Citing Amazon.com's recent termination of more than 4,000 affiliates in Colorado, Denver Internet marketing consultant Jason Lancaster has called for a statewide boycott of Amazon.com. Lancaster states that because Amazon's move has hurt thousands of individuals and small businesses in Colorado, Colorado consumers should not reward Amazon.com with their business.
Amazon.com “fired” more than 4,000 affiliates on Monday. Affiliates, often small businesses and individuals, earn money by using their Web sites and blogs to link customers to online retailers. Many of the Colorado affiliates terminated by Amazon.com have lost hundreds of dollars in monthly income as a result of Amazon's actions.
The reasoning behind Amazon.com's decision to terminate Colorado affiliates is not clear. Amazon.com claims they were forced to terminate their Colorado affiliates because of a newly enacted Colorado law that imposes “burdensome”
Amazon.com issued a letter to Colorado affiliates on Monday, March 8th, stating that "The new regulations...are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to 'voluntarily' collect Colorado sales tax - a course we won't take."
Jason Lancaster, a Colorado small business owner and recently terminated Amazon.com affiliate, says that "I lost my relationship with Amazon.com because they don't like a new Colorado law. They decided to hurt my business in order to send a political 'message' to Colorado's legislature."
Amazon.com has terminated affiliates in other states in the past. However, Colorado's situation is unique. In previous instances of Amazon.com terminating affiliates in New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, lawmakers in those states defined affiliates as part of a "physical nexus," arguing that local affiliates were essentially agents of Amazon.com. In those situations, Amazon.com was forced to either begin collecting sales tax or fire all of their affiliates to avoid the issue.
Colorado's new law, however, does not have such a rule. According to a statement issued by Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder), the sponsor of the legislation, local affiliates were specifically excluded from the bill. Heath believes that Amazon's decision to fire their Colorado's affiliates is political.
Senator Rollie Heath states that “[we] went to great pains to protect local affiliates...Now, Amazon is firing innocent people to make a point." Heath is critical of Amazon.com's corporate bullying, stating "this multi-billion dollar corporation has decided to throw its weight around by firing its small, Colorado-based affiliates."
Lancaster has created the website http://TheTruthAboutAmazon.com to spread the word about Amazon's decision to unfairly terminate Colorado affiliates. The website also details Amazon.com's implicit support of animal abuse and their long-time strategy of tax avoidance.
Lancaster states that "When I started to do research, I found out that Amazon.com really doesn't like to pay taxes. They have a long history of avoiding taxes of any kind, in fact." Lancaster says "I was also shocked to learn that Amazon.com has also sold videos and how-to books for dog fighting, magazine subscriptions that promote illegal cock fighting, and other unscrupulous business practices.” Says Lancaster “I had no idea that Amazon.com was such a bad company."
To learn more about Amazon.com's decision to fire Colorado affiliates, their record of supporting animal abuse, and their efforts to avoid taxes at all costs, visit http://thetruthaboutamazon.com.
For more information, please contact:
Jason Lancaster
The Truth About Amazon.com
jason@thetruthaboutamazon.com
720-318-5459
