I have observed some affiliate websites and some blogs write elaborately on the products from merchants who never participate in affiliate marketing.

By never participate in affiliate marketing I mean, they simply don't have an affiliate program.

These merchants don't pay anyone commission of any kind for a referral sent to their site yet, some affiliate sites mention their sites and their products.

This is not bad, infact the general public (people who visit affiliate sites) like this. It leads the general public to believe that a particular affiliate site is unbiased in what it posts.

I have seen this kind of a mixture in 1 very popular deals site. They post deals from such sites like Spirit Airlines, Victoria's Secret or ULTA.com - these merchants don't have an affiliate program.

I also recently came accorss a blog which had links to direct merchants as well as some affiliate links.

Now, the question is - do these affiliate websites obtain permission from merchants (who don't have an affiliate program), to add their product pictures , and their product descriptions and links on their affiliate site?

Or do they simply add it without getting any prior permission from merchants?

I also want to do something like this (mixing affiliated merchants with non-affiliated merchants) on my deals website.

For this, I contacted ULTA.com if they would allow me to post their deals on my website.

The reply I got from them was:

"Thank you for your interest in ULTA.
I have forwarded your request to the appropriate department; if interested they will contact you via email."

But I never heard back from them again.

Is it unlawful to post stuff about stuff you see on someone else's site. I understand stuff about copyright infringement - but what about taking pictures of products and describing them on your site just because you think those products are cool and the visitors of your site would like them. In the end I would be sending referals to those merchants anyway.

Should I directly add these merchants to my site and then wait for someone from their company to raise an objection and ask me to remove their stuff.

Or should I contact each and every non-affiliated merchant and get their permission?