March 11, 2010 11:09 PM UTC

Colorado Citizens, Businesses Reject Amazon's Bullying

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• by: Alan

(Related to this, in case you haven’t been paying attention – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Less than 48 hours into the effort, support is growing rapidly for ProgressNow Colorado’s call to boycott online retail giant Amazon following its decision to terminate relationships with affiliates in the state.

The public can sign the pledge to boycott Amazon here: http://progressnowcolorado.org…

The editorial board of the Aurora Sentinel writes in today’s edition (click here to read) that “a clearly punitive act by online retailer Amazon not only invites retribution from Colorado consumers, it practically demands it…it’s important for consumers to press back against Amazon for trying to bully their way into making more profit at your expense. Send Amazon an e-mail message telling them of your displeasure at their mean-spirited and politically motivated antics instead of an order, and take your wallet to an Aurora store instead.”

“After only one email alert to our list, thousands of Coloradans have pledged to shop elsewhere until Amazon stops using their business partners as political pawns,” said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark. “We’ve heard from individual citizens, angry ex-Amazon affiliates, elected officials, and local retailers, virtually all expressing their support.”

Anne in Fort Collins writes in response to ProgressNow’s call to boycott, “Amazon doesn’t want to follow the law and wants to strong-arm Colorado into backing off…sorry, Amazon–I would rather support local businesses than do business with a company that employs unfair tactics to compete.”

Tannis in Greeley replied, “I’ve been thinking I need to do a better job of supporting local businesses.  Thanks to your decision to protect your unfair advantage, I will be shopping at stores which actually benefit my community.”

Jim in Denver writes, “As a Denver retailer for the past 45 years, you bet I’ll support this campaign.  A level playing field is what I want to see.”

In addition to the thousands who have signed ProgressNow Colorado’s pledge to boycott Amazon, a broad cross-section of Colorado’s political leadership and business community have rallied in support of the Colorado legislature’s decision to pass House Bill 1193, which created the mechanism to collect the taxes already owed–and paid routinely–on purchases made every day online and offline.

In an open letter, Tattered Cover Bookstore general manager Matthew Miller writes that “unlike sales tax equity legislation in other states, which makes clear that an active network of in-state affiliates establishes nexus–and requires an out-of-state retailer to collect sales tax for online sales–our state’s law now merely asks these retailers to inform residents of the amount of use tax that they owe for online purchases. Amazon’s refusal to do even this clearly shows that it is only interested in maintaining its significant competitive advantage over the bricks-and-mortar retailers in the state–and that it is more than willing to use its online affiliates as pawns to do so.”

“The fact is, Amazon’s actions were capricious and arbitrary, and had nothing directly to do with the issue at hand,” continued ProgressNow’s Clark. “The sole intention of Amazon’s termination of these affiliates was to anger them, and goad the public into acting against the best interests of our state.

“From retailers to individual consumers to the state’s highest elected leaders, Colorado stands united to level the playing field between online sales and Main Street business, and ensure the vitality of our local economy and public institutions alike,” Clark said. “And we’re calling on everyone, from the Governor to the clerk at your local used bookstore and everybody in between, to put their money where their mouth is and show massive corporations like Amazon that we won’t be pushed around.”