At 4:30am this morning, all Affiliate accounts based in North Carolina were closed by Amazon. That means no more referrals paid for anyone sending affiliate tagged links to Amazon if they are based in NC. The affiliates received the following email:
We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.
Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.
But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.
The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.
The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.
We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of the General Assembly’s action on this matter.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com
Why? Because of a law that *might* be enacted by the North Carolina legislature that would apply NC sales tax to any sale made through any web site based in North Carolina, which includes any technically made through Amazon but referred by an affiliate in North Carolina.
To which Amazon picked up their ball and went home, instantly depriving many North Carolina residents of their affiliate income. Note, they were warned a few weeks earlier that Amazon might cut them off, so it’s not a complete surprise, but it certainly left many affiliate scrambling. The general consensus is this is a shot across the bow of the North Carolina legislature to rethink their bill while they still can, as I’m sure many state representatives have received an earful from angry and suddenly jobless affiliates this morning.
There is similar legislation in New York and New York affiliate have received warnings as well, but so far their accounts are still open.
