Here are a couple of press releases and news articles from the event, this is a very positive development for two reasons.

1. Obviously, the #advertisingtax would have a very big negative effect on this industry and cause many affiliates to lose not only revenue but possibly lose jobs as well.

2. Both Governors specifically noted and commented on the talking points that we have all been working so hard on for the past year or so. They agreed with us that the law would cause job loss, and would not result in the revenue that was projected due to the negative effect on jobs.

The fight is not over, we need all of your collective help in many other States - the events from yesterday should give us great hope that our message is getting through to the people it needs to get through to - so please continue to help.

Press Releases:

From the State of California

From the State of Hawaii

ShareASale will be on the following schedule:

Thursday July 2nd - Open 9am CST to 1pm CST
Friday July 3rd - Closed
Saturday July 4th - Closed
Sunday July 5th - Closed
Monday July 6th - Open 9am CST to 6pm CST (regular business hours)

The importance and urgency can’t be emphasized enough: your business is under attack, and your livelihood is threatened.

The Issue

California is attempting to define its resident affiliates as having a sales presence for out-of-state merchants. Therefore, these out-of-state merchants would now be responsible for collecting sales tax from California consumers. Many online merchants cannot afford that expense, and will need to end their affiliate programs with affiliates in California. This already happened in New York.

We strongly encourage you to contact your local representatives, and have crafted a sample letter which you could use to email or fax your local representative - you can add your own personal story and be a big help to the overall cause with your actions.

Sample letter:

http://blog.shareasale.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/OppositionLettertoCANexus.doc

Fact sheet on California and how many businesses are affected:

http://blog.shareasale.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/CaliforniaFactSheet.pdf

How to find the Assembly Member for your district:

http://www.assembly.ca.gov/clerk/MEMBERINFORMATION/memberdir_1.asp

By working together, and taking action, we can make a difference. Please take action immediately. The best way to defeat this legislation is to let your state senator know how this will devastate your business.

Thank you for your time,

Brian Littleton
President/CEO ShareASale.com, Inc.

Follow us all week long by either clicking the graphic on the right or clicking here for all the latest posts!!!

To get the groove going, here is a list of some of the ShareASale merchants that we’re looking forward to seeing at IRCE, along with a link to join their affiliate program:

123Together.com
Join

All Things Jeep
Join

Beach Audio
Join

ByteSphere
Join

Cable Organizer
Join

Crazy For Bargains
Join

CSN
Join

Emitations
Join

Ivee Style
Join

Naturals of Ashland
Join

Spreadshirt
Join

That’s My Ticket
Join

Tiny Prints
Join

You man run an API request by directing your server to make calls to ours accompanied by a list of parameters. These parameters are required to run reports properly, and each report has more detailed inforomation on each parameter when you login.

Reports available include Activity Details, Timespan Reports, Today’s Stats, Void Trails, Merchant Status, along with several others.

If you login to your Affiliate Account, you’ll see the API Manager listed in the “Tools” section.

For those who didn’t get a chance to make Las Vegas, we expect to bring back the photo booth for the next Affiliate Summit in New York City this summer, so make sure to get your ticket and we’ll see you there.

ShareASale Photo Booth

Each of the nine-city stops will equal super-casual, come-as-you-are good times.  Bring your questions, your comments, and even your concerns.  Or just bring yourself!  We’d love to meet you in person.  Concerned about what to wear?  No problem!  We’ve got uber-fashionable, ultra-collectible, so-hot-they’re-steamy, t-shirts galore!  (In kid and baby sizes too!) 

Here’s the schedule, we’ll be providing more details at the time nears:

          Chicago, 7/27/09
          Toledo, 7/28/09
          Cleveland, 7/29/09
          Pittsburgh, 7/30/09
          Washington DC, 7/31/09
          Ocean City, MD 8/2/09
          Philadephia, 8/3/09
          Albany, 8/4/09
          Boston, 8/5/09
          New York, 8/6/09

Also, if you live in or near any of these cities and want to be kept aprised of updates, definitely drop me an email at ctang (at) shareasale.com.  And, if you have any suggestions on great places to meet, I’d love to hear that too.

See you soon! 

Recently, we’ve made a few changes and added a few more spots. As a result, we’ve got two areas with immediate availability and we’ve added some promotional rates to help you get started if you would like.

Those 2 areas include the “Datafeeds Page” which is best suited for a Merchant with a strong datafeed, and creative to match the datafeed. The creative is featured in the location where Affiliates who are looking for datafeeds search for new programs, as shown below:

The other is the “Program Directory” which is the main place where Affiliates go to search for new programs to join.

The Datafeeds Page has 5 spots open for May, and the Program Directory has 4 spots available.

Login to your account and look at the top left of your opening page and you’ll see the promotional coupons available.

So - I’ve put together a little post about what I think speficially you can do - right now.

1. The most important thing is to locate, and initiate contact with your local state representative. Usually, they are nearby and generally easy to contact. Their offices are typically quick to respond to local residents.

   Here are some talking points to go over when talking with your representative.

