For those who dream of making big wins and having some fun without ever even leaving the keyboard. Selling casino games on-line can be hard work, but for those with positive attitudes and an excellent outlook on life, business home MLM opportunity work provides a real opportunity.

The concept of positive thinking goes a long way in the world of home-business networking, but when the business is selling online games, sales professionals need all the personal resources they can possibly find.

Attitude, language and thought patterns are the essential building blocks of any system that uses positive thinking as a strategy for successful and insightful accomplishments with honest intentions.

Home-business networking should most definitely be as honest as possible, and that is definitely a determining factor for long-term profit structures.

Time and time again short-term marketers go out of business before they even make the smallest margin of profit, just because they make judgment errors about honesty.

There cannot be any black-hat or grey-hat networking anymore; one, because the market won’t allow it, and two, because the search engines won’t allow it.

Self-motivation, perseverance and self-organization with honest goals, both personal and professional are the only tools for online home-business networking today.

In the game world, especially the world of online gaming, being an affiliate can be just as financially rewarding as it is emotionally and professionally, but the sales professional needs to believe in their product.

Belief, contacts and presentation are what make online gaming so attractive to potential clients who would really like to play, but either can’t find the games they are looking for or know nothing about them in the first place.

The power of positive thinking

While we all want to make it big, become successful and find happiness, it does not necessarily mean that a home network business online is for us. Positive thinking goes a long way in the world of sales and especially a long way in the world of online sales.

Going so far as to resort to self-induced hypnosis CD’s just for a little more positive thinking is probably an indication that you are in this for the wrong reasons. If you don’t already have a positive outlook on life, and don’t intend to anytime soon, then forcing yourself to see the world differently just to make big amounts of “cash flow” “right now” in this kind of business is not the answer for you at all.

Networking is about long-term sales profits, and honesty.

Successful people are successful naturally, without the intervention of such devices as hypnosis. If on the other hand, it’s your calling to do hypnosis, then let it be strongly recommended that you do so, and sell that to others.

Certainly anything done with “honesty” is welcome by everyone. But the very point is that, honesty. Don’t try to cheat yourself with get-rich-quick things in mind. Networking is hard work! You are fooling yourself if you think it’s easy. It can be fun sure, but only if you are honest about what you are doing.

Positive thinking can offer a world of power, as long as it’s honest. Honest to yourself and honest to others. It is the ONLY acceptable attitude in positive thinking because it is never ambiguous. Ambivalence is not useful in sales, and it’s not useful to the proactive thinker except as an oddity for question and appraisal.

But when it’s time to sell for real and sell right, be sure to know that attitude, language and thoughts are going to make the difference between keeping focus and losing it.

At the last minute, when time is running slim, quotas must be made and something sold, it will be the very essence of your honest reasons to do what you do, that will hold you to your proposed intentions. To sell, and sell well.

Home-business Networking

Being honest is the most important element for selling anything, and in the world of online home-business networking it is the conductor for everything that motivates, endures and coherently affixes into layered patterns.

Finding the kind of willpower to endure can be challenging and perhaps so much so that some people give in without even a fight. But momentary desire is subject to our imagination, and in psychology the renowned scientist Émile Coué was so bold as to state that imagination is “as powerful” as “momentary desire” squared.

[ex. (i = d^2), where (i = Imagination) and (d = “momentary desire”)]

For a society like ours that gives little importance to the human imagination, that is a bold statement indeed, but test after clinical test as well as reality itself just goes to show that Coué was right.

Imagination is more powerful than “what we would… in the now”. Imagination is more powerful than momentary desire and if we allow our imagination to be negative, then so will our desire be, negative.

In fact, Émile Coué went even further to prove that if imagination and momentary desire are the same, the end result is that one “multiplies” itself by the other rather than merely adding.

Success in Network Marketing from home on a PC is just that, making both your desire and your imagination the same. It is a simple formula, but one that generates instant motivation. When they are the same and on an up-beat, perseverance is certain and self-organization a given absolute.

Selling Online Games

Getting a sale online is different for each and every area, but games are a little bit easier than most. Of course if you don’t believe in gaming, then click-off this page now, because without belief in the entertainment industry you are cheating yourself and everyone else who might believe in you.

