Contact Information: For more information, please contact: Jason Lancaster The Truth About Amazon.com 720-318-5459 www.thetruthaboutamazon.com
Denver Internet Marketing Consultant Calls for Amazon.com Boycott
Colorado Consumers Should Boycott Amazon.com for Playing Politics, Says Denver Internet Marketing Consultant
| Source: The Truth About Amazon.com
DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - March 10, 2010) - 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" sales tax regulations on Amazon.com.
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." Lancaster asks, "How does Amazon.com hurting my business send
a message to anyone but me?"
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 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.