Best Buy Says Sales Tax Collection By Amazon May Be Leveling The Playing Field

Reuters reports that best Buy is saying that in certain markets it is seeing an increase in online purchases when Amazon has begun collecting sales taxes on purchases made from its site.

“In California, Texas and Pennsylvania where Amazon.com recently started collecting tax, it is very early, but Best Buy has seen a 4 to 6 percent increase in online sales observed in aggregate versus the rest of the chain,” says Best Buy spokeswoman Amy von Walter. “While some people may still prefer to shop online, the sales tax parity has shown that people will shift their buying habits.”

According to the story, “Critics of Amazon have argued it had an unfair advantage because big retailers, including Best Buy, Walmart Stores Inc and Target Corp, have had to collect state sales tax on online sales for years because they have stores and other physical operations in these locations … Big retailers hope the requirement to collect sales tax will reduce Amazon’s price advantage and help them recoup some sales that lost to the Internet retailer.”