I wake up this morning in Zagreb, Croatia at 10:18am. Damn! I missed the free breakfast that went until 10. Ugh, that will be the worst part of the day. Guess I’ll meander down to the main common room of the hostel and check some lazy emails.
25 new emails! Hope nothing too important happened while I was sleeping!
Whats this? “Notice of Termination due to New California Law“ Sent from Amazon?
Hello,
Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.
You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.
To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect your ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.
We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. As mentioned before, we are continuing to work on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.
Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
Snap. I had just spent a lot of time and money implementing the Amazon feed, and Amazon was responsible for nearly $100 of revenue a day for me. I’ll also have to find out which other retailers will stop working with me because of Jerry Brown.
Leaving California is my ONLY option.
I’ll have to re-incorporate my California business in another state now. That is the only way to survive. Maybe Nevada? Delaware? A different country? I can’t call Amazon (and all the other affiliate programs that might nix me) and say “please please let me work with you!”. I can’t call Jerry Brown and say “please please please learn how the internet works!”.
I hope you are happy, California lawmakers. I was paying California income tax but now I will pay zero California income tax. I’m not sure how you intend to fix the budget when you are driving tax-paying businesses out of your state.
Would Meg Whitman Have Done It?
No! Former CEO of eBay? Are you serious? She understands how the internet works. Jerry Brown does not. It is totally not fair for these dinosaur lawmakers in California to pass a budget when they have no idea what it even means. Try to get each lawmaker to explain what this bill does exactly.
I’m In a Blind Rage.
I thought I had a lot of stuff to take care of when I returned to the states. Selling the RV, buying a car, finding a place, selling off my websites, developing the new version and optimizing my main site, closing out a few other projects, and somehow fixing my shoulder/wrist injuries. Now I have to move my entire business to another state. Change my address for everything: affiliate programs, taxes, payroll, banks, etc. All because Jerry Brown ignorantly decided that he didn’t want my tax dollars anymore.
Thanks, California. We had a good run.