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Posts with tag affiliate

Filed under: Business, Internet

Overstock.com to NY: Not tax dollars for you!

Overstock NY affiliate letter

The state of New York recently adopted a law that requires online retailers to collect taxes for items sold in New York if they have affiliates based in the state. That might sound like a reasonable request if New York shopping malls were littered with Amazon and Overstock.com kiosks. But the affiliates the law refers to are web publishers and bloggers in NY who happen to post links to stores like Amazon and Overstock in exchange for a small commission.

Needless to say, some folks aren't too happy with the ruling, and Amazon has already sued NY. Overstock.com is apparently taking a different approach. The company has begun sending out letters to affiliates in New York, letting them know that the company will, at least temporarily, be ending its relationships with NY affiliates.

In other words, New York doesn't get to collect any taxes from Overstock.com, and the state has probably just ticked off a whole lot of New Yorkers who had affiliate relationships with the company.

Thanks Scott!

Filed under: Business, Internet, News

Tax-free online purchases could be a thing of the past

Amazon Affiliate linkSo you know how you don't have to pay sales tax on stuff you buy online unless you're buying it from a company that has a physical presence in your home state? Yeah, that could all be over soon.

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer has pledged not to raise taxes. But he's got a budget deficit to deal with, so he's trying to find new ways to collect taxes. And his administration believes they've found a loophole in that whole bricks and mortar thing.

Here's how it works. Sure, Amazon doesn't have a warehouse in New York. But lots of New York-based web sites have Amazon affiliate links. And Spitzer argues that effectively makes the New Yorkers who run those websites into Amazon salespeople, thus allowing the state to collect taxes from Amazon.

If Spitzer's plan holds up in court, it could open the floodgates and other states would likely be quick to follow. Either that or Amazon and other online retailers would stop offering affiliate programs. The plan is set to take effect in New York in December. So get your shopping done now.

Update: It looks like Spitzer has dropped this plan. For now.

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Video, Web services

Everyone is getting into digital video distribution, including NBC

nbbc digital video distributionNBC Universal, and NBC affiliates have teamed up to fund >nbbc, a company that will distribute and profit from video footage online. Noticing a rapid growth in the digital video segment, NBC thinks it has the perfect opportunity to get its toes wet. NBC will be tapping all affiliate channels, and other media sources for materials for the new online venture. Through the use of a user friendly video player created by >nbbc, website publishers can easily drop content into their websites, enabling them to profit from new sources of revenue, and a growth in website visitors from the new offerings.

>nbbc will be profiting by digital video syndication, revenue sharing, and different fee-based models. Through the revenue model, advertising dollars will be split between >nbbc, the content licensor, and the web publisher. This is a unique approach by a large broadcaster, leveraging the content they are already producing to provide for more streams of revenue, and aiding in the growth of revenue for other web publishers by harnessing the power of Internet content.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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