The organization for whom you find yourself affiliated will be the first ones to actually believe in you, but after them, come your contacts. The people you trust to sell for and with you all the time. Selling your image and the image of the product go hand in hand.

The truth is, people like entertainment and even seem to need it for some reason. Especially in our society, as more and more people start gaming everyday and come to love it. Gaming fulfills people that have been searching for something, but seem lost, and why that happens is a debate for philosophers, not sales professionals.

The facts just are. People like games, people want games and on some level, games fulfill people for some reason. Entertainment has that end, to fulfill us. Those who agree should feel good about selling them. And those who don’t agree are fighting against facts, and those who fight fact, live in some other reality than this one.

The fact is luxury games of chance have been around for hundreds of years, they were once played by nobles in ancient times at court and in banquets. If you believe in them, really truly with all your heart, then you have just found the key to selling online games.

Sell your belief in your presentation, sell it to your contacts, for certain, sell it to your clients and monetary rewards will be within reach in no time at all.

Time flies when you are having fun and that is what selling online games from home can be if you really believe in them. Keep your motivation focused on proactive strategies and always keep yourself honest. That way, you will create long-term profits that endure and organize themselves.

There are perhaps only a few fundamental rules of marketing. One of them is that marketing will always change. The phenomenon is by its nature and evolving, ever-changing one, as marketing is primarily a reaction to consumer activity. Marketing began in classic forms, but moves readily to new formats to attract the necessary attention of the consumer.

It stands to reason, then, that as the internet moves a lot of human activity onto a screen-based venue, marketing has shifted rapidly to focus on the web as the newest theatre for new sales. Marketing has hit the web hard and shows no signs of abandoning this lucrative front. In response to this, some recent trends involve the use of new software to target the audience via the screens of their personal computers.

Common forms of web marketing consist of things like ad banners and pop-ups that project themselves into the web user's vision; there are also the prevalent 'cookies' that lodge themselves in the user's hard drive to both propel the company's name into the drive and to collect information on customers based on web use. These have proven their effectiveness; however, software providers are still innovating.

In many cases, software providers attract marketers with tools that focus on regular web sales. Webmasters can use pre-packaged software to improve their own sites. One such item is the VIPCART and similar software that allows businesses to create their own

'shopping carts' without using HTML or web coding. Shopping carts are a popular way for consumers to buy online using their credit cards numbers, and despite fraud concerns, shoppers are doing this in droves.

Marketers can also use a package called SEO DETECTIVE to compare their web sites with the web sites of competitors. The advantage of this is that the data collected can be used to gain an 'edge' in terms of the most effective web site possible for a given product. Leaders of the field in web site maintenance will attract a vanguard of online sales.

Also, software firms have tried to reform the annoying 'pop'up ads based on consumer feedback. Pop-ups were criticized for slowing down computers and aggressively funneling ads into the user's view, blocking the sites that users were looking for. Software packages like 'POP-IN GENERATOR try to address that with more 'user-friendly ad formats.

These and a wide variety of other software tools make marketing easier and more effective for twenty-first century marketers to find their target audience and to promote products over the web. The online marketing phenomenon won't go away, it will only get more and more competitive with time. It pays to research ways in which marketing channels its strategies through the web.

Internet business services are booming. With more and more people going on line, it is now profitable to deliver business services through the web.

Internet business services require less overhead—you no longer need a brick and mortar store—and it also allows you to provide niche business services and products that may have gathered dust in traditional locations. Plus, internet business services give you the advantage of being able to work at home!

However, not all business services succeed. Before you invest in your business services, you have to determine if your business services will attract enough customers to generate a profit.

And the only way to determine if your internet business services has potential is to conduct research. Use solid facts to serve as the foundation of your business services. One thing you have to find out is if there is a sufficient demand for your internet business services.

Let’s say your business services involve selling diet pills in the Philippines. How much does the average person make, what price points would they be open to, and does the majority of their population fall under the age group and income bracket that your business service will cater to? If there aren’t enough consumers, then no amount of marketing will help.

You also have to look at the competition. What are other business services meet the same need? There may not be that many business services supplying diet pills, but if there are a number of diet teas then they will be eating into the market. Better find another niche with less competition.

