Amazon Australia Progress

Amazon marketplace started taking orders on Tuesday, it offers free shipping across Australia for orders over $50 AUD. All due Amazon set up one of its huge distribution centers just outside the city of Melbourne. Amazon planning to offer Prime service to Australian customers in mid-2018,

and

Stock for the top Australia department store operator Myer Holdings has decreased 30 percent.

Amazon started lowering prices on products sold by outside vendors by as much as 9% in recent weeks, ratcheting up a price war with other retailers ahead of the holidays.

The company is also asking suppliers to sell more of their merchandise in bulk versions instead of single boxes, an effort to increase order sizes and make them more profitable.

This spring when the online retailer began collecting sales tax on purchases in all 45 states that have one.

But while Amazon handles sales taxes on purchases from its own inventory of goods, it’s up to third-party merchants selling on its marketplace to tally and send in their own sales-tax payments — and most aren’t doing it.

Now state lawmakers and tax regulators are going after the sellers in this last tax-free corner of Amazon.com, and lawsuits and legislation are entangling the company itself.

Amazon Marketplace is an increasingly important part of Amazon’s retail empire, accounting for half of the company’s sales. The program has more than 2 million sellers and, Amazon says, has minted thousands of small-business success stories. The program has also generated unpaid tax bills that likely total billions of dollars a year.

Amazon has received licenses to become a wholesale drug distributor in at least 12 states. Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Idaho, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee have already approved the company's application, whereas Maine is still thinking about it.

All this is scary.

The deadline to submit proposals for Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, has arrived, and about 100 cities are expected to compete for the project. Amazon’s preferences for HQ2, which will cost more than $5 billion and create 50,000 jobs over the next two decades

New Jersey proposed $7 billion in potential credits against state and city taxes if Amazon locates in Newark and sticks to hiring commitments, according to a Monday news release from the governor’s office.

New York City made a proposal without incentives special for Amazon, though the state is expected to offer some, a spokesman for the city’s economic development corporation said on Wednesday.

California is offering some $300 million in incentives over several years and other benefits, the governor said in an Oct. 11 letter to Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, published online by the Orange County Register. Amazon

Atlanta: The southern U.S. city, home of Amazon delivery partner United Parcel Service Inc., is a major flight hub, and the greater metro area houses a dynamic population of almost 6 million, as well as the headquarters of major corporations like Coca-Cola Co. and Home Depot Inc. Still, Atlanta is a relatively suburban city, compared with the urban HQ1 of Seattle.

Boston: Several Amazon executives have already advocated putting HQ2 in Boston, due to its proximity to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology; an airport with nonstop flights to Seattle and Washington D.C.; and a lower cost of living than some other large urban areas. Amazon has ties with Boston already, having purchased local robot maker Kiva Systems Inc. for $775 million in 2012. The city also won General Electric Co.’s 2015 new headquarters bid, and has provided more than $100 million in grants, property tax relief and programs for GE – though the city has said it won’t negotiate any incentives with Amazon until Boston makes it past the first round of the selection process.

Chicago: The Windy City ranks second in Anderson Economic Group’s analysis of 35 cities competing for the precious HQ2, focusing on its talent, diverse ecosystem and access to transportation in its bid. Just last month, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner reauthorized the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax-credit program, which provides special tax incentives to companies relocating to Illinois or expanding operations in the state when another state is actively competing, according to BNA. One issue? The city isn’t known as a center of technology.

Toronto: Canada’s biggest city is already home to 800 Amazon employees and boasts a large population of computer science, engineering and artificial intelligence graduates and programs. Municipalities in the Toronto region have teamed up to increase their chances at scoring Amazon’s HQ2, and Ontario just announced a plan to boost STEM graduates, saying that it can offer talent at 30 percent less than other big tech jurisdictions. Yet going to Canada holds political risks: Moving integral operations and workforce from the U.S. may step up tension with President Donald Trump.

Washington: The U.S. capital city’s urban location, highly educated workforce and public transportation are top selling points for its HQ2 bid. Not to mention Jeff Bezos already has a strong presence there: the Amazon founder owns the Washington Post, and last year purchased the largest home in the city. Washington didn’t disclose what it may offer Amazon in financial incentives, but the district has been active in providing taxpayer dollars to corporations in the past, according to the Post. Cons include the city’s expensive housing market and limited space for building

The dark side clouds everything.

@joethepro I just checked their front page - the vast majority of the articles have been clearly cherry picked to make minorities appear bad/dangerous. If you can't see a racist bias in that, then perhaps you are their target audience.

Bad week for Amazon in EU

Amazon.com Inc. was slapped with a European Union order to pay 250 million euros ($294 million) plus interest in back taxes to Luxembourg as the world’s biggest online retailer became the latest U.S. giant to run afoul of the bloc’s tough rules on government subsidies.

Amazon today announced plans to open Amazon HQ2, a second company headquarters in North America. Amazon expects to invest over $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community. Amazon is opening the Amazon HQ2 Request for Proposal (“RFP”) now, and local and state government leaders interested in learning more about how they can bring Amazon to their community can visit www.amazon.com/amazonHQ2.

Amazon estimates its investments in Seattle from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city’s economy – every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional 1.4 dollars for the city’s economy overall.

I did already. Got a cheaper, better ISP and enjoying the ride as Breitbart looks for private investors. It's bad enough they exist at all - I get to spend my own cash as I wish.

Yes, it's bad for business. Today, like thousands of customers, I wrote to Vodafone:

Dear Vodafone, I have been a satisfied customer of yours for mobile internet services for 8 years, currently spending $250.00 every three months or so. However upon hearing that your parent company has finally decided to continue advertising with far right racist and hate speech media company Breitbart, I am writing to give you the opportunity to confirm or deny that this is true. If so I will be regretfully purchasing my prepaid internet services from one of your competitors. Yours Sincerely,

[edit] just received this reply: Hi, thank you for your e-mail.

We're sorry to hear you're unhappy with an aspect of our service.

We will be in touch within 2 business days to discuss how we can help to resolve your complaint.

Vodafone Customer Care

(see, they do care!)