Illinois Affiliates Dumped By Overstock

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Mar 12, 2011 6:45PM

Looks like Amazon isn't the only company that dislikes HB3659. Following Amazon's lead in dropping its Illinois affiliates in direct response to Gov. Quinn's signing of the new bill, Overstock has also decided to drop its Illinois affiliates.

Overstock will officially dump its Illinois affiliates beginning May 1, almost a month after Amazon plans to sever ties with its Illinois affiliates on April 15. The new law directly targets all online retailers, and in addition to talk of whether or not this new law makes any financial sense, there's already a lot of talk concerning whether or not this new law is constitutional:

Under the new law, having affiliates in Illinois requires an Internet company to collect sales taxes on all transactions with Illinois customers ... Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed the law Thursday. The companies call it unconstitutional because they don't have offices, warehouses or personnel in Illinois. "A long time ago, that was called taxation without representation," Jonathan Johnson, president of Overstock, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Keeping in mind the quick decisions of both Amazon and Overstock to cut its ties with its Illinois partners within a day of Gov. Quinn signing the new law, we have to wonder what other companies will decide to pack up and say goodbye to their Illinois affiliates in the coming weeks.