Thursday, July 2, 2009

Overstock.com Reinstates Hawaii Affiliates

In the continuing saga over taxation of Internet businesses, Overstock.com said Thursday afternoon that it will reinstate its Hawaii affiliate advertisers, after it received word that Hawaii Governor Lingle decided to veto legislation that would force the firm--and other Internet retailers--to collect taxes on purchases in the state. Overstock, along with Amazon.com and other ecommerce sites, recently began dropping affiliates in states where legislation was pending to tax the firms based on the presence of affiliate advertisers in those states. Overstock.com had dropped affiliates in North Carolina, Rhode Island, California, and Hawaii over the laws, but reinstated California Wednesday after a veto promise from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.