Company sends warning to members of Associates program.

One funny thing about politicians is how they make short-sighted maneuvers that end up costing their constituents in the long run. One example is requiring online merchants to collect sales tax for shipments to their state if the company has any affiliates in the state.

The sad thing is that North Carolina, the latest state set to ponder such a law, can just look at other states to realize this is a mistake. New York passed such a law, which is being fought in court.

The goal is to boost sales tax revenue. But it is offset by a loss in income tax. When an affiliate in North Carolina helps sell a book to someone in Hawaii or Florida, North Carolina gets a cut from the affiliate’s taxes. So North Carolina wins.

But if this law (in its current form attached as a rider to another bill) passes, North Carolina loses. Companies such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will ditch its affiliates in North Carolina. North Carolina gets less income tax, and Amazon still doesn’t have to remit sale tax because it got rid of its affiliates in the state. It also hurts Amazon’s earnings. Oh, not to mention a handful of North Carolina residents’ livelihoods will be ruined. So it’s a lose-lose-lose situation.

A Domain Name Wire reader in North Carolina forwarded a message Amazon sent to affiliates yesterday:

We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.

Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.

But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.

The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.

Yahoo’s sale of Contests.com was a win for everyone involved.

When Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) sold the domain name Contests.com on Tuesday, the mood was upbeat. It was a relatively big domain sale from a big company for a lot more money than the seller anticipated.

I was surprised to see some people questioning the sale. Larry Fischer made some fair points. TechCrunch went a little overboard, suggesting this was more than just a simple decision to sell an unused domain. (People who read the TC article took it a step further. Two commentors thought it was some sort of inside deal as a favor to the buyer. Gotta love conspiracy theorists.)

Here’s my take: it was a good domain sale. The seller got more than they required and the buyer probably would have paid more.

Yahoo set a reserve of $150,000 and was willing to take that much. The buyer was determined and probably would have gone higher had an internet bidder not pulled out at $360,000. But is $380,000 that bad for this domain?

It’s true that the domain was inserted into the auction relatively late. That may have to do with internal reviews at Yahoo. But the level of promotion inside the domain industry was better than for just about any domain sold at a live domain auction: a solo email blast to qualified buyers. Buyers knew about it and there were many qualified bidders at the auction who decided not to participate. It was very different from Toys.com, in which only a handful of bidders were aware and kept the secret to themselves.

This sale can only be good for the industry. So I’m just going to treat it as what it was: a good sale in which both the buyer and seller are happy.

Whois for Importers.com changes to whois privacy.

It appears that Live Current Media (OTCbb: LIVC.ob) may be in the process of closing a sale for Importers.com. The whois record for the domain name showed Communicate.com (Live Current’s former name) on June 16 but now shows Go Daddy’s whois privacy. Live Current hasn’t made similar changes on its other domain names except when they were sold.

In April I was able to determine that the company had sold Vietnam.com because its whois record changed. It briefly changed to a broker’s name before changing to Go Daddy whois privacy. In this case the record immediately changed to whois privacy, so it’s unclear if the domain has actually sold and who the buyer is.

Live Current Media has been liquidating its prized domain names to raise capital. In addition to Vietnam.com, it recently sold Body.com for $400,000 and likely sold Malaysia.com for a similar price.

Domain name registrar adds new security features and advanced whois privacy.

Domain name registrar Fabulous is adding two new features including a whois privacy service that sets the bar for customer service. The features will be available July 1.

The first new feature is a physical security device that adds additional security to sensitive areas of your account, such as name pushes and nameserver changes. The USB device delivers a one time-use passcode with the push of a button, which is then required to perform the action.

Fabulous is also introducing whois privacy. Although whois privacy is a common registrar feature, Fabulous’ seems to be the most registrant friendly. Each user gets a unique identifier so they can receive all voicemail intended for the registrant. (Most whois services just have a generic registrar phone number). All e-mail and important postal mail is also forwarded to the registrant. The service is free, although there’s a $25 charge if the company needs to forward important postal mail such as a domain dispute.

Read domain registrar reviews at RegistrarJudge.com.

Yahoo sells domain name during Domain Roundtable auction.

Search and media giant Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) has sold the domain name Contests.com for $380,000 during a live domain name auction in Washington, D.C. The domain started at a $150,000 price before receiving 15 bids from 3 different bidders. Two of the bidders were on site at the auction and one was online. The domain appears to have been picked up when Yahoo acquired Broadcast.com. Historical records show the domain was owned by AudioNet (the original name of Broadcast.com).

The Domain Roundtable auction hosted by Aftermarket.com featured over 70 domain names in the live auction, with over 100 more slated for an extended online auction. The auction started with 5 domain names auctioned to benefit Internet Commerce Association (ICA). The top sale benefiting ICA was Castaway.com, which received 27 bids and sold for $9,500.

Other domains sold benefiting ICA included SecureWeb.com ($2,250), ParkingShare.com ($300), PayoffBills.com ($1,500), and Deployed.com ($1,250).

After Contests.com, the highest sale was WeightLifting.com WeightTraining.com for $19,000. Other notable sales included CharmBracelet.com for $12,500 (sold by Houston, TX based Internet REIT) and BabySwing.com.

The extended online auction continues at Aftermarket.com.