Amazon Just Fired Me From the Affiliate Program

All in one week Governor Quinn has abolished the death penalty, and gotten those of us that were a part of the Amazon Affiliate Program fired. Ugh. This is the 2nd “blog income” blow to me this week. You may have seen me tweet about the other. I may post about that soon. Anyway, it’s not like I was making a ton of $$ off of Amazon, but it was always a pleasant surprise to see a deposit from there. I had JUST started thinking about doing a little more with my store. Oh well. Such is life.

Here is the email that I received from Amazon:

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.

As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, orSmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, 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 after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at www.amazon.com from Amazon’s retail business.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-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 Illinois residents.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

What worries me most about this is that I know that the Amazon Affiliate Program was NOT the only online retailer program affected. There are others out there. It may just be a matter of time before we receive more emails just like this one. For many of us, affiliate programs are a part of our income, and when things like this happen we are greatly affected. Ugh.

UPDATE: 3 years later in 2014 this issues were resolved and I was able to rejoin the program! Visit my Influencer store!