ASE09 Session: Advertising Tax Impact (Trisha’s Take)
As you noticed, Dominic already posted his notes on the session, but here’s mine! Session Description: Discussion on the Advertising Tax by industry leaders that have played a key role in organizing industry advocates and educating legislators on the impact of state tax nexus legislation. The panel consisted of:
- Brian Littleton, President / CEO, ShareASale.com (Twitter @Brianlittleton) (Moderator)
- Karen Garcia, Partner, GTO Management (Twitter @karengarcia)
- Beth Kirsch, Volunteer, Performance Marketing Association (Twitter @bethkirsch)
- Melanie Seery, President, Affiliate Voice (Twitter @mellies)
I thought it was well done. Unfortunately there weren’t nearly as many people there as should have been. Hopefully they’ll read this and know that they need to get informed before their business is blindsided with these tax issues.
Bullet Point Review!
- The use tax system really doesn’t work right now, hence why states are looking to tax online retailers.
- All this involves Nexus.
- If you make a commission on a sale, you’re affected. Period.
- There’s a lot of misinformation out there – we’re trying to inform reporters enough to make them care about what’s really happening.
- There’s a different between an affiliate company and affiliates, which is somewhat difficult to properly explain to legislators.
- This is putting thousands of individuals out of business.
- We need to keep politics out of it – it’s not a Democrat or a Republican thing.
- SSTP (streamline sales tax project) not going to save us.
- It’s GOING to happen – don’t think you’re safe.
- This year it’s been introduced in 9 states – stopped in 7 of 9 (not RI or NC)
- Be sure to work with like minded people to get things done.
- It helps to have an internal advocate who knows the system’s ins & outs (a lobbyist or lobbying organization).
- The viral-ness worked well to defeat the bills.
- The CA bill would have passed had we not shown up, so it makes a BIG difference to stand up and help and make your voice heard.
- When talking to legislators, there are a few things to remember:
- The term “affiliate” is very confusing, but they understand advertising and small business owner.
- Don’t say you’re going to move out of state – if you do, you’re no longer their problem, so they don’t care.
- Keep your analogies simple – don’t get too technical or use jargon they won’t understand (CPA, PPC, SEO, etc).
- There are ways around it in New York
- First you have to meet the minimum sales threshold, so if you don’t make that you’re not affected.
- You can rebut the nexus.
- They haven’t yet found a way to rebut the nexus in Rhode Island and it’s too early to tell for North Carolina.
- Merchants can just charge tax to keep affiliates – but it is something they have to start working on NOW in the back end to avoid being blindsided.
- Affiliates need to prepare your business for it and keep lines of communication open.
- Solutions: retain a sales and use tax attorney and understand the law as best you can.
- DO NOT: incorporate your business in another state, use a false address, follow advice of someone who’s unlicensed, follow advice of a lawyer for another party, or try to circumvent the law. Working within the law is your best option.
- Being shady brings a bad name to the industry – your rep and the industries rep is under scrutiny
There was no time for a Q&A session because of all the awesome information they jam packed into that session. It was really great and I’m still just sad to see that more people weren’t there.
Please help by spreading the word about what’s being referred to as the Advertising Tax! And for your pleasure, here’s the presentation:
Read MoreASE09 Session: Advertising Tax Impact, Accomplishments and the Future
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
Session Description: Discussion on the Advertising Tax by industry leaders that have played a key role in organizing industry advocates and educating legislators on the impact of state tax nexus legislation. The panel included:
- Brian Littleton, President / CEO, ShareASale.com (Twitter @Brianlittleton) (Moderator)
- Karen Garcia, Partner, GTO Management (Twitter @karengarcia)
- Beth Kirsch, Volunteer, Performance Marketing Association (Twitter @bethkirsch)
- Melanie Seery, President, Affiliate Voice (Twitter @mellies)
This session was very informative and gave a lot of information concerning the current problems affiliate marketers are having with some of the new tax laws, or rather the new interpretations, of the tax laws. One of the most important facts given was that the definition of “Nexus” has been recently changed, or rather updated. For a business to have Nexus, they must by physically present in the state. The change in definition holds that affiliates living in a state count as Nexus in that state. This is important because it requires all of the merchants to charge their customers the state sales tax. The issue is not that the companies should charge this sales tax, but that it is often cheaper for them to drop their affiliates in whichever states are affected, instead of adding the ability to charge the sales tax on their site.
