No more Amazon for Ca affiliates..

D

darkdrift

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Jun 24, 2006
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No more amazon affiliate program in CA

Hello,
For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers - including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you - even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.

As a result, we will terminate contracts with all California residents that are participants in the Amazon Associates Program as of the date (if any) that the California law becomes effective. We will send a follow-up notice to you confirming the termination date if the California law is enacted. In the event that the California law does not become effective before September 30, 2011, we withdraw this notice. As of the termination date, California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned on or before the termination date will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California.
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Just got the letter. Sent one to Governor Brown and said that Amazon is not bluffing, nor am I.

I have a very intense tax attorney and will let you guys know what we decide to do. FML this is gonna be a pain in the ass.
 
Sooner or later Amazon is gonna run out of states to pull out of, they may end up just allowing affiliates in states where they have distribution centers (if they don't shut it down altogether) and can't get away from the nexus bullshit.
 
^Nah, there will be a point, perhaps at the 50% mark, where the remaining states realize that they suddenly have growing revenue from us Amazon Affils who have either moved in state or registered our corps/llcs there.

At this point those states will FINALLY realize the value of not letting Amazon pull out meanwhile rooting for all other states to be dropped.

I'm in Kansas now, where Amazon is still kosher, but I'm about to move to a state where it's no longer accepted. I guess that means I'll be keeping a kansas mailbox &/or bank account... Bastards.
 
In addition to this, I received a termination letter today from another CPS program that we promote. Really annoying...
 
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lukep said:
^Nah, there will be a point, perhaps at the 50% mark, where the remaining states realize that they suddenly have growing revenue from us Amazon Affils who have either moved in state or registered our corps/llcs there.

At this point those states will FINALLY realize the value of not letting Amazon pull out meanwhile rooting for all other states to be dropped.
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The assumption here is that politicians are logical.
 
It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers...
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Well this sucks.

Anyone know how this law will effect other affiliate programs, like CPA offers, in Ca?

Moving there in like 2 weeks.
 
Isn't there a chance that these new laws requiring taxation violate inter-state commerce laws or something? (This is a genuine question)
 
I didn't get the email, but I read a blog post where it was published, this sentence at the end caught my eye:

We are also working on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.
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Maybe they'll take a page out of the EPN book, get ready for Amazon Quality Click Pricing bitches! :D
 
justo_tx said:
Maybe they'll take a page out of the EPN book, get ready for Amazon Quality Click Pricing bitches! :D
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LOL; not impossible, I guess, but they'd have to restrict affiliates from selling items in their own Amazon warehouses. -eBay only gets around this same law by not keeping their own warehoused goods. Amazon is still selling roughly half of its' crap out of buildings with a huge "A" on the side.
 
just got this letter too. If I have a second home in Connecticut, anyone know if I change my address in Amazon to this one, will that allow me to remain an affiliate? Just grasping at straws here. Does Amazon have Connecticut affiliates still, or have they pulled out of there as well?
 
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medicalhumor said:
just got this letter too. If I have a second home in Connecticut, anyone know if I change my address in Amazon to this one, will that allow me to remain an affiliate? Just grasping at straws here. Does Amazon have Connecticut affiliates still, or have they pulled out of there as well?
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just start an LLC in a state that hasn't been hit yet and open a bank account there, problem solved. Nevada LLCs are awesome.

"Legislation that would have required Amazon to collect sales tax on purchases shipped to Nevada failed in committee in the state legislature in May 2011. The legislation was proposed by the Retail Association of Nevada and was expected to generate $16 million annually in additional sales tax collections. Concerns about whether such a move might prompt Amazon.com to close its distribution center in the state were partially responsible for derailing this legislation."

File the LLC paperwork online with someone like InCorp, and open the bank account online with BofA or something.
 
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Just change your payment info pronto:

[FONT=verdana, courier new,courier,tahoma,sans-serif]You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here [ https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/network/your-account/payee-info.html ]. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us [ https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/contact?subject=&ie=UTF8 ] for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.[/FONT]
 
PapaJohn is correct. Upon sending my tax guys a "warning shot" a month ago that this would probably happen, they did some research and said that dissolving the CA S-Corp and creating a new one in a new state would be the way to go.

We haven't gone beyond that, but it might be time to kick it back up in early July.
 
I really don't see the point of staying in this Third World state anymore. CA has:

the highest income tax (or top 3)
the highest sales tax
extremely high LLC fees
Los Angeles roads that look like they were bombed by Al Quaida

It's time for productive people to leave and let the parasites devour themselves!
 
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