The Republican operative who was fired by Wal-Mart five years ago for his role in a race-baiting ad, has now been welcomed back to the fold in Bentonville.

Source: huffingtonpost.com → | ∞ Permalink

The Austin American-Statesman had a nice, balanced story on the advertising tax battle in Texas this weekend.

Source: blog.affiliatetip.com → | ∞ Permalink

When James Krewson set up his Austin-based price comparison website, his goals were simple: Steer shoppers toward online deals and make a living in the process.

Source: statesman.com → | ∞ Permalink

The internet tax debate is a confusing one. It is often phrased as "taxing the internet," something that surely only a luddite would propose. What’s really going on is that merchants and consumers are being taxed just as they always were. But there’s a new wrinkle. In some ways, there’s little [...]

Source: blogs.forbes.com → | ∞ Permalink

Painful awards shows arent the only odious things stirring in California these days. State lawmakers want to collect sales taxes on Californians purchases from out-of-state e-commerce retailers.

Source: mercurynews.com → | ∞ Permalink

Giant retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are using mom and pop stores as human shields in their battle against Amazon.com over taxing online sales.

Source: huffingtonpost.com → | ∞ Permalink

With the highest public debt per capita in the nation, Connecticut's bleak fiscal outlook is causing the legislature to grasp for tax policies that require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales tax on transactions with Connecticut residents. The tax scheme, which potentially affects dozens of online retailers, is better known as the Amazon tax after its largest target, Amazon.com. The Amazon tax is blatantly unconstitutional and is bad news for Connecticut's online shoppers, especially students, causing Amazon to decrease its ties with Connecticut contractors.

Source: dailycampus.com → | ∞ Permalink

Award-winning affiliate marketing blog from an award-winning affiliate program manager, international speaker, author and researcher.

Source: amnavigator.com → | ∞ Permalink

This is a small part of the team of affiliate marketers who were in the Texas capital yesterday to show strong opposition to the Texas bill HB 1317.

Left to right, Brook Schaaf, Daniel M. Clark (sans beret, almost didn't recognize you!), Rebecca Madigan, Scott Hazard, and Shawn Collins.

Thanks guys for getting out there. I heard you rocked it.

(Photo by Shawn Collins)

Source: flickr.com → | ∞ Permalink

Zappos terminates Illinois-based affiliates. "contracts with all Illinois marketing associates will be terminated as of May 31st, 2011"

Source: twitter.com → | ∞ Permalink

Here is the link to the original story. Overstock will be removing affiliates from Illinois on May 1st 2011.

Source: chicagoist.com → | ∞ Permalink

FatWallet gets much of its commissions from sending customers to major online retailers like Amazon or Overstock. The company is now at risk of losing business to another marketer outside of Illinois that doesn't have to pay those same taxes. None of Illinois' border states have affiliate tax laws.

What a mess...

Source: wrex.com → | ∞ Permalink

As I described a few weeks ago, I learned from my Senator that the Massachusetts Senate is filing an AdTax bill. He indicated that he was the one filing it, but this one that I found was filed by Senator Tolman.

By Mr. Tolman, petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1554) of Tolman for legislation to protect main street retailers and promote sales tax fairness in the Commonwealth [Joint Committee on Revenue].

Here's the text of the bill.

SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 64H of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended in line 265 by striking out the definition of "Vendor" and replacing it with the following:—

“Vendor”, a retailer or other person selling tangible personal property or services of a kind the gross receipts from the retail sale of which are required to be included in the measure of the tax imposed by this chapter, including any person making sales of tangible personal property or services taxable under this chapter by soliciting business through an independent contractor or other representative if the vendor enters into an agreement with a resident of the commonwealth under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link on an internet website or otherwise, to the vendor, if the cumulative gross receipts from sales by the vendor to customers in the commonwealth who are referred to the vendor by all residents with this type of an agreement with the vendor is in excess of ten thousand dollars during the preceding four quarterly periods ending on the last day of February, May, August, and November. Such vendor shall be presumed to be soliciting business through an independent contractor or other representative, a presumption which may be rebutted by proof that the resident with whom the vendor has an agreement did not engage in any solicitation in the commonwealth on behalf of the vendor that would satisfy the nexus requirement of the United States constitution during the four quarterly periods in question.

