Is Affiliate Industry Dying?

[Boris_ABB]

Everybody should read this news piece

[ralf_skirr]

Taxing affiliate referred sales based on the affiliate's location is a big thread to the affiliate industry. Amazon for example is losing a huge number of affiliates right now, with no end of this trend in sight. That's bad for Amazon, but it won't kill them. It DOES kill the affiliates though, unless they move their business.

It's just the tip of the iceberg though, only a first glimpse of the tough times affiliates and the affiliate program owners will face.

I think an even bigger thread is the privacy issue.

Many people seem to think that every kind of tracking is a bad thing by nature, and we will see more and more tools coming out that will efficiently disable any cookie based tracking - thus leaving affiliates out, even if a sale was referred by them.

I believe that this kind of tools a nd privacy protection will become default in browsers and at some time they will have enough intelligence to disable cookies automatically and selectively.

This might even go as far as not only removing cookies, but even removing URL parameters that could be used to identify affiliates when the sale takes place right away.

While figuring out ways to prevent cookie based tracking, the same privacy protection freaks already figured out to disable alternative tracking methods, for example flash cookies. (probably not the correct technical term)

Not being able to track a sale back to the referring affiliate will be the real problem affiliate marketing is facing world wide, not only in the US.

Ralf

[patsfanxxx]

Good article. As long as Google is around there will be affiliate marketing one way or another. However, the tax thing is gonna be an albatross around our necks because the economy is not recovering as it was thought to have by now or possibly into 2012. Keep seasoning those blogs!

[bobrose]

There are alternatives, being an IL resident I was aware of this for quite awhile. And while Amazon and some of the others dropped their affiliates, there was a website that listed affiliate programs to take their place. Especially Walmart and Target, stepped up their recruiting efforts to replace Amazon. Quite frankly I see it as a hurdle but not the end of the world. If anything it will eliminate those who aren't serious about making it a business, and as harsh as that sounds it is time for affiliate marketing to grow up a bit. Reportedly, Senator Dick Durbin is going to introduce a national tax for online transactions after Easter, if that happens it will make most of this a moot point. In the mean time it is pretty trivial to open a Corp in a friendly state with a little research. You could also move off shore, which has a lot of merit for certain situations.

[Boris_ABB]

Without affiliates, less email spam will be sent and Google will be really happy.

[bobrose]

Without affiliates, less email spam will be sent and Google will be really happy.

Probably not, 99% of most profitable Spam is Pharma and Porn, both wont be affected by this kind of trouble. Those guys are all off shore already because of CAN-SPAM Act, though if they make it into a money laundering offense like they did to poker they could be pursued a little more aggressive or shift the criminal act to the buyer for enforcement.

[mp2051]

It is no wonder why American business is fleeing this country. The tax burdens are becoming ridiculous. Everybody with an ounce of intelligence and work ethic is expected to sacrifice more and more of their hard earned incomes, so that a dependent and lazy portion of society can continue to get fatter and lazier by the minute. Just take a look around Walmart and you will see how fat and lazy our society is becoming. I was stuck behind a tubby in a fat cart the other day who just happened to be paying with food stamps. Probably on disability and addicted to prescription pills that just continue to make them hold more water and gain more wait. Now these people are getting so fat and lazy they can't even walk when they are at the supermarket stocking up on their unhealthy snacks--they have to drive motor scooters. It is so sad I can't help but laugh. Trump is right...America is becoming a 3rd world country. Soon everybody is going to throw the towel in and say "screw it if I can get paid to drive a fat cart and not have to work for a living I might as well just join the crowd". This country needs to quit rewarding self destructive behavior and implement a flat tax system. If we forced the tubbies to get out of their carts and walk...they would slowly start losing weight and wouldn't need all the depression and diabetes medication.

[RW012]

@mp2051 Give me a break! This is your second post here, and you come up with a hate message towards overweight people?

Back to the topic at hand about taxes. I believe:

- We should get rid of corporate tax, as US companies aren't competitive, and jobs are going overseas

- We should increase tax on people making over 500,000. The wealthy currently pay less tax as a percent of
income than the middle class. Heck... I'm a business owner and have a good accountant. I can get my
tax bill down pretty low, 100% legal.

- We should have states come together and agree on a sales tax rate for online purchases.
Currently there is a supreme court ruling that says that retailers don't need to collect sales tax if they don't
have a physical location in those places. I don't think Amazon is opposed to taxation, as long as it
is not burdonsome, and as long as they can still be competive. I think they would like to see a
standard tax rate. There is an organization that is attempting to do this, which many governors
have already signed up on.

States need the revenue, and I for one want to live a place with clean air, educated people, good roads,
good economy, etc. If we let the US crumble around us, because we didn't want to pay taxes, what kind
of America will we have for future generations?

Just like in any business, you have to look at what your income is, and what your expenses are.
To get out of debt, you've got to be lean with expenses, and you have to improve income.

[Mike Johnson]

If Boris spent more time trying to make money than researching articles on why not to he would be rich by now. I hit $46,000 with just my Auto Blogs as my March tallies are all in. The affiliate apocalypse farse or continued propaganda by those who write articles to get more web traffic to their sites is upon us. I for one am not buying it.

Mike

[Boris_ABB]

I am not researching articles. I subscribed to paid "ClickBrief" newsletter for free which gets delivered once per week when it was first introduced for fast movers. It has some good news there and it did not take me long to come across the sales tax dilemma article. I just feel that affiliate marketing may be riding a wave that will become harder to surf on or it will just pass someday.