You should also look at your revenue streams. How can your business services earn? Will you be getting your income from online sales, affiliate commission revenue, advertising revenue, email marketing?

Setting up an online store

It is said that ebay is the very opposite to a physical company or career, such as brick and mortar. It is also said that ebay can significantly increase the odds of selling what you are intending to get rid of. Gaining profit is as easy as 123 on an online sales and auction block. An online ebay store is a very simple and effective method of building a profitable and successful business. By having an ebay store of your own, you make it possible for everyone to view what you are dealing with all in one convenient place. When everything you are selling is grouped on one site, you then manage to obtain a larger audience, and cover your demographics.

This not only entices multiple purchases, but also looks professional in the process. This again will drive more business your way. By having a larger stock and inventory, then you may feel you need, will allow you to cross-reference as well. Whenever you have an ebay icon in your seller box, ebay in turn supports the operator, and gives many promotions for their business. The ebay directory is set up to promote all stores within association, and you will have your own address on the web. It is now very easy for you to get information to your buyers such as, product promotions and or sales, by way of the ebay e-mail marketing tools. These tools are available to anyone associated with ebay. This e-mail service is another great way to generate further, or repeat sales for the clients. Is makes for a very strong networking tool.

It is not hard to set up an ebay store, in fact once you do set one up you will ask yourself why you have not done it sooner. You will need a Pay Pal account that is in good standing, store prices and levels, and a feedback level of 20 or above. The cost of an ebay store can vary; it can be very cheap all the way up to near bank breaking, depending on the actions of the account. It is totally up to you and your business to set the cost for the store. There are three levels of ebay store accounts, basic being a very simple account that primarily caters to the small business person. The second account is the featured account. This account is for medium growth sellers that are looking to expand in the near future. Finally the anchor account, this is for the sellers that have extremely high volumes of traffic and sales. What this all boils down to is, the more you spend on your account the more traffic you can expect to your product. This however does not ensure more sales. To obtain more sales to relate to the traffic you will need the drive to succeed.

So You Want to Be An Infopreneur? Do You know what an infopreneur is? An infopreneur is someone who is in business to gather or disseminate electronic information. To put it in simple words, he is someone who sells information online (mainly through the Internet). Infopreneurs explore the uncharted "blue oceans" of internet business to define their niche markets.

In the wider sense, an infopreneur is an entrepreneur who main media is the World Wide Web and main source of profits are information products or services. Presently, more than 1 billion people around the globe are using the Internet. Online retailing has become a booming business. On 2005, the total online sales have reached US$89 billion. The rapid growth of Internet and the vast business opportunities that comes with it, has made many successful infopreneurs. These infopreneurs are able to tap on the Internet to reach out to the mass markets.

So How Can You Become An Infopreneur?

There are basically 3 ways to start you online business to be an Infopreneur.
1.Sell Your Own Products
2.Sell Other People Products
3.Provide An Online Service

1.Sell Your Own Products

Everyone is an expert or good at something. That expertise can generate tremendous income opportunities from information products.

To be a successful infopreneur, you need to think of things that you know alot that others do not know and are dying for them. This will be your niche market that is rabid market for you information products. The information products can be on your interest/hobbies, money, investing, debts, or even internet marketing to name a few. You can also search the web for buzz or things that recently generate a huge following. To create your own information products required a lot of work. If you do not have the time or little knowledge of product creation you can outsource your creation process to others and concentrate on the selling or marketing your information products.

2.Sell Other People’s Products

Selling other people’s products means that you have to be an affiliate to the merchants/vendors or be a direct marketer of the information products. To be an affiliate means that you have to join the merchants’ program and direct your prospects to their product to make the sales. To be a direct marketer, you need to purchase information products with resale or master resale rights and sell them on your own website. Sometimes it is easier to sell a proven product then to create your own. These products would usually receive some publicity, proven that they really work and results in some sales.

3.Provide An Online Service

In this Information Age, the Internet is about saving time as well as saving money. Online Services provide people the ease of accessing certain information and flexibility to do things faster or might not be possible in real life. Such services include online chat/messenger services, search engines, online banking services, online stock trading services, membership site, etc. You no need to crack your head to think of some online services. A better way is to do a search in the search engines to sell what people are looking for and try to provide a service to compliment it.

