Affiliate Karma

By: Brook Schaaf, Founding Member of Performance Marketing Alliance, Inc., and principal at Schaaf Consulting

First a recap on this bill – California’s AB 178, co-sponsored by assembly members Nancy Skinner and Charles Calderon, is an “Amazon Tax” that labels affiliates a tax nexus for the purpose of forcing out of state retailers to collect and remit sales tax to California. This bill is modeled after an existing New York law that passed last year.

This game is being played out in multiple states because state governments want tax dollars for online purchases. The state can only compel retailers to collect and remit this tax if the retailers have a physical presence, or nexus, in the state such as a distribution center, corporate office, or retail store.

A few key points:

• It will bring unfair hardship to the affiliate marketing space. As we saw in New York, merchants will avoid nexus by severing their relationships with California affiliates, thus depriving them of income.

• This is a misapplication of the law because affiliate marketing is a form of advertising and advertising is already established as not being nexus.

Unfortunately, the New York law has withstood one court challenge so far. That means that we have a lot of education to do outside the affiliate marketplace. This was apparent on our lobbying day in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 31. While the staff and assembly members we met with understood that small businesses in California would be hurt, they did not seem to fully understand what affiliate marketing is – in particular that it is a type of advertising.

The good news is that we made some positive strides toward defeating this very dangerous, unfair bill. See the Performance Marketing Alliance site to learn more about the legislative storm. But there is much more to be done. If you are involved in affiliate or internet marketing, you should keep abreast of what is going on in your state and stay in touch with your representatives. Our effort is making a difference and we need to carry it to other states.

Visit the Performance Marketing Alliance site to learn more about the devastating effects of Bill 178, and how you can help. Or reach out to me at Brook at schaafco dot com and let us know how you can support the efforts to stop this unfair legislation from being passed.

Thanks so much!

Note from Editor, Stephanie Agresta: The LinkShare Blog has a lot of good news and updates on this issue.  Including the fact that Maryland SB 1071 failed to pass.

As many of you know, Stephanie Agresta Consulting LLC, publisher of Affiliate Karma and Schaaf Consulting, Inc, the leading agency focused solely on affiliate program management, announced a partnership at  Affiliate Summit West 2009.

Two of the most respected brands in the Affiliate OPM business have joined forces to bring you the most premium product in the marketplace today. With relationships, technology, and a standard for excellence Schaaf Consulting will now be the featured OPM service on the Affiliate Karma site and Stephanie Agresta will now support business development and social media strategies for Schaaf clients.

It’s been a busy Q1 of transition, but stay tuned for some new content and an updated feel to Affiliate Karma!

And as always, if you have any questions about our services, please contact us here!

by Missy Ward

Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit and FeedFront Magazine

Since 2007, the Affiliate Marketing community has raised nearly $80,000 through Affiliate Summit selected charities such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada, March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Starlight Starbright Foundation.

In the next few months, Affiliate Summit will be supporting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure again as team Affiliate Marketers Worldwide, takes to the streets to raise money to fight Breast Cancer. This September in Seattle, I will be leading a team of incredibly generous Affiliate Marketers who will be walking 60-miles, over the course of three days with me. Angel Djambazov of PopShops.com and JonesSoda.com, Jen Goode of JGoodeDesigns.com, Karen Garcia of GTOManagement.com, Adam Riemer of DowntownEcommerce.com, Anne Fognano and Tammy Carney of CleverMoms.com, Laura Przybek of buy.at Heather Paulson and Jen Campbell of PaulsonManagementGroup.com and Debra Banning and Jen Fluker of MarketLeverage.com are just a few of the terrific folks that will be donating their valuable time for this worthy cause.

Some people have asked me why I’m doing the 60-mile walk again, even now that I know what I’m in store for. I guess for me, it’s all about the facts. I know that without a cure, 1 in 8 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. I also know that EVERY advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant. I can’t think of a better way to use my feet so that one day men and women won’t lose their breasts or their lives.

