Some items pinned on Pinterest are for sale. Not necessarily directly by the pinner, but somewhere. And, Pinterest is taking advantage of this to make money. If an item is available through an affiliate marketing arrangement, Pinterest uses a program called SkimLinks to add their unique identifier to the link, thus generating a commission for themselves if you buy the item.

Most people don’t have a problem with this. If they choose to buy something they found on Pinterest, they are fine with the site getting a commission. But, the issue some have with the practice is that Pinterest never told them this was happening.

Other sites do this. For example, if you use the Metafilter community website and post a link to a book on Amazon, Metafilter will place their Amazon affiliate ID within that link. But, they tell you it will be done. Everyone understands this and expects it. Apparently, Pinterest told no one. So, if a pinner happens to work through a program that has an affiliate element within it, and spends the week pinning up interesting items that are for sale, they have no idea that Pinterest is adding its ID link to all their pins and that htye could end up with a commission payout for all their personal efforts.

Again, most people are fine with this if they know about it. But, it is bad form for Pinterest to not disclose it.

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

Last time I checked, adding new taxes in a recession were a bad thing. Amazon is a huge retailer and many people–myself included–supplement their income using its affiliate program. If others follow Amazon’s lead, then what affiliate revenue will be left to actually tax? NC would still not have any tax revenue from affiliate marketing AND those making a living from affiliate marketing lose their income. Nice move NC….not!

If you’re one of those that will be affected, then you might want to contact your state representative (thanks Scott for that suggestion!)

Comments

Overstock dropped Business Know-How a note, telling the site it had been booted from the Overstock Affiliate Program. As a New York-based site, Overstock faced the prospect of collecting sales tax from business driven through affiliates like Business Know-How.

“New York: You’re losing far more than you’ll gain with foolish laws like this one,” Business Know-How said, citing not only the sales tax the state won’t collect, but the income tax they won’t get either based on those affiliate commissions.

The Bits Blog noted a comment from Overstock about their decision to back down rather than fight for their New York affiliates:

“We believe the law is unconstitutional and won

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