Internet is an innovation that has enabled us to do a lot of things which are not possible previously. Our lifestyle and habits have undergo tremendous changes since its invention. On average, 3 out of 4 American adults surf the web regularly. With number of Internet users reaching more than 1 billion users and increasing rapidly every year, there are a lot of untapped “blue oceans” in Internet for us to harvests. So, it’s time to start to ride the wave of the Information Age to be an Infoprenuer.

"With the continuing explosive growth of e-commerce, small- and medium-sized businesses that are able to reap actionable information from a rich online platform are uniquely positioned to compete in the online marketplace," says Michael Emaus, President and CEO of eEnterprise (www.eEnterprise.com), a global integrator of NetSuite, the world's leading on-demand, Web-based business management software. "Today, e-commerce demands sophistication, in terms of the online shopping experience, which products are presented to customers, and how sales are tracked."

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce sales rose to $25.2 billion during the first quarter of 2006, an increase of more than 25 percent over sales during the first quarter of 2005. Adjusted for seasonal variations, the first quarter 2006 growth of e-commerce over fourth quarter 2005 was more than double that of retail sales overall.

"Although online sales currently represent only about three percent of all retail sales, that number is sure to climb," says Emaus. "It's crucial that online retailers position themselves to take advantage of this trend. NetSuite business management software integrates a flexible e-commerce platform with the critical, real-time information e-tailers need to make sound decisions."

With NetSuite, online retailers can easily increase sales by automating up-sell and cross-sell recommendations on the shopping cart page, as well as by allowing customers to purchase and use gift certificates and coupons online. "Because accounting is integrated into NetSuite's e-commerce solution, a customer can shop with a gift certificate any number of times, until the balance is used," says Emaus. "An e-tailer can even offer downloads for purchase, using NetSuite's ability for password protection and license codes."

Behind the scenes, NetSuite gives a business owner or marketing team real-time, actionable information that they can leverage to increase their exposure to potential customers. "Instead of simply seeing which paid keyword campaigns are driving traffic to the site, an online retailer can see which campaigns are generating the most sales revenue, and make adjustments as necessary," says Emaus.

The same holds true for inventory management, since NetSuite allows just-in-time restocking by dynamically calculating reorders based on seasonal demand or historical sales data. "Successful e-tailers don't have inventory sitting around, nor are they caught with an item out of stock," says Emaus.

He continues, "NetSuite removes the limits imposed by a traditional Web architecture and provides the online retailer with a marketing powerhouse. Small- and medium-sized businesses simply don't have the resources to support the in-house staff necessary to design and maintain the e-commerce solution that NetSuite provides. Best of all, NetSuite is a Web-based application that can 'turn on' fully supported global resources in about five minutes."

With the growth of online sales clearly outpacing traditional retail sales, NetSuite helps small- and medium-sized businesses level the playing field.

You've spent time, energy and money promoting your business. Paying customers are beginning to notice you. Any second now, you will make your first sale! The concept is exciting! And frightening! Most new business owners have few customers, and although their marketing efforts are beginning to pay off, it is necessary to make the most of every customer, especially the ones that buy something.

The techniques I'm about to share with you are time tested and proven to be effective, however, they are often overlooked by business owners. They are basic ways to add additional profit to every transaction.

Follow up. This little gem has been used by merchants since the time of the pharaohs. When you make your first sale, you MUST follow-up with the customer. Send them a "thank you" email and include an advertisement for other products you sell. Also, don't let the relationship end! Follow-up at regular intervals; once every few weeks, or once a month. Add them to a mailing list. You could even automate this with the use of an email autoresponder. Isn't technology wonderful?

Upsell! Think about it. If you went to a department store to buy a transistor radio, you are also going to need batteries. You might even need an earpiece. You can upsell to your internet customers the same way. When they're at your order page, tell them about a few extra related products you have for sale. Offer to add to add it to their original order as a convenience to them.

Referrals. You know your customer is going to love whatever you're selling them. They're going to tell their friends about it. Tell your customer if they refer four customers to your web site, they will receive a full rebate of their purchase price. You get the customers money up front and they will send you four more customers. This will effectively multiply your original profit by a factor of three!