   1. Point out that while States are estimating that these laws will bring in revenue - they are misjudging online retailers. Online retailers are instead simply cancelling their contracts with advertisers in those States. As proof of this you can point out the following thread on ABestWeb which is a list of retailers who dropped NY based affiliates: http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=105869. You can also point them to the following document which (on page 6) shows a letter from Amazon’s Vice President indicating their intention to drop all contracts with advertisers based in Hawaii. http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/Testimony/HB1405_Testimony_EDT_03-20-09.pdf

      These two items are not the only examples, but are good ones. They show that the effect of these laws is instead a negative impact on local businesses and jobs, as opposed to a positive impact of generated tax revenue.

   2. Point out how if other States are declaring nexus based on a certain type of advertiser, that this essentially singles out a specific group of advertisers based solely on how they are paid. Television, radio, print - all of these items are not considered in the nexus discussion, but online affiliate marketing is being singled out. You can point out that most affiliate marketers are small businesses that have little recourse and will be forced to drastically change their operations. The actions of the State governments are directly and negatively affecting small business growth in the economy at a time when small business growth is desperately needed.
      
      
      Wherever possible, use the word “advertiser” as opposed to the word “affiliate” as the word “affiliate” is misunderstood everywhere else with the exception of our industry. “Affiliate” implys a more closely tied connection to the host corporation than is realistic in our industry.
      

   3. Point them to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Quill v. North Dakota which clearly ruled on this issue some 20 years ago and that some of these States are ignoring. (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-0194.ZO.html)

      Further you can point them to the following document from California which mentions, and cites the “Quill” decision as a specific reason why these types of laws haven’t been put in place in the past.

      California Taxpayers Association Fact Sheet:
      http://www.caltax.org/SalesTaxNexusFactSheet3-2-09.pdf

2. Besides contacting your local representative, which we all should do no matter what State we live in (we are all affected), you can be a big help just by reaching out to your contacts acorss the country.

   We all know a lot of people, and you never know who can be of help. Send out an email to your contacts and ask them “Does anyone have any contacts at the State Government level for any State?”. Explain the issue, point them to this blog if you wish or others (www.nyaffiliatevoice.com is a good one).

   See if you can help someone in another State just by providing a contact in their own local government.

   We have Facebooks, Twitters, LinkedIns, etc… Now is the time to use them to network for each other and see what we can all do to help individuals who are in other States.

3. Blog it, Twitter it, Talk about it. Use the hashtag #affiliatetax or #advertisingtax (includes more people) and get the word out there. When you see a Twitter about it - ReTweet it. Comment on people’s blogs, Digg blog posts, etc… All of this will help us get the word out to the public and mass media. If you have contacts in media (print, online, tv, radio, whatever…), talk to them.

4. Most importantly, don’t think this issue doesn’t affect you because you don’t live in New York, California, etc… This industry needs your help - please put down whatever differences you have with any individual groups and help out who needs to be helped. It won’t matter who gets credit in any individual fight, we all need to help each other to make sure we can all continue to operate as usual.

I found a few that were most … interesting. I didn’t have time to research these fully, so I apologize if any of them are repealed or untrue or just myths - it is certainly possible.

Here are some of the great ones they’ve come up with … for comparison.

• An Illinois State Law mandates that it is illegal to speak English. The officially recognized language is “American”. 




• It is unlawful to change clothes in an automobile with the curtains drawn, except in case of fire. 




• In Kenilworth, Illinois - A rooster must step back three hundred feet from any residence if he wishes to crow; Hens that wish to cackle must step two hundred feet back from any residence. 




• In Evanston, Illinois - Bowling is prohibited. 




• Urbana, Illinois has legislation against monsters entering the city limits.




• As the title of this post suggests, it is illegal to give a dog either whiskey or a lit cigar.

There are countless others, and I am certain that Illinois is not the only State with these types of laws on the books… but I was just using it as a light-hearted way of illustrating a point.

On a more serious note, many of you received our Special Newsletter Announcement this weekend if you live in California, Minnesota, Connecticut or Hawaii. The reason for this email is that those 4 States, among many others, are considering putting laws on the books that would leverage affiliate marketers as “nexus” for online retailers. This means that any online retailer with affiliates in those States would be (according to State law) forced to collect sales tax on any purchases made to patrons of that State.

Obviously, this would have a negative effect on affiliates in those States - and as such there are several groups who are organizing and trying to influence their local legislators.

We feel that these State laws grossly overstep the bounds of jurisdiction, into an area clearly belonging to the Federal government (inter-state commerce). However, each and every Merchant and Affiliate needs to research with their legal advisors to come up with appropriate steps.

Our home State of Illinois is in the process of considering similar legislation, and as such we have begun the process of contacting local representatives so that we can explain the shortcomings and short-sightedness of this type of law.

We encourage every affiliate marketer to stand up and be heard on this issue. Every State will be affected either directly or indirectly.

If you would like to get involved - that could mean any of the following:

• Contacting your local representative with a letter, phone call, or visit, letting them know your thoughts on this matter.
• Participating in group letters, petitions, etc…
• Participating in organized events

If you need any information please feel free to contact me directly at brian @ ShareASale, or comment on this blog. Time is of the essence, a lot of States are considering legislation that begins as soon as April 1st, and many that start in the summer months.

If you are looking for more information to read, here are some resources based on State:

• NY State (and good general info): http://nyaffiliatevoice.com/
• CA: http://caaffiliates.blogspot.com/
• Minnesota, Tennessee, Connecticut, Hawaii and More: http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=543

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you want to help or need more information.