ClickBank Stands by Affiliate Marketers Despite New Tax Laws
August 10th, 2009 | 
Author: BROOMFIELD, Colo. – (Aug. 10, 2009) – ClickBank officials will continue to work with affiliate marketers in states that are enacting new laws to tax the marketers’ sales, while Amazon and Overstock.com, among others, have been moving swiftly to halt its business relationships with affiliate marketers in various states because of the new tax implications.
In late June, Amazon terminated its marketing affiliate program in North Carolina after a new law took effect that will tax affiliate sales, and on July 1, Overstock.com notified affiliates in Hawaii, North Carolina and Rhode Island that it would immediately cease doing business with them because of similar new tax laws.
But ClickBank, a major online retailer, says it has no intention of terminating relationships with affiliates in certain locations or discontinuing its longstanding policy of collecting and remitting taxes to the appropriate tax authorities in various domestic and international jurisdictions.
“We will continue to honor sales agreements with affiliates in the U.S. and abroad, despite new taxes that are being levied against them for sales and marketing efforts,” said Dush Ramachandran, vice president of sales, marketing and business development for ClickBank.
“One of the benefits of being a ClickBank affiliate is that you can operate wherever you live,” said Ramachandran. “We don’t want to place limits on that now. Our affiliates deserve the opportunity to earn income regardless of where they live, and ClickBank will continue to support them in their efforts to do so.”
New state tax laws aim to collect sales tax revenues from affiliates whose marketing activities lead to ecommerce sales. The key issue is whether the affiliates have a physical presence in a state that taxes ecommerce activities. The state of New York was the first to enact such tax laws, and more states are following suit.
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Clickbank’s stance on these questions is to be applauded. It’s this kind of stand that attracts loyalty from vendors and affiliates alike.
Please keep up the good work
Roger
Applause! I for one am still learning how to be an affiliate marketer, last thing I want to know is that my state, Texas, has been dropped from a major network for tax reasons.
Thank you,
teevee
I make a full time income as a publisher and affiliate for Clickbank. You guys have consistently given great support and service to me, and I’m more than relieved to see it continue. Thank you for being loyal to us!
Kayla Fay
Kudos to Clickbank. To deny your company revenue because of state taxation laws would be a disservice to your bottom line. I am amazed that Amazon and Overstock would do this. If I can look into my crystal ball: “Within five years all the states will be taxing Marketers sales and the Fed will be working on doing it too”. What’s Amazon and Overstock going to do, Stop their affiliate programs? Who should be upset? The marketers and affiliates who have to pay a sales tax and income taxes. Double taxation and more paperwork, God help us!
I agree, kudos to Clickbank.
The whole ironic thing about North Carolina trying to tax Amazon is that now it’s going to end up losing the income taxes from the former NC-based Amazon affiliates. (There was an interesting article on this recently in the Wall Street Journal.)