Source: malegislature.gov → | ∞ Permalink

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq: SHLD) one of Illinois' oldest retailers, applauds Governor Pat Quinn's approval of House Bill 3659, which will restore long overdue fairness to the tax system for retailers and taxpayers in Illinois. The "E-fairness Law" helps to correct a longstanding problem of out-of-state businesses not collecting and remitting the sales tax in Illinois, a practice that has put brick-and-mortar retailers at an unfair competitive disadvantage for far too long.

Amazon.com is threatening to leave states and terminate relationships with all its affiliates rather than comply with this new law. As we have stated, we will gladly welcome these affiliates to the Sears Affiliate Team. We recognize and value our relationships with our over 6,500 affiliate partners AND the state and local communities we serve and we look forward to adding new affiliates.

Dear Sears,

Please do issue another press release when you actually have the product selection to make affiliates whole after throwing them under the bus.

FYI, you'll not only need every product that Amazon has, but the product selection of hundreds of other merchants who will terminate affiliates because of your selfish actions just to get Amazon.

Guess what. You didn't get Amazon. But you sure did screw Illinois affiliates, including some of your own who you pretend to value.

Well done. Thanks for nothing.

Source: prnewswire.com → | ∞ Permalink

Pat Quinn, the Governor of Illinois is signing the Affliate/Advertising Tax, House Bill HB3659 into law today.

There has probably been stronger opposition from the affiliate industry in this state than any other to date, and it still passed. Big Illinois companies like FatWallet and CouponCabin have publicly stated that they will move out of the state if this is passed, not out of defiance, but to save their businesses. It is a fact that Amazon will terminate affiliate relationships resulting in no collected sales tax.

So why is he signing it?

He's signing it because the proponents of this bill are backed by big box retailers who are throwing a ton of money at it.

They're leaning on state legislators with every bit of FUD they can muster (FUD = fear, uncertainty, and doubt). They are making this all about Amazon, even though to most affiliate marketers, this has little to do with Amazon.

Most importantly, they're playing the "fairness" card. It's not fair to main street retailers that Amazon has a sales tax advantage. "Amazon is not playing fair. Let's get 'em!"

This as become about emotion and principles which is impossible to fight with logic and reason. It doesn't matter that it is a bad bill. It doesn't matter that the end result is zero gained income tax revenue. It doesn't matter that Amazon can simply skirt the law by terminating all affiliate relationships in the state.

The bill passes.
Amazon terminates affiliates.
Other merchants do the same.
Affiliate-powered businesses large and small are decimated.

Tell me. How is that fair?

Source: shareist.com → | ∞ Permalink

Hanover Park Press - SPRINGFIELD -- Two Internet-based marketers Thursday urged Gov. Pat Quinn to veto a bill aimed at collecting state sales tax on website purchases and threatened to leave the state if Quinn did not.

Great efforts by Tim Storm of FatWallet and Scott Kluth of Coupon Cabin.

Source: mysuburbanlife.com → | ∞ Permalink

Texas House Bill 1317, filed by Texas House Representative Elliott Naishtat on 2/14/11, has been referred to the Ways Means Committee.

Source: feedfront.com → | ∞ Permalink

What do your 2010 online holiday shopping purchases have to do with the budget gaps many states are struggling to fill right now? In the eyes of some state and federal legislators, the sales tax that is not being collected by many online merchants is revenue that could help stem the bleeding of state treasuries.

Source: cnn.com → | ∞ Permalink

Hey, this is pretty cool news. Buy.at just got a little better, I think.

Good luck Jeannine!

Source: blog.buy.at → | ∞ Permalink

Rae Hoffman is going to be doing a full-day SEO training.

wow, I'm tempted to sign up. Except I hope I'll be golfing at Pound Ridge that day. Yeah, I've got my priorities straight.

Source: regonline.com → | ∞ Permalink

Good advice from Jason Rubacky of ShareASale.