Affiliate Programs. Related to the technique above, but with subtle differences. When you sell a product, give your customers the option of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions selling your product. This will multiply the sale you just made and provide you with a residual source of new customers.

Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to your products. This is VERY profitable when selling Information products, but could work in other areas as well. Include your ad inside the product for other products you sell. You could make sales for the reproduction rights AND sales on the products advertised inside. This is sometimes referred to as "viral Marketing"; because the person to whom you sold the reprint rights will distribute their product widely with your offers inside.

Joint Ventures. This is the old "two heads are better than one" scenario modified for internet profit! Cross promote your product with other businesses' products in a package deal. You can include ad copy for other products you sell and have other businesses selling for you.

Coupons. Here's another classic easily adapted to online sales. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a coupon good for a discount on other related products you sell in the package. You are rewarding your customer for the business and it will dramatically increase the odds that they will buy more products from you.

Send a catalog. If you think the internet has replaced the paper catalogs of old, then think again! Catalog marketing is very effective, even today. Send your customers a catalog of add-on products for the original product they purchased. This could be upgrades, special services, attachments, etc. If they enjoy your product they will buy the extra add-ons.

Gift Certificates. It's getting more and more difficult to give gifts these days. Solution? Gift certificates! When you sell a gift certificate, you've solved a problem for your customer, plus you'll make sales from the purchase of the gift certificate. When the recipient cashes it in, you have the opportunity to upsell.

Free Bonuses. People LOVE freebies! Send your customers free gifts with their product package. The freebies should have your ad printed on them. For businesses selling physical goods, It could be bumper stickers, ball caps, t-shirts etc. This will allow other people to see your ad and order. If your product is electronic or digital, it's even easier, because the giveaway will usually cost you less.

There are countless other ways to maximize your sales. The purpose of this article is merely to open your eyes to the fact that the quality of the relationship you build with your customer is what increases your profit. The underlying idea is to build trust. If your customer considers you a valuable and trusted resource, you will be rewarded with more profits!

Holiday fundraisers can be an option for many non-profit groups. Schools, churches and youth sports groups can benefit from holiday fundraising.

Part one looked at Christmas tree and wreath sales as a way of raising funds for non-profit groups. In part two, we’ll look at a common but profitable holiday fundraiser, catalog sales.

Many fundraising suppliers offer a wide variety of fundraiser catalogs. Many of these catalogs include holiday items, especially wrapping paper, ornaments, candy, and holiday gifts.

The first step is deciding what your group will sell. Some things to take into consideration are the supplier’s terms, payment options, and profit margins. While some companies offer similar or even the same catalogs, the percentage of profit your group keeps can vary. Look for the companies that allow your group to keep the most profit from your sales. Remember to look at shipping costs, whether your group will have to pay any money up front, and other options offered such as online sales.

Start early and recruit your volunteers right away. Logistics can be tricky if you don’t have a solid plan for catalog and order form distribution, product pick-up or delivery, and so on.

Begin advertising right away via email lists, newsletters, bulletin boards, notes home, and any other means to get the word out. Schedule time at a PTA meeting, practice session, weekend game, or any other forum that you are likely to get the largest audience of participants.

I always like to suggest some role playing that will show young sellers how to make the most sales. What should they say to their neighbor, grandparents, family friends, or anyone else they may approach to sell catalog items? A seller with a positive attitude and a smile will always produce more results than the one who mumbles at his feet and doesn’t clearly state the message. ‘Hi! My school/basketball team/youth group is having a fundraiser to raise money for playground equipment/team uniforms/mission trip. We could really use your help. Would you like to look through this catalog to see if there is anything you’d like to purchase? The wrapping paper is really great!’

Never, never, never allow a child to sell door to door alone.

Be sure to allow about three weeks between handing out catalogs and order forms and the deadline for turning in all order materials. Two weeks is too short a time to get the best results, and four weeks allows time for the fundraiser to be forgotten or to lose the order materials.

After all items have been delivered and are ready for pick-up, plan to have two or three order pick-up days. Plan one on a weekday, one on a weekday evening, and one on the weekend. This allows people with varying schedules to find a time that works for them.

Volunteers will be needed to handle calls about returns, damaged items, and so on. Be sure to clearly state the deadline for any returns or exchanges.

