Quote :

"Residents of North Carolina or Rhode Island are not eligible to participate in the Associates program. "

1/11/2010 12:04:06 AM

k

1/11/2010 12:05:59 AM

it's the whole state's fault

1/11/2010 12:06:04 AM

Quote :

"THE ASSOCIATES PROGRAM"

1/11/2010 12:06:20 AM

You can still join Quixtar though.

1/11/2010 12:07:19 AM

^

I just wanted to make monies from Amazon Stupid NC.

1/11/2010 12:08:07 AM

You're Welcome

-- Bev Perdue

1/11/2010 12:19:41 AM

Naw, I think this bs was before Perdue

1/12/2010 4:51:47 AM

que?

1/12/2010 4:55:43 AM

First article I found with google.

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/06/north-carolina-ready-enact-affiliate-taxes-amazon-first-to-pull-the-plug.html

Quote :

"We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina. Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned. But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents. The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents. The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/. We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of the General Assembly’s action on this matter. Sincerely, Amazon.com "

It went down last summer.

1/12/2010 6:54:19 AM

Interesting, I wonder what "an unconstitutional tax collection scheme" means exactly.

1/12/2010 7:04:30 AM

NC wants to tax online sales, even though they occur outside of the state of NC

1/12/2010 7:27:34 AM

Yeah, that's bs

1/12/2010 7:30:21 AM

remember it next time you vote

1/12/2010 7:32:27 AM

it's not like it's going to be overturned or anything

1/12/2010 8:15:18 AM

http://performancemarketingassociation.com/whatistheadvertisingtax.html

[Edited on January 12, 2010 at 8:44 AM. Reason : &c]

1/12/2010 8:41:27 AM

well good thing i dont buy anything online

1/12/2010 8:51:15 AM

You just buy from brick and mortar stores and still get taxed?

1/12/2010 11:42:18 AM

you know most states require you the citizen to pay the tax on what you buy online when you fill out your state tax form(s) and if you're buying it from someone in a different state then you're buying it from a different state, so really it should be one or the other that you pay taxes to just be glad its the state that you live in where you will actually get to see the money put to use and have a vote to change how that money gets used if you don't like it

jeez people do your civic duty or gtfo

1/12/2010 1:47:23 PM

^ STFU

1/12/2010 1:49:24 PM

Before this, you were technically supposed to declare your online purchases and subject yourself to a "use" tax, but of course no one does that.

1/12/2010 1:51:07 PM

COME ON AND RAISE UP?

1/12/2010 2:36:12 PM

I realize this thread is about those who have started their own Associate's Program.... which I have not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

1/12/2010 2:37:16 PM

gg

1/12/2010 2:38:39 PM

^^ lol is this the new tww meme?

1/12/2010 6:17:40 PM