Frankly, I wasn't sure whether to put this here, or in Rants, or even Name And Shame.
In case anyone
hasn't heard, Amazon.com threw a massive fit over a recent Colorado law, and cut off
every Amazon.com affiliate in the State of Colorado. Since then, it has gotten even uglier.
As one of those affiliates, I hadn't made more than pocket change over the last few years, anyway. Their terms and payouts were not exactly generous by affiliate standards. But it was still a bit of a shock to get that notification from them, and to see their public statements in the news.
Since California is in the process of passing a similar law, I wonder whether they plan to cut off
that nose to spite their face. That State has more than 10% of the population of the entire country living there, and is a major source of their customers.
Once all the smoke being blown around clears, the issue addressed by the law was fairly simple: Any web company (and any mail order, or phone order company) with a "physical business presence" in a State is subject to the Sales Tax laws of that State. That much is established by Federal law and Federal and State (several States) case law. The Colorado law simply defined having affiliates who physically reside in the State as constituting a physical business presence in the State. It even gave the retailers a break: instead of having to collect the taxes and remit them to the State and relevant tax districts, they merely have to notify their customers (with each order) that they (the customers) owe the tax and need to pay it. And the affiliates got an even bigger break - we don't have to do anything about it.
In the case of Amazon, it's clear that they want to keep their competitive advantage over some of their peers. For instance, Barnes and Nobles has B&M stores in a number of States (including Colorado). Therefore, Barnes And Nobles dot com has to collect and remit sales taxes for online orders in those States. Amazon.com competes with that site, and has not had to - and they want to force the State (and any of those like California who are looking to follow that lead) to keep it that way so they have that advantage over their competitors.
What does it all mean for us? If you are an Amazon.com affiliate in Colorado, you are no longer an Amazon.com affiliate. We won't get paid for any traffic they get through our links (no matter how much those visitors buy there). If you are an Amazon.com affiliate anywhere else, watch out - you could be next.
Jorey
.
