http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/amazons-tea-party Comments On: Amazon's Tea Party by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:15:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Like a lot of good ideas, it looks good on paper... not so much in practice.

This never minds enforcing the law, which is a whole other can of worms.
Posted by Gomez]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:02:43 -0700 The Stranger
I'm sure that Amazon has a pretty good grasp on the financial impact of cutting off its' affiliates program on a given state. It may very well be that case that they have decided that the affiliates program brings in less profit than the necessary tax systems will cost to develop or acquire and operate.

@11

This is indeed about buying directly from Amazon. Affiliates are people who link to Amazon products. They're getting paid for the referral. Sellers (people who sell products through Amazon) are a different issue.

Posted by Tax me please]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:43:26 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:51:39 -0700 The Stranger
Amazon has cut affiliate ties to:
Rhode Island
Hawaii
North Carolina
(and sent a threatening letter to California)

Blue Nile has cut ties to:
North Carolina
Rhode Island

(This comment cribbed from a PSBJ article.)
Posted by dr. dipshit]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:27:58 -0700 The Stranger
#5, #7? You realize this is about Amazon's affiliate program, right? Amazon isn't going to stop selling in these states, they're just not going to offer their affiliate program there.

#1, #5? You realize this isn't special to Amazon, but is rooted in the overused interstate commerce clause of the constitution, whereby no state can levy a tax on goods imported from another state (hence the silly "use tax" stuff). It's true for online, phone orders, and mail order.

Me, I don't see why Amazon (or other out-of-state resellers) should pay taxes to a state for the privilege of shipping goods to that state. But to the extent that's going to happen, calling affiliate program participants "physical presence" for companies is going to have all sorts of unintended consequences.


Posted by also]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:29:44 -0700 The Stranger
Posted by realjournalist]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:42:51 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Dougsf]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:32:40 -0700 The Stranger
A little off topic, but I think they're vendor network has gotten to big without much quality controls IMO. Odering from Amazon is almost as much as a crapshoot as eBay, Bookfinder, or Gemm these days.
Posted by Dougsf]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:32:09 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Lily Fluffbottom]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:32:09 -0700 The Stranger
The states would be well advised to arrest and hold any employees of this tax-avoiding firm when they travel in their states and only release them upon full payment of taxes owed.

I recommend the use of cattle prods in the capture.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:57:10 -0700 The Stranger BestBuy.com and other online retailers that are tied to B&M stores have to collect taxes.
Posted by Foggen]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:53:30 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Foggen]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:50:32 -0700 The Stranger Posted by keshmeshi]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:48:44 -0700 The Stranger
And Fnarf, this isn't going to increase sales tax revenues in the affected states. All it's going to do is shift business (and jobs) to states that don't have these laws.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:44:59 -0700 The Stranger
All the wyomings and alaskas and whatever won't add up to a single california.

God you a just fucking stupid on legs, are you?
Posted by Max J]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:43:17 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Fnarf]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:39:21 -0700 The Stranger