The chief purpose of this session was to bring people up to speed on the legislation that has been put into affect or has been defeated in several states such as New York, Hawaii, and California. This is important because it will soon affect any state that charges sales tax, which is most of them.
From the standpoint of someone new to the industry this was a very important session to attend, as it helped to bring me up to speed, so to speak, with some of the major issues which are currently impacting Affiliate Marketing.
Read MoreASE09 Session: Getting Noticed FAST
Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.
Session Description: Regardless what your role in the industry is, it’s important to be noticed within the industry. Learn the networking and social media techniques that make it possible. The panel consisted of:
- Lisa Picarille, Online Marketing Consultant, LisaPicarille.com (Twitter @lisap) (Moderator)
- Michael Buechele, Owner, MikeBuechele.com (Twitter @mikebuechele)
- Trisha Lyn Fawver, Affiliate Manager, Paulson Management Group (Twitter @trishalyn)
- Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge, JGoode Designs (Twitter @JGoode)
- Stephanie Lichtenstein, Affiliate Program Manager, Andy Rodriguez Consulting (Twitter @MicroSteph)
This session, Getting Noticed FAST, contained a lot of valuable information from people who have gone from being a nobody in Affiliate Marketing to being well known by many of the top people in just a couple of years. Some of the suggestions were:
“Get involved in the response…go to other sites and comment” Jen Goode
“Start blogging” Stephanie Lichtenstein
“Don’t flame people” Trisha Fawver
“Do something different the first time you meet in person” Mike Buechele
Many tips were given on the importance of using social media to get your name out there. Also mentioned was the importance of personal branding and being consistent between all of the different forms of social media that you are on.
From the standpoint of someone who is new to Affiliate Marketing, this was a very good session with plenty of examples from the panelist’s personal experience. It gave me ideas on where to start on getting noticed so that I can further a career in Affiliate Marketing (if I so chose) by meeting people who are already successful in the field and learn from their experiences and mistakes, while at the same time possibly being able to help them out with my own expertise. In many cases it is not what you know, but who you know.
Online Marketing Glossary: Interactive Agency
Interactive Agency:
- An agency offering a mix of Web design and development, Internet advertising and online marketing, or e-business/e-commerce consulting.
Speak of the devil, we finally come to a definition that describes my new company, New Edge Media! We offer PPC, SEO, Affiliate Marketing, and Email Marketing. Some stop by and take a look!
This actually concludes this series of glossary items! Huge thanks to Alexandra Wharton for having written this article and to Lisa Picarille for allowing me to republish them!
Have a series you want to see? Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know!
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
Online Marketing Glossary: Residual Earnings
Residual Earnings:
- A program that pays affiliates not just for the first sale, but all additional sales made at the merchant’s site over the life of the customer.
It’s my understanding that not many programs offer this anymore due to the incredible expense it could lead to if the customer is a good customer. More often programs are offering second tiers and giving commissions to the affiliate on the sales affiliates they’ve referred to the program are making.
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
Online Marketing Glossary: Widget
Widget:
- A small application designed to reside on a PC desktop or within a web-based portal or social network site offering useful or entertaining functionality.
These also appear on many blogs, even having a few in my sidebar. WordPress refers to any sidebar module as a widget, and there are millions of widgets out there. A great blog I read that keeps me up-to-date with what new widgets are coming out and what new released versions is Widgets Lab.
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
