Thursday, August 15, 2013

I WAS KICKED OUT OF THE AMAZON ASSOCIATES PROGRAM (Because I'm from Missouri)

This is going to be an odd post. This may dip into the nasty political waters of the old blog, but I hope to steer clear of that mess.

I received an e-mail from Amazon.com yesterday. Here is what it said:

"Greetings from the Amazon Associates Program.

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account will be closed and your Amazon Services LLC Associates Program Operating Agreement will be terminated effective August 27, 2013. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Missouri state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Nixon on July 5, 2013, with an effective date of August 28, 2013. As a result, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after August 27 nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Missouri residents.

Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to August 28, 2013 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with your regular advertising fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of August 27, 2013, any final payments will be paid by October 31, 2013.

While we oppose this unconstitutional state legislation, we strongly support the federal Marketplace Fairness Act now pending before Congress. Congressional legislation is the only way to create a simplified, constitutional framework to resolve interstate sales tax issues and it would allow us to re-open our Associates program to Missouri residents.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates Program, and look forward to re-opening our program when Congress passes the Marketplace Fairness Act.


Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Team"

Am I upset about this? No. Why? Let me explain:

I understand the reasoning behind the legislation. I usually think everything the Missouri Legislature does is stupid, however, this is something I agree with.

If Missouri is the only state that is now requiring state sales tax on on-line sales, why ban everyone from Missouri from the Amazon Associates sales program? Childish if you ask me.

The main reason this doesn't upset me...I HAVEN'T SOLD A DAMN THING SINCE I HAVE BEEN WITH THE AMAZON ASSOCIATES PROGRAM. I started using the program with this blog because of the nature of the content. I thought it would be a great way to direct people to find songs to download or DVDs of movies and TV shows. I was especially impressed by the MP3 download widget. I loaded it with the more obscure songs mentioned here.

Nobody downloaded a song or bought a DVD. According to my stats, only 40 percent of refereals came from my sight.

I also had trouble with some of the linking and codes. They caused problems with the post structure and became time consuming. I tried to contact Amazon about this, but I couldn't find a direct way to talk to a tech person. The only resource was to "post on a message board," which for some reason wouldn't allow me to register even though I was an associated.

Another widget was supposed to update automatically with offers on merchandise related to the post on the blog. This widget didn't update very often. At first I was okay with it, because it showed some 80s hit compilations. After I had a post where I said The Man From UNCLE was cooler than 24, it showed Man from UNCLE and 24 DVDs. That was okay. Since January, when I posted an obit for actor Conrad Bain, it has showed nothing but Conrad Bain related merchandise. Not items people are clamoring to buy.

So, Amazon Associates, I'm not going to miss you, because you really haven't done anything for me. To quote the Boyce and Hart song "You can't lose a friend you never had."  

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...