E-commerce

California's Board of Equalization (BOE) and Barnes & Noble have finalized their agreement over sales taxes owed by Barnesandnoble.com. B&N will be required to pay the state approximately $9 million in back taxes, plus penalties and interest, for failure to collect and remit sales tax, as previously reported in Bookselling This Week.

Olsson's to File Chapter 11

With creditors filing claims against the store's inventory, coupled with increased overhead, Olsson's Books & Records plans to file for Chapter 11, founder John Olsson announced on Friday, June 27, as reported by the Washington Post. The Washington, D.C. landmark has shut its Penn Quarter store and is evaluating its five remaining locations, the article noted.

The latest column by Wall Street Journal writer Lee Gomes takes a close look at what he characterizes as "an audacious legal strategy Amazon.com has used to avoid collecting sales tax" in some states where it has warehouses or distribution centers.

Last week, New York State asked Overstock.com to consolidate its lawsuit challenging the state's Internet Sales Tax provision with an earlier suit filed by Amazon.com. The case, which will be heard in New York Supreme Court, is slated to begin on Monday, July 7.

In a significant victory for California's independent booksellers, the state's Board of Equalization (BOE) and Barnes & Noble have settled two cases regarding the collection of sales and use taxes on sales made by Barnesandnoble.com. On Thursday, May 29, the California BOE affirmed and approved a settlement that has B&N paying a settlement of approximately $9 million.

Inventory uploads now free

With the launch of IndieBound last Thursday at BookExpo America, the Book Sense marketing program has been replaced with a program that's more of a movement than a marketing campaign, and this means changes for the BookSense.com program.

First and foremost, BookSense.com is not part of IndieBound, and it has been renamed the ABA E-commerce Solution. This will be visible in several ways:

This week, BookSense.com announced that it will be providing MyHound.com, a new service that gives users customized entertainment alerts on demand, with an events feed from all BookSense.com participating stores. The events will be listed on MyHound.com and will have links back to bookstores' websites.

As booksellers in New York, Texas, and other states work to advance e-fairness and the equitable collection of sales tax, the issue is gaining national prominence. Here is a recent column from the Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes, who questions why "Internet moguls should continue to benefit from a tax loophole that hurts parks and schools, and makes it harder for your neighborhood bookstore to keep open for business."

Over the past two months, there have been significant strides in the campaign for e-fairness that have thrust the issue into the media spotlight. To keep the issue on the minds of legislators, the American Booksellers Association is urging booksellers to write, fax, or e-mail their governors about this important issue.

The State of Texas Comptroller's Office is currently investigating whether the presence of an Amazon.com-run distribution facility in the Dallas suburb of Irving means the online retailing giant has a physical presence in the state. If the Comptroller's Office determines that Amazon.com does have nexus, the retailer would be responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax for purchases made by Texas residents and potentially would be liable for back taxes.

Associations call on non-New York State businesses to contact their governors

This week, BookSense.com announced that it will be providing LibraryThing, the popular cataloguing and social networking website for bibliophiles, with an events feed from all BookSense.com member stores. The events will be listed on LibraryThing Local, the place where LibraryThing members go to add their favorite bookstores, connect with friends, and keep track of interesting book-related events.

On May 2, Amazon.com, LLC, and Amazon Services, LLC, announced that as of June 1 they would begin collecting sales tax on sales to New York State residents. This decision comes even as Amazon.com pursues its legal action against New York State over its Internet Sales Tax provision. As reported yesterday in Bookselling This Week, on April 25, Amazon filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York that challenges as unconstitutional the provision in the state's budget.

On April 15, Gov. David Paterson signed into law the Internet Sales Tax provision, as reported by Multichannel Merchant. The Internet Sales Tax provision requires out-of-state retailers such as Amazon.com to comply with New York State sales tax laws and to collect and remit sales tax on sales to state residents.

Last week, independent retailers in New York State scored a huge victory when the legislature passed a final budget that includes the Internet Sales Tax provision. While Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign the budget bill into law without any line-item vetoes, as of press time, he had yet to do so. Meanwhile, though experts expect there to be a legal challenge to the provision from the likes of Amazon.com or the Direct Marketing Association, no suit has been filed in court.