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Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

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Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#2

Post by logic »

I just received my termination email.

I believe I have a whopping $4 owed to me at this point, so I'm not upset about losing a large amount of revenue; I just have a difficult time understanding the rationale here.

I'm an affiliate: I direct traffic to Amazon, nothing more. Or put another way, I'm a third-party marketing arm; I don't participate in purchases as either buyer or seller. But apparently, I'm involved enough to constitute a physical presence for Amazon in Illinois?

If I apply this same logic to out-of-state companies contracting with marketing firms here in Illinois to promote their brand here and elsewhere, I get even more confused about the message being sent.

Perhaps it's best if I don't think about it very hard.

Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#3

Post by Vivtek »

logic wrote: post #2

I just received my termination email. I believe I have a whopping $4 owed to me at this point, so I'm not upset about losing a large amount of revenue; I just have a difficult time understanding the rationale here. I'm an affiliate: I direct traffic to Amazon, nothing more. Or put another way, I'm a third-party marketing arm; I don't participate in purchases as either buyer or seller. But apparently, I'm involved eno…

Might be better yet to send a strongly worded letter to your statehouse rep.

Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#4

Post by stronglyworded »

Vivtek wrote: post #3
logic wrote: post #2

I just received my termination email. I believe I have a whopping $4 owed to me at this point, so I'm not upset about losing a large amount of revenue; I just have a difficult time understanding the rationale here. I'm an affiliate: I direct traffic to Amazon, nothing more. Or put another way, I'm a third-party marketing arm; I don't participate in purchases as either buyer or seller. But apparently, I'm involved eno…

Might be better yet to send a strongly worded letter to your statehouse rep.

saying what? that you believe Amazon should be exempt from taxes that B&M stores pay?

Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#5

Post by raganwald »

If an affiliate in Illinois constitutes a presence for Amazon in Illinois, what happens when Amazon Adsense Ads appear on a web site hosted out of Illinois but run by a blogger who is a resident of Illinois? By my reckoning, Amazon is paying Google who in turn pay a resident of Illinois. How is this different from an Amazon affiliate?

Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#9

Post by evgen »

raganwald wrote: post #5

If an affiliate in Illinois constitutes a presence for Amazon in Illinois, what happens when Amazon Adsense Ads appear on a web site hosted out of Illinois but run by a blogger who is a resident of Illinois? By my reckoning, Amazon is paying Google who in turn pay a resident of Illinois. How is this different from an Amazon affiliate?

Amazon has no business relationship with the person running the ad, their relationship is with Google. The two companies are distinct entities and Amazon can easily claim to have no control over what Google does (this last bit is important because when people try to be clever and create shell companies to get around various regulations the government will try to "pierce the corporate veil" and argue that the only purpose of the shell company is to act as a hidden agent for the original company.) In the case of affiliates the states are claiming that the affiliates are acting as agents on behalf of Amazon and therefore Amazon has a physical presence in the state via those agents.

Re: Amazon Terminates Illinois Affiliates

#10

Post by [deleted] »

raganwald wrote: post #5

If an affiliate in Illinois constitutes a presence for Amazon in Illinois, what happens when Amazon Adsense Ads appear on a web site hosted out of Illinois but run by a blogger who is a resident of Illinois? By my reckoning, Amazon is paying Google who in turn pay a resident of Illinois. How is this different from an Amazon affiliate?

[deleted]
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