Source: blog.shareasale.com → | ∞ Permalink

MediaTrust Announces $3 Million in funding and several new hires to support MediaTrust's PerformanceExchange, which is soon to launch.

Source: blog.mediatrust.com → | ∞ Permalink

The PMA publishes a new podcast every week or so, called "The Industry Report". Typically Lisa Picarille interviews someone from the affiliate industry. It's always a good listen.

Source: performancemarketingassociation.com → | ∞ Permalink

The Affiliates4u community is the largest affiliate marketing forum in Europe.

Source: a4uforum.com → | ∞ Permalink

ABCs Plus is the place to discuss Affiliate ABCs, Blogging ABCs, Merchant ABCs podcasts about affiliate marketing and monetizing blogs.

Source: abcsplus.com → | ∞ Permalink

The 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums has primary focus on affiliate marketing, having been run by affiliate marketer Linda Buquet for several years. It's a very active forum with topic areas like SEO, content, blogs, and other marketing topics, in addition to affiliate marketing.

Source: affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com → | ∞ Permalink

The WarriorForum is a well-established, very active Internet Marketing forum. While broader in focus than just affiliate marketing, it does have a strong member-base who discuss affiliate marketing issues and topics.

Source: warriorforum.com → | ∞ Permalink

Affiliate Summit has launched a new forum focused on, of course, Affiliate Marketing, with a focus on networking. It is fairly active for a new forum and has sections for networking, QA, as well as representatives from affiliate networks and OPMs.

Source: forum.affiliatesummit.com → | ∞ Permalink

ABestWeb is a decade-old affiliate marketing forum that is probably the most well-known in the Affiliate Marketing industry. It focuses primarily on North America, but does have a global audience.

The #1 affiliate marketing forum with over 60,000 members that actively discuss Commission Junction, Linkshare, Google Affiliate Network, Shareasale, Pepperjam Network, marketLeverage and other affiliate marketing networks and issues including parasiteware.

Source: abestweb.com → | ∞ Permalink

Today I sent emails to my State Representative, Kate Hogan, and my Senator, Jamie Eldridge expressing my opposition to House Bill H01731.

I'm happy to report that I got calls back today from both of them. +1 for my reps for responsiveness.

Representative Kate Hogan

The call with Rep. Hogan went well. She expressed understanding and support in my opposition to this bill, that sometimes bills are written and supported without fully understanding the unintended consequences. She would oppose a bill that has such obvious flaws and would share my concerns with her peers.

Senator Jamie Eldridge

The call with Jamie Eldridge was a different story. Eldridge was firmly in support of this bill. This was surprising to me to get such a strong response out of the gate as most state politicians that I've spoken to on this issue in other states tended to have less understanding of the issue, and only after a discussion came down on one side of the issue or the other.

He cited fairness for Main Street retailers as the most important factor. That Amazon and other online retailers would not at all be affected by this law, and that it would result in no additional tax revenue was really a non-issue to him.

My points that the law would accomplish nothing but harm to Massachusetts business received little acknowledgement or sympathy. Very disappointing.

The important thing to him was that he supported "fairness" and that the more states pass this legislation, the more likely it would be for companies like Amazon to give in and collect sales tax. His arguments were based more in principle than in practicality and reality. It is difficult to argue with that.

Senator Eldridge then shared with me that he has filed an identical bill, Senate Docket S01527. As it turns out, I didn't realize until the end of the conversation that I was talking to the sponsor of the exact same bill on the Senate side. That explained everything!

Incidentally, I could not find this bill S01527 anywhere on the Mass legislature website. So either I wrote the number down wrong, or it is not up there yet. It did sound very new.

Surely he's receiving pressure from local businesses, chambers of commerce, etc., and this is his way of doing something for them -- regardless of the likely outcome.

Needless to say, I felt like I got nowhere. Does the sponsor of a bill ever give in?

I thanked him kindly and ensured him that he'd be hearing more from me. :)

Source: shareist.com → | ∞ Permalink

I got a call back immediately from my Rep, Kate Hogan, who said she would oppose the bill and share my email with her peers, that too often people don't recognize unintended consequences of legislation.

