What’s Up With Amazon and California?
Things have certainly gotten interesting between Amazon.com and California. They’ve come to a new agreement that Amazon doesn’t need to collect sales taxes this year, but starting in September 2012, they will. As of this writing, it hasn’t been signed by the Governor, so it’s a matter of waiting to see what happens now for California affiliate marketers.
It’s been said that Amazon will let California affiliates back into the program if this is signed, although I haven’t had any official word on that from Amazon. That said, I don’t know that it will last beyond September 2012, as Amazon could take other steps to get out of needed to collect the taxes in the free year they now have. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.
With that in mind, I’m going to be quite hesitant to create or promote new Amazon affiliate sites. I have some, which have suffered tremendously from the lack of Amazon links, and I had hoped to build more, but I won’t until I know things will last beyond a year. I’m really not into the short term stuff.
This deal also depends on whether there is action from Congress on the matter of sales tax on online purchases. This is what Amazon has been pushing for, as it has the potential to simplify the collection of such taxes.
Even with all that, I’m much annoyed with the people who keep insisting that it is only the lack of sales tax charged that makes people shop on Amazon. That’s the line we keep hearing, and it’s just not true.
I firmly believe most people shop on Amazon because the basic price is lower even before sales tax. They also go there because local stores can rarely compete with the selection. Add in the reviews and other information available about the products, and of course people love shopping online. Having to pay sales tax on online purchases won’t change that.
Even though I won’t be aggressively promoting Amazon until I know what’s in the works for next September, I still want this bill signed. It will put a stop to what otherwise will be a nasty fight.
