California and the new Amazon Tax Law

California and the new “Amazon Tax Law”

Who do you think will see the greatest impact, affiliate or the state when it comes to passing the California online sales tax law?

In my opinion, I believe that it will be the state of California or any time that imposes the tax. Why? If affiliates are making their income online, they cannot afford to stand by and continue to see a major drop of revenue of 50% or more due to the new Amazon law. And it is happening to some. Why? Many of the online retailers, not just Amazon, are opting to drop their affiliate programs in the state, or any state that has the “Amazon Tax Law”, to avoid the tax. Simple solution for the online retailer? But a crushing blow to the affiliate.

That leaves the affiliate deciding whether to regroup with different products or moving from the state to recover their lost revenue. Well, for those that have the means to move, that is what many are choosing or contemplating. I can’t blame them. Granted, the small affiliate without the means will be hurt because they will be forced to re-establish themselves with new products to make up the drop of income.

The end result, in my opinion, is lost revenue for the state that imposes the tax, and more revenue for states that have not imposed the tax, when “big money” affiliates or small online businesses leave the “Amazon Tax” state for states with friendlier taxes for those working online. Gee, what was the state thinking?

This article is from myaffiliateplace.blogspot.com

Amazon Ends Affiliate Relationship in Illinois

Amazon Ends Affiliate Relationship in Illinois

Well, I guess you can say Amazon is good to it’s word when they say that they would end their affiliate relationship with affiliate marketers if Illinois put through the Internet sales tax.

As I stated in an earlier post the Illinois state government wanted to start collecting sales taxes from affiliates in the state, for all sales made by Illinois residents. How many affiliates will this affect in Illinois? 9000.

So far, Amazon has closed its affiliate program in: Colorado, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and now Illinois. Will other states look to the Internet to close their deficits? They are trying.

California was considering the same such move. However, Amazon threatened to choke off their affiliate marketing program in California if  (10,000 affiliates would be affected in that state) state lawmakers proceeded with  legislation that would require the Internet retailer to collect sales tax from their state residents.

California, not deterred, decided to have a study done, to see the revenue affects it would have on their state. According to a study by the State Board of Equalization Staff Legislative Bill Analysis in CA it showed that if Amazon shut it’s affiliate program down,  it would affect the state adversely. It estimated that Amazon currently comprises roughly 50 percent of the Internet sales of large firms who have no
residence in California.

If Amazon and Overstock stayed on board and other people continued to sell on Ebay, the sales tax that California would collect would be:

$152 million in 2011-12
$317 million in 2012-13

Since Amazon stated that they would not continue their affiliate program, the revenue would shrink to:

$114 million in 2011-12
$234 million in 2012-13.

Mind you, that is just Amazon. If other online businesses followed the same path as Amazon, the revenue would be further diminished. In addition, the termination of the program would further lower revenues because it would adversely affect employment, which would translate into less revenue from personal income taxes and corporation taxes.

I wonder if the other states did a comparison study?

In addition, Texas slapped a  $269 million bill for uncollected sales taxes at Amazon distribution center in Texas. Amazon threatened to close the doors on the distribution center if they proceeded with the billing.

Why is Amazon proceeding in this manner? They feel the law is unconstitutional and there is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1992 that is also relevant. The ruling stated that retailers can’t be forced to collect sales tax on out-of-state shipments unless they have offices in those states.

Eventually, this issue will have to be addressed by Congress. Don’t you think.

This article is from myaffiliateplace.blogspot.com

Joining Affiliate Programs

Welcome to our Secret Affiliate News web site.

When joining affiliate programs it’s important to determine who the visitors to your site are. Affiliate programs are targeted towards a certain market, and if you choose programs that aren’t rightly aligned for your audience, you’ll never make the commissions you intended. When choosing affiliate programs you’ll need to invest in plenty of research. Considering your target audience’s needs is the primary focus for ensuring that they will find the program appealing and be enticed to click through and make a purchase.

Before joining an affiliate program, review the site. It’s important to remember that since you are referring your customer to the merchant’s site that you are recommending that merchant as an honest and reputable business partner. Your customer’s trust that you are referring them to legitimate businesses. Take the time to review the merchant’s website. Preview the design of the site, the layout, their ordering policies, and check their history to make sure they are an upstanding businesses. Choose affiliate programs that you would buy products from yourself.

Determine how the affiliate program interacts with their associates. Do they have a person that you may contact should you have any affiliate marketing questions? Reputable companies provide a marketing professional with whom you can interact, send Emails to, and discuss marketing strategies with. It is important to associate yourself with companies that understand the importance of the merchant/affiliate relationship and take that relationship seriously.

Preview the types of marketing materials they make readily available when making your decision. Do they use banner ads, text links, HTML code for newsletters, and do they have a wide variety of graphic ads? Also, make sure that they frequently update their ads as well. If they are still running Christmas ads in July, they might have difficulty managing their affiliate marketing department.

Always read through and understand the terms of payment to ensure that you choose marketing programs that are best suited for your needs. Every associate program offers its own payment structure and terms. Determine how you will be paid, as some programs pay on a weekly basis, while others pay on a monthly basis after you reach a set threshold. By taking these factors into consideration, you can make certain that you select the best affiliate programs for your needs.

We offer an attractive affiliate program, please click here to read more about our referral program. Is a great way to increase your profits, to make some money online working from home.