lot seem to have this kowtow culture, basically thinking they're doing you a service by providing you a free product and thaf they don't owe you anything else.

I mean I'm from Hong Kong, which is sort of in China, and the people here also don't really understand people from the Mainland.
 
I've moved this to the YouTube Video Monetization / Partnership discussion forum. ^_^

I would try to email again, but really really really over-simplify your sentences. Try to avoid using words that can be both nouns and verbs (e.g. the word "contract") so that it will translate easier. Maybe tell them something like,
Please agree to these rules before I film the video:
and then list your contract.

I've had to write to a lot of Chinese companies because I like to buy stuff from China, and the simpler the sentences, the better! Always say lots of pleasant "Please" and "Thank You" words (even if you are mad....), and try your best to make sure "no one loses face" (i.e. try to make sure no one on their end feels embarrassed or humiliated in any way). It's a big deal in China.... If you find that they sort of drop contact, consider that a "no, I don't want to sign your rules agreement," and they are just trying to avoid making you "lose face and feel embarrassed by them saying 'no.'"

it's definitely a different culture! But that's been my experience so far with China..
 
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