I am still looking for additional walkers to take on Breast Cancer with us. If you would like to join our team, or make a donation, please visit AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com to do so.

On that site, you will also find:

I will be video blogging the 60-miles, so tune in September 12-14 for all the walk antics and stories.

If you would like to make a donation in any amount, you can do so online at Missys60MileWalk.com. I will be add your site to the AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com Blogroll.

Lastly – here’s a painless way you can support affiliate marketing and the charity at the same time:

NETexponent, a leading performance marketing agency is launching an affiliate marketing research study conducted from the perspective of affiliates/publishers.

The goal of this survey is to give the affiliate community a clearer understanding of:

If you are an affiliate or publisher and would like to provide your feedback, I encourage you to take the brief survey. In exchange for a few minutes of your time, NETexponent will provide you with a copy of the survey results.

In addition, for every completed survey, NETexponent will donate $1.00 to Team Affiliate Marketing’s fundraising efforts for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-day/60-mile walk.

What a great way to help shape agency best practices, strengthen affiliate relationships and help out a great charity at the same time.

To take the survey, click here.

NOTE TO AFFILIATES: NETexponent respects the privacy of affiliates and only aggregate information will be shared.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this long-winded post. Thank you to Affiliate Karma for providing the opportunity for me to place this information.

I’ve counted, and there are three evening gowns in my closet from previous LinkShare Golden Links events.  That means two things: 1) Time to hit Short Hills Mall and 2)  You are cordially invited to join the Affiliate Karma team for the 4th Annual Pre-Party to The Golden Links. We welcome you to join us for cocktails at 5:30 pm on June 23rd at The Monkey Bar in NYC.

Here are the deets:

When: Monday, June 23, 2008
Where: The Monkey Bar, 60 E. 54th Street (between Park and Madison)
Time: 5:30 pm

Our friends and good karma affiliates will all be there!  All are welcome; appetizers provided, cash bar.

The awards are being held this year at The Plaza (5th Avenue at Central Park South) at 7 pm. Formal attire, black-tie optional. Don’t worry about walking in heels ladies; it’s a few short blocks, but we’ll cab it to the Plaza.

The LinkShare Golden Link Awards is an invitation-only event. Tickets are $350 for individuals and $3,500 for private tables of ten. Click here to find out how you can reserve a table.

Tres chic people!!

Hello world!  My name is Stephanie Agresta, Founder of Affiliate Karma, and I’d like to welcome you to our new and growing community.

I’ve been in the affiliate marketing business for a very long time (10 years actually).  I’ve seen the industry mature and become a “traditional” channel within the online marketing world.  Affiliate programs are still a significant source of online revenue for many merchants. On this site we will feature the fabulous advertisers we work with and service.  We will also share information about the people, players, events and trends that drive the performance marketing space. We’re excited to have another platform to highlight all the good things and good people in our world.

Over the years I’ve had the honor of working with many great affiliate publishers. David Lewis was kind enough to provide a testimonial which highlights my passion for this space:

David Lewis, CEO/Founder, Cashbaq
“Stephanie’s enthusiasm for this industry is contagious. She demonstrates a merchant’s perspective that reflects her deep respect for publishers and genuine desire to work effectively with her partners and support us in our work.”

I thank David for those kind words. But most importantly, I hope to share my enthusiasm with you – both online and IRL. Check out these links to learn more about where and how you can network with the Affiliate Karma team:

• Follow us on Twitter.
• Sign up for the Party Bus to Affiliate Summit.
• Make sure you’re signed up to attend the best networking events for affiliate marketing: LinkShare Symposium, Affiliate Summit East, IzeaFest, Commission Junction University (CJU) and BlogWorld Expo
• Read InternetGeekGirl.com.
• Get in touch with us if you want to learn more about how we can grow your affiliate sales in Q3 and Q4!