eTaildTail can not emphasize enough that all ecommerce undertsand the myriad of issues related to compliance with online sales tax levies on your online sales.
The online sales tax picture is certainly not clear, as I wrote about a few times, and the waters continue to muddy with Amazon leading the way (and spending lots and lots of money alonmg the way) in trying to ensure that there will never be any online sales' taxes related to online purchases...good luck!
Also, here are are my prior commentaries in regard to online, retail, sales tax issues, if you are interested. I think you will find them helpful if you have any interest to know about "how we got here today" and "where are going."
Will New York Online Sales Tax Legislation Kill E-Commerce?
Online Sales Tax..Yes You Must Pay It...Or Do you?
Now is not the time to ignore the online, sales tax issue because:
- knowledge is power
- you might be fined heavily for not compying with state and federal regulations, which are very, very convoluted, and
- you don't want to penalize yourself by ignoring the inevitable...yes, it is going to happen.
So, eTaildTail friends at Avalara, experts in the online sales tax arena, are hosting a free Webinar to learn about what you must do, might do, and don't have to do regarding online sales taxes related to online purchases.
Here is Avalara's formal invitation:
"You are invited to attend a webinar on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009: Tips For Helping Online Merchants Achieve Sales Tax Compliance.
Nexus, taxability and exemptions - these seemingly innocent words are more complex than they first appear. With the constantly shifting sales tax rates and jurisdictional boundaries, many e-commerce business owners simply cannot keep track of compliance details. It is compulsory, and without it you risk incurring unnecessary tax and penalties in the event of an audit. However, achieving compliance is a serious drain on your business' time and resources.
By integrating its services directly into accounting and e-commerce applications, Avalara has helped over 20,000 users eliminate the tedious work and complexity of calculating, collecting, reporting on and remitting taxes in multiple jurisdictions. As a leading provider of web-hosted sales tax management services, Avalara brings you this webinar to show how your e-commerce business can dramatically reduce the risk of suffering loss or penalty as you go through a tax audit.
Join us for this 30 minute, free, educational webinar:
Date: Wednesday March 4th, 2009
Time: 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm PST.
Take-A-Ways: You will learn how easy it can be to achieve end-to-end sales tax compliance for your e-commerce business."
<<<CLICK HERE>>> to register now for this free Avalara Webinar to educate you all about online sales tax obligations that you might not want to ignore.
- Chip Arndt

Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing - Pronto.com
Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing
Two weeks ago, eTaildTail had a great interview with consumer shopping engine Smarter.com as part of our 2009 ongoing series called: Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing.
The most notable three reasons are:
As part of eTaildTail's 2009 effort to educate online retailers as to the many, cost-effective marketing channels available to them to list their product catalog, eTaildTail will interview executives at various CSEs and marketing channels and ask them to help us undertstand their value to growing an online merchant's sales and revenues.
eTaildTail hopes that these online Q&A sessions give you, the online merchant, pertinent information as to a particular marketing channel and the potential benefits of working with them. And, if you decide to work them then great, please let them know that eTaildTail sent you their way.
So let's get started with an interview with Pronto.com and its Client Services Manager, Fred Klein. All interviews are conducted by Chip Arndt, an author of eTaildTail.
If you would like to contact Pronto.com and Fred Klein of Pronto you may email me at tips @ merchantadvantage.com and eTaildTail would be glad to accommodate you.
Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing - Pronto.com
Pronto's Secrets to CSE Marketing Success for Online Merchants
1. When was Pronto.com founded and by whom?
Pronto is a wholly owned subsidiary of IAC, Barry Diller’s portfolio of internet companies. It was started internally as one of IAC’s “emerging businesses” by Dan Marriott and John Foley in 2005.
2. What sets Pronto.com apart from the other shopping engines?
We are proud to differentiate ourselves in a number of ways from our competitors:
3. What are the secrets to success for merchants advertising on Pronto.com
4. Who is using Pronto.com and why?
Pronto is proud to say that we have over 19MM unique visitors (approximately 55% of which are female) and registered users numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Perhaps most importantly though, our users are actively in the market to purchase products while they are visiting our site and are active shoppers and influencers in general.
5. What are some of the challenges you are seeing in the retail sector during the current economic downturn, and what are you doing to overcome them?
A retailer is always challenged to differentiate itself on price, product offering, reach and style, but this challenge becomes all the more intense during an economic downturn like the one we are witnessing today. Like the retailers they frequent, consumers are faced with similar challenges and are also looking to spend efficiently.
Our recent integration of “retail price” into our system allows us to highlight savings that our merchant partners offer to our 19 million unique visitors. This information serves as a call to action in which Pronto brings together merchants that want to differentiate themselves and consumers who are, understandably, cost conscious.
Bonus Q: How do I get to work with Pronto.com as an ecommerce merchant?
It’s simple . . . any interested merchants should feel free to reach out to either Craig Motz (cmotz@pronto.com) or Lee Breslouer (lee@pronto.com), both members of our Merchant Sales team. We require only a $50 minimum spend and you can cancel at any time. And let them know eTaildTail sent you our way!
Chip: Thank you so much Fred for your time and insights on how online merchants can benefit by working with Pronto.com
If you want to keep up with all entries as they relate to Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing, please click on "Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing" under categories on the left hand side of the eTaildTail blog.
- Chip Arndt
Posted by Chip Arndt on February 26, 2009 at 07:00 AM in Comparison Shopping Engines, Data Feed Management, Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing, Guest-Expert Commentary, Industry Experts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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