Record your experience with doing this type of fundraiser including the fundraising supplier you used. The person or committee that will plan next year’s fundraiser will be grateful for the information.

Online retailers are improving their web presence, according to the Retailer Image study carried out by PriceRunner, an online service offering price and product comparisons.

PriceRunner is said to have studied 59 retailers in the UK selling white goods and home electronics. Through an online survey, it asked consumers specific questions concerning brand awareness, overall rating, strengths and weaknesses, retailer preference, loyalty and recommendation and received 4,918 responses. The study is conducted bi-annually and aims to research consumer attitudes to various Internet retailers.

Results have revealed that Argos is top in relation to brand awareness and Amazon scores highest overall and is the site that consumers would most recommend to a friend. PriceRunner concluded that price is still the most important factor for selecting an online retailer, followed by a secure payment facility and reliability which are said to have increased in priority for consumers.

Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D) said Thursday his state would continue to be a key player in a national effort to equalize the sales tax burden between Internet and Main Street retailers.

In launching the first overhaul of the Virginia tax code since the early 1900s, the chief executive of one of the nation's most tech-heavy states reiterated his support for a multi-state effort to tax online sales.

"The system is not fair when citizens pay tax on purchases in stores but not on purchases through catalogues or over the Internet," Warner said in a position paper distributed to members of a legislative tax reform commission.

Currently, consumers in most states are required to pay "use" taxes on all items bought online or through catalogs, but very few do so. For their part, Internet merchants must collect sales taxes on Internet sales only when the buyer lives in the same state where the business has a physical operation, such as a retail outlet or shipping center.

Virginia is part of a coalition of nearly 40 states working to streamline their tax laws in an effort to convince Congress to make online sales tax collection mandatory nationwide. To that end, Warner's reform plan calls for the state to continue participating in the national process and, if that process produces a compromise on taxing e-commerce, to amend the Virginia tax code to bring the state into compliance with the multi-state pact.

"I would just generally say judging by phone calls we're getting today, there's a broad misunderstanding of the national effort to approach Internet taxation in a comprehensive and unified way," Warner spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said Friday morning. "Virginia is not stepping out of the herd from other states on this issue. We just want to lay the groundwork for when that national effort is realized."

In outlining his plan yesterday, Gov. Warner also said he would consider extending tax obligations to services, which generally are not taxed in most states.

"Virginia's economy is increasingly based on services, yet our tax system does not reflect that fact," Warner said. "We need to look at how we base our sales tax on the economy of our Commonwealth so that the tax burden does not fall on just a few."

While Warner's tax reform plan is expected to meet opposition in the Republican-controlled legislature, the issue of taxing e-commerce may be one where both parties agree.

Delegate Harry J. Parrish, the Republican chairman of a key finance committee in the House of Delegates, said it's a matter of equity. "Not to tax those things [products sold online] makes it very unfair for our merchants that have bricks and mortar stores. What we're trying to do is balance the equity in tax laws so that everyone pays their fair share but no one has to pay more than they should," he said in an interview.

The governor did not say whether his ideas about taxing services should extend to those offered online, such as Internet access and other fee-based information services. Under a federal law slated to expire in November, states are prohibited from imposing taxes that single out Internet services. Qualls declined to comment on that possibility, saying only that such a level of specificity about the governor's plan would be premature at this point.

Josh Levi, vice president for policy at the Northern Virginia Technology Council, acknowledged that the governor's words on the national Internet sales tax plan were nothing new. But he said the NVTC remains concerned about the burden that such a plan would place on technology companies and small online merchants in particular.

Supporters of a national Internet sales tax proposal are negotiating with Amazon.com in a bid to win an endorsement from the largest online retailer for legislation introduced today in Congress.

The legislation would put the federal government's stamp of approval on a state-led effort to require online retailers to apply sales taxes to nearly all of their transactions. In return, states would simplify their complex tax laws to make collecting taxes easier for Internet businesses.

Backers of the legislation say the plan would ensure that online sellers are required to collect the same taxes as their bricks-and-mortar competitors and would provide much-needed cash for financially ailing states. Amazon's support would be the most substantial yet from the online community.

