There are various reasons why some states don’t have an Amazon affiliate program. Online venders are not required to keep up with a customer’s state sales tax information. To require that would create a major headache for online vendors.
Some states fought back by enacting legislation that made it difficult for online vendors to have affiliate programs. Thousands of affiliate marketers lost out on affiliate income. As a result of this, some vendors pulled affiliate programs in the states that wanted to collect sales tax information and Amazon was one of those companies.
So even though the decision not to allow an affiliate program was between the online company and the state that was fighting it, even though this isn’t personal, it still means you lose out. You lose out on a good way to earn money through affiliate programs if you’re in one of the affected states.
However, there are ways that you can get around this. First, you can set up an LLC in another state that does allow affiliate programs. You’ll need a federal tax ID number and some states will require a business license.
You can also allow a legal preparation company to incorporate your business for you in another state – and they’ll do that for a small service fee (less than $100) plus the state filing fee.
You can check out a potential state’s requirement for setting up an LLC. Some states are very tax friendly for LLC businesses and some are not. In come cases, you’ll need a registered agent, someone who can act on your behalf in the actual state where you want to set up your LLC. A registered agent can make sure that your LLC is following all the rules of the state. The cost of hiring a registered agent will vary from state to state.
You should know that you can’t simply rent a post office box in another state for the purpose of doing business and have a relative or friend collect the mail. This is against state laws and you want to make sure you’re compliant.
Another route you can take that’s fast and cheaper is to use an umbrella company. This means that you can promote using another company that has affiliate links through online vendors.
You’ll promote the products using their resources and you get a commission. They will take a small percentage of your commission. However, most of these umbrella companies make more revenue with their links, so you get a higher commission rate than you would if you were doing it on your own.
You can also promote on Squidoo and use their affiliate system. Squidoo pays out commission to affiliate promoters who are promoting Amazon products as well as other products. They get paid the commission and they share it with you.