Just made last purchase from Amazon before they start charging 8% TX sales tax

[cabinetman]

The last two items we bought on Amazon were from out of state vendors and we were not charged sales tax.

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[BeauxTi]

Guess I just have to bite the bullet. Where I live, two of the only options that are withing 30 miles are Lowe's and HD. If I am looking for something and they don't have it, on-line is the answer. Guess I will be paying more ;-(. As for stores - unless they are really marking it up (over 15%) over online. I would rather touch, feel and walk out the door with it.

[BigguyZ]

I love Amazon, and I'm a Prime subscriber. I do buy a lot from them- both because of no taxes and because of the convenience of it being sent to my door. However, if they start charging tax for MN, I'll probably cut my purchases from them in half.

[jseklund]

Honestly, I don't even know if Amazon charges me sales tax in MA. It's not like I don't order from them, I actually order fairly regularly from them. I am a Prime member.

I do a lot of reading on marketing and sales, and one book I read talks about Amazon deciding to do away with all of their advertising, and use their advertising budget on Amazon Prime - i.e. to subsidize orders and actually make the "product" of Amazon.com better. I think this is actually a large part of the reason I buy from Amazon.

To me, Amazon is a great place to go when you want something done reliably and quickly. With Prime, I can order something and have it in 1-2 days for free. Even though they say 2 days, it often shows up the next. If I can't get something locally, I hop on there and I have it tomorrow or the next day. That's tough to beat.

My most recent search is for some crown stops for my dewalt saw. I have an older DW705 - and I need the stops ASAP. The product is not available locally, and when I search the internet I find prices that are aboud $35 with shipping ($20 for the product and $15 for shipping). I don't know when I'll see these stops if I order them today for $35.

If I could find them on Amazon for $30-35 with Prime, I'd do it just for the speed. It turns out they only have it available through a third party seller, so it doesn't look like Prime is available in this case...but you get the point.

If I need something to be the absolute cheapest I can find it and can wait...I check amazon and other places - but I think I just assume I'd pay sales tax anywhere...

[BigguyZ]

Well, no sales tax for MN yet. But our states stinks at budgeting, so it's just a matter of time.

[Brian G]

That our state stinks at budgeting may be true, but it may just reflect the electorate.

"Minnesotans are supposed to pay state tax on their own when they buy online, but only a tiny fraction do -- just 789 in 2010, according to state officials."

That was from a recent Star Tribune article