Affsum Session: NY Tax Laws – Issues & Solutions
Unfortunately I was a bit late to this session today, but I got a lot of good info in the 40 minutes I did attend. The panel consisted of:
- Adam Riemer, Director of Marketing & Client Relations, Downtown Ecommerce Partners (Moderator)
- Chris Henger, Group Product Manager, Google Affiliate Network
- Kim Rodgers, Affiliate Manager, 4Checks.com
- Melanie Seery, Affiliate, NY Affiliate Voice
- Clarke D. Walton, Internet Lawyer, Walton Law Firm, P.C.
First I do have to comment on the panelists – I had the pleasure of hearing a session at ASW08 where Clarke spoke on internet taxes in relation to affiliates and I have to tell you – this is the kind of lawyer you want in your Rolodex. He’s extremely internet and tech savvy, which is always good when you’re talking about internet law. He has experience doing affiliate marketing himself, so he can totally relate to your issues. And he clearly knows his stuff.
Speaking of really knowing their stuff, Kim Rodgers is the ace affiliate manager who really knows what she’s doing, and has built her program up SO much it’s phenomenal. I had the pleasure of sitting with her last night at the Affiliate Dinner (more on that later) and she really is a great AM and has the unique experience of being in the position of a company that initially culled their NY affiliates and now, after some changes internally, are able to welcome them back and have to regain their business (not to mention their trust).
So, the bullet point review of the panel:
- Networks can’t really give any advice to affiliates legally, so they’ve pretty much had to stay out of it.
- Early in July, California explored the NY law and determined that affiliates don’t prove nexus, hence pretty much saying the opposite of what NY is. Hopefully for those of us in California this means that they’ve gotten it out of their heads to try to mimic this.
- Late in July the NY state senate approved a motion to repeal the tax, so while there’s not much news about this yet it’s a step in the right direction in terms of a repeal.
- It’s important for affiliates to be willing to comply and work with their merchants to get through this and maintain a good relationship.
- Affiliates in NY will have to give up a little privacy (like their NY address) in an effort to comply.
- Merchants can simply add a small paragraph into their terms of service that NY based affiliates need to agree to specifically to comply with laws.
- Affiliate managers need to follow up with the NY affiliates to make sure they’ve read the modified TOS and agree.
- Merchants who kicked NY affiliates right away probably have a better chance of wooing them back than merchants who waited until the middle of June and then deactivated the NY affiliates retroactive to May 31st. Melanie’s opinion? “They don’t have a prayer.”
Some take-home answers from the open Q&A:
- The law applies to merchants based in Canada as well (unfortunately I couldn’t hear if they said it applied to international merchants too).
- The law is not clear if nexus is established when a merchant has affiliates who make $10,000 per year aggregate or per affiliate.
- Affiliate managers should not encourage their affiliates to incorporate their businesses in other states. This is a poor work around (it’s not a solution) since, well, what if that state’s next to adopt a similar law? You can’t keep reincorporating and it’s basically fraudulent anyway.
- The state of Washington has come close with a similar law affecting internet sales and taxes. Formerly, the tax rate on an internet sale was calculated based on where the merchant is located. Now, it’s calculated based on where the order is shipping to. This only applies within the state – for now. (As an aside, I know that the California law is already like this and bases tax assessment on the shipping address, being that PsPrint is based in California).
- The federal government is also looking into these laws since we are talking about interstate commerce and may make a move soon, but it’s hard to say in what direction that move will be.
If you caught anything I didn’t (ahem 11|15 Media’s Michael Buechele), please share with the rest of us!
Read MoreOnline Marketing Glossary: Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing:
- An agreement between two sites in which the affiliate agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate earns a commission for referring clicks, leads, or sales to a merchant.
Funny…it sounds so simple when put this way! Remember this very basic definition while getting your stuff ready for Affiliate Summit! For all the datafeeds, dynamic content, widgets, blogs, niche sites, and everything else that’s wrapped up into affiliate marketing – this is the meat and potatoes definition.
The rest is just jargon 😉
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
Arrived Safely in Boston
I have arrived & ready for Affiliate Summit East 2008! I have to first say kudos to Missy & Shawn for selecting a wonderful hotel & conference center to host the summit! It’s super close to the airport so it took me much less time to get here than I anticipated, great in-room accommodations (LAN connection FTW!), and speedy service. Let me illustrate my time line thus far for you.
- 6:50a – Plane landed
- 7:20a – collected bags & waited less than 5 minutes for a cab
- 7:35ish – arrived @ Seaport & checked in
- 7:40a – ordered some hot breakfast
- 8:00a – was eating wonderful hot breakfast
So, speedy service is always excellent! I’ve had time to take a shower & refresh from my red-eye flight from Oakland & am now getting ready ti head down to the Affiliate Classroom Live event to join everyone mid-morning as I’m expected. More kudos are in order for the Summit’s partnership with Jet Blue…I’d never flown Jet Blue before and it was delightful. Thanks to the wonderful timing of my flight, FX channel programming, and the fates, there is NOTHING as cool as watching the final climax of Batman Begins (the elevated train derailment) at the exact time a jet is taking off below you!
