I've spent a lot of money on Amazon over the years. I joined their Amazon Prime program, and the UPS guy has delivered a lot of boxes.
I like shopping on Amazon for many reasons:
- Convenience - shop from home, easy to search, and shipped to my door
- Selection - they have everything
- Great customer service
- Decent prices
- No Sales Tax
Well, that last reason may be going away. Amazon has a distribution center in Irving, which would mean that they have a 'physical presence' in the state. The Texas Comptroller's office is
investigating to determine if Amazon owes the state millions in uncollected taxes as well as requiring sales tax to be charged going forward.
If so, I'm sure a lot less of my money will be going to Amazon. It will go instead to other online stores, local stores, or just stay in my bank account. Some of it will still go to Amazon when the other benefits outweigh the cost of both shipping and sales tax. But I'll probably end up canceling my Prime membership if my purchases go down - it won't make sense anymore.
I'm not against supporting local businesses - especially if they're truly local. Somewhere I don't have to spend several dollars in gas to get there and the frustration of time spent in traffic. But in the sprawling Dallas area, the products that I can
really buy locally are limited. I also love the convenience of shopping online - shopping in a store is not a hobby for me, not a pleasant way to pass time for the most part, with infrequent exceptions it's usually just a chore.
There's a big push for all online/mail order businesses to pay sales tax. And why wouldn't the states be pushing for more money to fall into their laps? Well I want more of my money to work for
me - it's already taxed plenty.