Lenkeit wrote:Woot has always been headquartered in, I'm fairly certain, Texas. If you don't live there, you aren't taxed. But, Woot is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, which is headquartered in Washington. I'm guessing that's the state where you live. So, you're now taxed on Woot purchases. Pull up your big boy pants, get a grip, suck up and deal with it. Even with a few pennies tax, you're still paying a lot less than you would if you bought the stuff anywhere else.
My guess is that Fumi lives in my state, New York, where legislator have passed the so-called "Amazon Tax" law. It forces out-of-state companies to collect sales tax even though the company has no physical presence in NY. Amazon (thus Woot) has a pending case against NY that is expected to reach the US Supreme Court. In the meantime, Amazon has decided to comply so as to avoid a retroactive mess in case they lose.
The pending issue is not whether NY can collect sales tax, but whether they can force an out-of-state entity to be their tax collector. Not only is Amazon unpaid for the task but charging tax will obviously drive away some customers, so doing so is a detriment to their business. I, for example, decided not to buy a computer on Woot because an 8.75% tax on a $600 item made it more expensive than what I found elsewhere.
Again, this is not Amazon or Woot's fault and they are fighting New York. If NY wins, many other states will pass their own laws. Woot is at fault, however, for NEVER having warned their customers about the tax. In fact, even now, affected customers don't learn of the tax until the very last screen. Some customers, like me, may simply click on the final button out of habit, not seeing the tax. There is NO EXCUSE for Woot not telling us about the tax on the first ordering screen (where you choose 1,2 or 3 items) since they already have our zipcodes.
A small remedy is coupon code "TAXSUCKS," where affected customers can get up to $5 back when the total order is more than $40. Texas customers have used it for years.