I’ll leave your morning reading with some tips regarding the hotel I’ve discovered thus far, and then I have to finish getting ready and go find the right room!
- The body lotion in the bathroom – a little goes a LONG way.
- I got a really low connection to the wi-fi, but that might just be my nearly ancient Dell Latitude laptop, so if you’re in room I recommend using the LAN cable on the desk.
- In room dining was SUPER fast this morning; could have been the time of day but I’m hoping it’s just fast & excellent service.
- Staff has all be enormously friendly.
- If your room is laid out like mine (and I didn’t opt for anything special) the cabinet below the TV & ice bucket has a fridge…I didn’t find it at first lol
Remember if you see me around I look like this – say hi!!
Read MoreOnline Marketing Glossary: Data Feed
Data Feed:
- A text file that contains the information needed to generate a website. It is provided either directly to the affiliate or indirectly through a network. The affiliate then converts the data feed into a database, which is then used to populate webpages full of products.
There are a lot of questions in the affiliate world surrounding data feeds. What content is required? How should they be formatted? I know that one of the hopes of the budding Performance Marketing Association is to set some industry standards on this rogue content generation tool.
Unfortunately for me, data feeds are something that I’ve yet to master. It’s one of those things I keep meaning to research and learn how to generate and use, but haven’t yet had the time. If you want to learn more about the PMA’s efforts, they’re hosting a Q&A on Monday at Affiliate Summit East in the Harbor View Ballroom from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm.
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
Now Published! Affiliate Manager Communication Strategies
Issue 2 of FeedFront Magazine is hitting mailboxes as we speak, and will be distributed at Affiliate Summit East next week. I’m happy to say that an article I wrote has been published! Now you can read all about a great strategy to keep in contact with your affiliates as a manager. Check out my article on page 12 of the magazine.
If you can’t wait for your hard copy (as I couldn’t) you can download just my article here. Or, if you actually want to read the whole issue, you can get it here. There are a lot of other great articles this time around, including a look at ABestWeb.com founder Haiko de Poel Jr, coupon code woes, and avoiding NY state tax nexus.
I hope to write another article for FeedFront soon, I just need to rack my brain for some ideas :). If you’ll be going to Affiliate Summit East, we’re sure to have a blast. Remember to take lots of pictures – the gang at FeedFront is holding a contest and YOUR picture (or mine!) can win the coveted cover position for the 3rd issue of FeedFront. Not only does the winner get the bragging rights of having their photo on the cover of the magazine, but you also win a full conference pass to Affiliate Summit West 2009 happening in Las Vegas January 11th – 13th.
Read MoreBall: Dropped Stress: High
I have good news, and I have bad news. Hopefully this will explain why I’ve been asleep at the wheel here.
First, the good!
- TrishaLyn.com is now available as a mobile compatible site! Just point your smartphone browser to www.trishalyn.com! Thanks to Shawn Collins & the Geek Cast crew for mentioning this nifty plugin in the last episode and Shawn specifically for sending me the link.
- Speaking of Geek Cast, I was mentioned two weeks running. Apparently Scott Jangro and I will be the only audience members for their Geek Cast Live show from Affiliate Summit, and Lisa’s counting on me to help keep the boys in line. Ah, good times will be had I can FEEL it!
- Affiliate Summit East 2008 is SOLD OUT and takes place in a little over a week. I’m excited to be hitting Boston again and finally meeting some of these people I’ve been networkin’ with online since the last summit.
- Affiliate Classroom Live! is also in about a week, so I really REALLY need to get my act together and formulate some talking points for the round-table discussion I’ll be leading.
Now, the not so great.
I’m sad to say that after almost 2 years my beloved supervisor is leaving our company. I’m going to miss her tremendously as she’s been a complete pleasure and joy to work for! To be honest, I’m taking the change harder than I should because of….- I’m moving! Just from one city here in the East San Francisco Bay Area to another, nothing major. It’s just that I absolutely detest packing and moving. Luckily my husband acknowledges that I’m a weakling and useless in the actual heavy lifting, so I’m on packing and unpacking duty.
- With the change in my supervisor leaving, my job responsibilities are changing as well. I don’t think I can say much right now, but involves some shifting in terms of my focused projects within the marketing department.
Obviously the combined changes of job responsibilities, moving, taking a long weekend vacation to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary, and taking off for several days to attend Affiliate Summit East are all a bit overwhelming. I hope to be rejuvenated after my vacation and be able to jump back into the swing of things with some excellent coverage of Affiliate Summit!
If you’re giving away stress balls at the summit, save one for me!!
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