Amazon threatens to shut down California Affiliates program

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Some will probably move to B&N affiliate and/or google.

I'm not sure how much this will help the affiliates, though. For one thing, most of Amazon's sales come from physical products, not books or other media. So if an affiliate is running a website discussing TVs or computer equipment, switching to B&N won't help.

The other issue is that far more people use Amazon than B&N (or bestbuy.com or walmart.com). Meaning that if I read about an interesting item and see an Amazon link, I might buy it there. But I'm not going to buy from another site without checking with Amazon first (in which case I'll probably buy through Amazon), and I almost certainly won't sign up for a new service when I could use Amazon instead.

If the affiliate were advertising books and I already had an account with BN.com, I suppose I might buy though them...if I didn't have Amazon Prime.

[jalandar]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I'm not sure how much this will help the affiliates, though. For one thing, most of Amazon's sales come from physical products, not books or other media. So if an affiliate is running a website discussing TVs or computer equipment, switching to B&N won't help.

This is spot on. The bulk of the income I was getting from the Amazon Affiliate program was mostly on electronics, specifically computer equipment. Only about 20% of it was book/ebook/music.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I'm not sure how much this will help the affiliates, though. For one thing, most of Amazon's sales come from physical products, not books or other media. So if an affiliate is running a website discussing TVs or computer equipment, switching to B&N won't help.

The other issue is that far more people use Amazon than B&N (or bestbuy.com or walmart.com). Meaning that if I read about an interesting item and see an Amazon link, I might buy it there. But I'm not going to buy from another site without checking with Amazon first (in which case I'll probably buy through Amazon), and I almost certainly won't sign up for a new service when I could use Amazon instead.

If the affiliate were advertising books and I already had an account with BN.com, I suppose I might buy though them...if I didn't have Amazon Prime.

Agreed. But they aren't going to have a lot of other options besides these and/or offering ads to individuals.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Agreed. But they aren't going to have a lot of other options besides these and/or offering ads to individuals.

If it makes them enough money to warrant it they might be able to set up an business in another state and run it through that to keep their Amazon status. At least I think they could.

[jalandar]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If it makes them enough money to warrant it they might be able to set up an business in another state and run it through that to keep their Amazon status. At least I think they could.

Yeah, I've been exploring this. It's sorta the half way point between just giving up on California and moving, or just letting the state abuse me and lose the income.

Been looking into what it would cost to setup and run an LLC based in Nevada. The LLC type gets around the double taxation issue, by letting you pass profit and loss to your own taxes. Nevada has no state tax.

From what I've researched the annual costs are
$200 for Nevada Business License
$125 for annual renewal/list fee

Then you need a registered agent, and fees ranged anywhere from $99 to $199 a year for that, and varied in what that service includes (some include mail forwarding, some don't, etc).

Initial fees are:
$75 state filing fee
$125 for the filing of the initial list of directors/first year's list fee
$200 for first year's Nevada business license

You will also expect to pay whichever filing service you go through a fee for doing the initial paperwork and filing for you, which may vary from $39 on up, depending on what all they include.

The best deal I found was for $499 included everything but the $200 business license fee, and included all other setup and first year costs, and included same day setup. They also included 1 year of mail forwarding service (you just pay postage costs). They provide all the Customizable Operating Agreement/ By Laws/ Corporate Resolution forms. A Nevada Phone Number that forwards to a number of your choosing. You do pay a per min fee, so I recommend instead getting a Google Voice # with a nevada area code for this.

Then they charge $124/yr for registered agent service and mail forwarding after the first year.

$699 is about a month and a half's worth of Amazon affiliate income for me. So it looks like it may be worth it in order to get back into the program.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by jalandar

Yeah, I've been exploring this. It's sorta the half way point between just giving up on California and moving, or just letting the state abuse me and lose the income.

Been looking into what it would cost to setup and run an LLC based in Nevada. The LLC type gets around the double taxation issue, by letting you pass profit and loss to your own taxes. Nevada has no state tax.

From what I've researched the annual costs are
$200 for Nevada Business License
$125 for annual renewal/list fee

Then you need a registered agent, and fees ranged anywhere from $99 to $199 a year for that, and varied in what that service includes (some include mail forwarding, some don't, etc).

Initial fees are:
$75 state filing fee
$125 for the filing of the initial list of directors/first year's list fee
$200 for first year's Nevada business license

You will also expect to pay whichever filing service you go through a fee for doing the initial paperwork and filing for you, which may vary from $39 on up, depending on what all they include.

The best deal I found was for $499 included everything but the $200 business license fee, and included all other setup and first year costs, and included same day setup. They also included 1 year of mail forwarding service (you just pay postage costs). They provide all the Customizable Operating Agreement/ By Laws/ Corporate Resolution forms. A Nevada Phone Number that forwards to a number of your choosing. You do pay a per min fee, so I recommend instead getting a Google Voice # with a nevada area code for this.

Then they charge $124/yr for registered agent service and mail forwarding after the first year.

$699 is about a month and a half's worth of Amazon affiliate income for me. So it looks like it may be worth it in order to get back into the program.

But that's a lot of money if it doesn't work--if they somehow determine you reside in California and pay income tax there. I'm not saying they will, but obviously they don't want to have a presence there so I'd be worried sick about it.

I feel for you. I don't agree with the state taking away jobs. I hope it works out one way or the other.

[jalandar]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

But that's a lot of money if it doesn't work--if they somehow determine you reside in California and pay income tax there. I'm not saying they will, but obviously they don't want to have a presence there so I'd be worried sick about it.

I feel for you. I don't agree with the state taking away jobs. I hope it works out one way or the other.

Doesn't matter where you pay income tax, a corporation is a separate legal entity in its resident state with its own bank account, IRS Tax ID, etc. And is actually one of the suggestions Amazon noted themselves for some of their larger affiliates who didn't want to actually move themselves.