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!

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!