Tv Tome Seinfeld

Use-Tax Expert Has His Say

Your At Deadline Item "California Reintroduces Use-Tax Bill" (March 1) is inaccurate. The proposed bill does not add any new sales tax or use-tax on Internet sales. The bill does not propose to tax any out-of-state business. The bill is aimed exclusively at Barnes & Noble and a few other large corporations that have stores throughout California but have set up separate Internet subsidiaries, incorporated outside California, in a legal loophole attempt to avoid collecting sales tax.

California, and every other state, collects sales tax on Internet sales to state residents made by businesses with a physical presence, or nexus, in the state. Most large corporations with Internet sites collect California sales tax on Internet sales to residents. Barnes & Noble is one of the few companies that has tried to beat the tax. The legislation was proposed and eagerly supported by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, in an attempt to make Barnes & Noble play by the same rules that all other California booksellers are forced to follow.

When the governor of California vetoed this same legislation last year, the governor said he would not sign a law that taxed California Internet businesses. I don't know if the governor was ignorant of his own state's sales tax laws or if he was grandstanding on an issue that would be misreported on the front-page news: "California Taxes the Internet."

I suspect that the Direct Marketing Association, in opposing this bill, read what the governor said and not what the bill actually proposed. I think the DMA, whose California members are already required to collect sales tax on Internet sales to California residents, should support the legislation. The California governor, the DMA, and everyone else who opposes the legislation are handing a New York-based corporation a huge advantage over state businesses.

Bernard Kamoroff, CPA author, Online Operator: Business, Legal, and Tax Guide to the Internet

They Like Us? They Really Like Us?

Just wanted to drop a note to tell you how thrilled we are to be included in the finalists this year for your Annual Catalog Awards. Cottura takes great pride in its catalog, and just to be among the finalists is winning in our book.

We have learned so much from CATALOG AGE over the years-it has been our primary learning tool in this crazy world of catalogs. We are about to launch our Website and have put many of the issues presented in CATALOG AGE to use in developing our site.

Thanks to your staff for such a great publication.

Jim Zimmerman president, Cottura

CORRECTION

In the March 15 issue we incorrectly spelled the name of J. Crew spokesperson Karina Sokolovsky. CATALOG AGE regrets the error.

Desire Lurking Deep Inside the Mailbox ...

Now that we have your attention, calm down--it's only another coffee-table book on catalog design. Hot off the press, the aptly titled Catalog Design: The Art of Creating Desire, by Dianna Edwards and Robert Valentine, "examines how catalogs and magalogs build emotional connections that make the reader feel comfortable and eager to buy" according to the press release. The 160-page book from Gloucester, MA-based Rockport Publishers explores the four elements that make all catalogs successful: desire, relevance, trust, and resonance, with examples from Neiman Marcus, Banana Republic, and Martha by Mail. Not surprisingly, A&F Quarterly--that tome of titillation--is also featured prominently. So if you think partial nudity and tattoos have no place in catalog design, you may not be impressed with this book's assessment.

Peterman Tells the Truth

You read in CATALOG AGE last month ("J. Peterman Co. Rides Again," page 7) that J. Peterman catalog founder John Peterman is putting his Owner's Manual catalog back in the mail this month. The real John Peterman was also back on the small screen in March as a contestant on television game show To Tell the Truth. The show is based on the series hosted by Bud Collyer in the 1950s and '60s, in which three contestants all claim to be the same person and a celebrity panel has to guess who is telling the truth. So why is the highbrow Mr. Peterman subjecting himself to a TV game show? Because To Tell the Truth's host is none other than John O'Hurley, the actor who played Peterman in the Seinfeld TV series--and an investor in Peterman's newest catalog incarnation.

Wild About Harry

We told you Harry Potter merchandise was going to be big. So big, in fact, that Port Washington, NY-based marketing information provider NPD Group has introduced the NPD Harry Potter Prophet, a series of seven reports that will provide insight on Potter-related trends. The Prophet will capture information on attitudes and behavior among consumers, revealing which Harry Potter products are most popular, who plans to purchase Harry Potter products in the future, and the potential for products before, during and after the release of the upcoming Harry Potter movie. According to the series's first report, 95% of kids and 90% of adults have heard of Harry Potter. On a scale from 1 ("I can't stand Harry Potter") to 10 ("Harry Potter is the best"), the median response was 4.9 among children and 4.2 among adults. Maybe the boy wizard can use his magic to get these numbers up a bit.

Blissfully Attentive Service

A friend of CATALOG AGE was about to take off on an overseas vacation when she suddenly remembered a few things she had wanted to order from the Bliss catalog. She decided to call in the order fight then so that she would have the items when she returned. As she was placing her phone order from the airport, the bewildered phone rep, heating the noise and chaos in the background, asked, "Where are you?" The customer explained that she was waiting for a flight to take her on vacation. When the customer returned from her trip 10 days later, the package from Bliss was waiting for her. A handwritten note inside the box said, "Hope you had a great time in Italy!"

COPYRIGHT 2001 PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group

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