Solitude

Solitude, a set on Flickr.

A change of pace...

These are pictures from some of my road trips. I call this Solitude and I hope you enjoy it.

Margins Narrowing, Amazon Faces a Well-Financed Campaign to Force it to Collect Sales Taxes - YCharts - Information, Not Opinion - Forbes

Margins Narrowing, Amazon Faces a Well-Financed Campaign to Force it to Collect Sales Taxes - YCharts - Information, Not Opinion - Forbes

States look to Internet taxes to close budget gaps - Yahoo! Finance

Just my 15%

Sales Tax - Who Cares what Amazon Thinks?

Raise your hands if you think there will eventually be an Internet Sales Tax? Of course there will be and Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos can't stop it. It is time the US Government earns some of the tax dollars we are paying them and enacts a sensible plan for managing Internet sales tax.

States need the revenue, consumers are conditioned to pay sales tax and it is fair to charge sales tax for purchases shipped to a state. Right now the States need to shut up and listen. You are better off with a reasonable Internet sales tax for all sales in your state then you are protecting your own sales tax percentage. A reasonable sales tax of 5% with .5% going to the Federal government for managing the program.

California will moan, but we get 8.75% and we can't make it at 4.5% and I say, quit bitching and take the 4.5% because your are fighting for the 8.75% and losing the battle and years of trying to get an additional 4.25% won't get you anywhere.

I say give every State 4.5% of the sales shipped to that state and be happy with it. Even states like Oregon and New Hampshire with no sales tax should charge 4.5%. Ecommerce needs a plan now so we don't play games for 2-3 more years and get stuck with a worse law.

Look, I don't have the lobbying budget that Amazon has but I do have a blog and I do have a voice. Congress wants to say this is an issue for the states so they need to figure something out but getting the States to agree on anything is like herding cats -- its impossible. Congress needs to enact a reasonable solution that is fair for every consumer and still give ecommerce the room to grow.

I say a 5% Internet Sales Tax managed by the US government is the quickest and smartest approach available and regardless how much money Amazon throws at this issue, a national sales tax must be enacted.

Just my 15%

Internet Retailer 2011 - San Diego

If you are attending the Internet Retailer show this year in San Diego, please make sure to stop by the Buy.com Marketplace booth #1922. This is the first year we are sponsoring the show and I would love to meet you in person.

Internet Retailer runs from Tuesday 6/14 through Thursday 6/16

Just my 15%

Pandora Now Sees IPO At $10-12, Up From $7-$9; Expands Offering - Eric Savitz - The Tech Trade - Forbes

Pandora Now Sees IPO At $10-12, Up From $7-$9; Expands Offering - Eric Savitz - The Tech Trade - Forbes

Pandora is my favorite music streaming service. I'll have to find a way to get in at the IPO price. I'm glad the company was able to last long enough for this big payday.

Who will be the next eCommerce company to go public?

Just my 15%

Rakuten Acquires Brazillian Ecommerce Platform

TechCrunch had the best write-up on this so I'm just going to link you to that.

"Japanese online retail juggernaut Rakuten is expanding its reach to South America with the acquisition of a 75% stake in Ikeda, a provider of e-commerce services to many of Brazil’s largest retailers.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in São Paulo, Ikeda provides retailers with a SaaS e-commerce platform, enabling its customers to help build their desired features and provides advisory services to support their online retail operations.

Ikeda currently provides services to over 100 major retailers located all over Brazil."

I look forward to working with our new friends in Brazil :)

Just my 15%