Emails and letters do absolutely make a difference. I've seen first-hand by being involved in other states that they get printed out, carried around, and read out loud at meetings and hearings. If there are enough of them, they get dropped on the podium for the thud factor.

I urge you to contact your own reps. If you're looking for ideas about what to write, I'd be happy to share my own letter.

Source: twitter.com → | ∞ Permalink

Here's a good list of things NOT to do..

• Take forever to review applications.
• Reject affiliates without explanation.
• Make small affiliates feel like pond scum.
• Fall behind the technology curve.
• Treat the affiliate channel as an afterthought.

Source: econsultancy.com → | ∞ Permalink

Shawn Collins and Lisa Picarille have been at this going on four years now. It's a great show, always keeping up with the latest in affiliate marketing news.

Shawn and Lisa record on Monday mornings.

Source: geekcast.fm → | ∞ Permalink

Review of the new ShareASale new merchant interface, which was announced at Affiliate Summit West 2011 in Las Vegas (where I saw it for the first time along with the ShareASale team).

People like “slick” user interfaces, and often (inaccurately) judge the quality of technology based on its interface. As a result, I feel that ShareASale may have lost a few merchants to networks that have slick interfaces. Luckily for us, ShareASale has focused their efforts to date, on their network quality.

Well – after the launch of this new interface, there should be no under-estimating the quality of this technology and this amazing network.

I'm looking forward to an overhaul of the affiliate interface.

Source: affiliatemarketingplan.com → | ∞ Permalink

Daniel M. Clark is producing a really great set of both long-form interviews (20-30 minute range) and what he calls "Short Shots" which are shorter podcasts (less than 10 minutes).

Daniel is mostly providing interviews with industry folks like Todd Farmer, Shawn Collins, Jen Goode, Jim Kukral, Jason Rubacky, and more. As of this post, he's up to lucky number 13.

Unlike most affiliate podcasts, these are hosted on Daniel's own QAQN podcast network.

Source: qaqn.com → | ∞ Permalink

Affiliate Thing's latest episode, including updates on the Advertising Tax, Affiliate Summit Keynotes, Treamill desks, and more (not least of which, Shawn's new cowboy boots.)

Source: geekcast.fm → | ∞ Permalink

If you're an affiliate in Massachusetts, you should join the PMA MA advertising tax google group. You'll receive important updates and information related to this issue.

Source: groups.google.com → | ∞ Permalink

If you live in Massachusetts, you should be contacting your legistators about the H01731 bill, Massachusetts AdTax

Source: malegislature.gov → | ∞ Permalink

This bill H01731 is titled, "An Act to protect main street retailers and promote sales tax fairness in the Commonwealth"

Section 1 of chapter 64H of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended in line 265 by striking out the definition of "Vendor" and replacing it with the following:—

“Vendor”, a retailer or other person selling tangible personal property or services of a kind the gross receipts from the retail sale of which are required to be included in the measure of the tax imposed by this chapter, including any person making sales of tangible personal property or services taxable under this chapter by soliciting business through an independent contractor or other representative if the vendor enters into an agreement with a resident of the commonwealth under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link on an internet website or otherwise, to the vendor, if the cumulative gross receipts from sales by the vendor to customers in the commonwealth who are referred to the vendor by all residents with this type of an agreement with the vendor is in excess of ten thousand dollars during the preceding four quarterly periods ending on the last day of February, May, August, and November. Such vendor shall be presumed to be soliciting business through an independent contractor or other representative, a presumption which may be rebutted by proof that the resident with whom the vendor has an agreement did not engage in any solicitation in the commonwealth on behalf of the vendor that would satisfy the nexus requirement of the United States constitution during the four quarterly periods in question.

Source: malegislature.gov → | ∞ Permalink

Get the latest news and AdTax developments on the following states that have active legislation in 2011:

• Texas
• Vermont
• Illinois
• Minnesota
• Connecticut
• Hawaii
• California
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• New Mexico

Source: performancemarketingassociation.com → | ∞ Permalink