Amazon and the loose-knit coalition of state policymakers, retailers and congressional staff negotiated all day Wednesday over the scope of the legislation. According to several sources involved in the talks, Amazon wanted to ensure that most Internet retailers are subject to collecting sales taxes, not just companies that sell more than $5 million per year, as called for under earlier drafts of the bill.

The last-minute negotiations derailed plans for the Internet sales tax proposal to be introduced today in the Senate, according to Kim Sears, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), a chief supporter of the online sales tax effort. Sears said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Enzi want time to review Amazon's proposal.

The House sponsors -- Reps. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) and William Delahunt (D-Mass.) -- rejected the Amazon proposal for now, introducing their bill this morning.

The changes that Amazon wants could doom the states' efforts, said an official with eBay who is familiar with the negotiations. Ebay supports the $5 million threshold now in the bill, a figure that would exempt a large portion of its independent sellers from collecting sales taxes.

"The fundamental problem with Amazon's proposal is that it treats someone who sells through one channel online differently than a person who sells through another," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "To discriminate against online aggregators is a guaranteed way to stop any distance sales tax plan for at least 10 years, and we'll go to the mat on that one."

Amazon wants online merchants who have annual sales of $25,000 or more to be required to collect taxes for the 45 states that have sales tax laws on the books, according to several sources involved in the talks.

Amazon officials did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment on the negotiations.

Internet Sales Tax Effort Builds Momentum

Thus far, Congress has been unwilling to give the states authority to tax all online sales, citing a 1992 Supreme Court decision that severely limited states' ability to tax catalog sales. In 1998 and again last year, Congress rejected efforts to give the states taxing authority if they came up with a sufficiently simple tax plan.

To answer that challenge, a group of state tax officials started the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which has spent the past three years drumming up support for its plan to revamp archaic state tax laws to be more compatible with the Internet economy.

The negotiations with Amazon reflect the coalition's efforts to win support from the business community.

"Part of what retailers and states have been doing in an effort to be successful in their legislative strategy is reaching out to groups that have been critical of this plan and asking what needs to happen to make this bill acceptable to them," said Steve Kranz, tax counsel for the Council on State Taxation.

"On a fairness and level playing field basis, if it buys us the support of Amazon we're willing to include their suggestions," said Maureen Riehl, vice president of state and industry relations for the National Retail Federation and a participant in the negotiations.

The sales tax project has drawn bipartisan support among lawmakers as well, even from traditionally anti-taxation Republican lawmakers who say it's not fair that main street stores are required to charge sales taxes while their online competitors are not.

So far, 17 states have enacted legislation to bring their tax codes in line with the agreement. Three states -- Minnesota, Texas and Washington -- have implemented much of the agreement, but have balked at changing the way taxes are collected and distributed.

The legislation requires participating states to charge sales taxes based upon where the buyer lives. Some states, including Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Washington, prefer to base it on where the transaction takes place.

For Texas, it could have a big impact on localities that depend heavily on local sales taxes. Nowhere is that more true than in Round Rock, home to Dell Computer Corp., the world's largest PC maker. Since its arrival in Round Rock in 1993, Dell has brought with it nearly 10,000 jobs, and computer sales there account for nearly half of all sales tax revenues for the city. That revenue would disappear under the state plan.

The Rx Depot, which facilitates the online Canadian drug trade through a number of storefronts, recently extended the deadline for its response to a Food and Drug Administration warning letter by some 30 days.

The FDA warned Rx Depot it was in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act on March 21 because it facilitated that Canadian online business. "Your [Rx Depot] actions also present a significant risk to public health, and you mislead the public about the safety of the drugs obtained through Depot," the letter read.

The letter alleged that Rx Depot mislead consumers by telling them they had access to "FDA-approved" medications through Canada. In response, Rx Depot changed the language on its Web site to read "Canadian medications are not FDA approved; however, they do meet [Canada's Health Products and Food Branch] standards" with a link to HPFB's site.

According to Rx Depot president Carl Moore, the comany retained legal counsel, Tulsa, Okla.-based Richardson & Ward, and planned to respond to the FDA's charges at length by mid-May. The FDA had requested Rx Depot acknowledge receipt of its warning letter and details of the steps the company.

"I can tell you this: we're going to contest every issue," Moore said. "The only thing in the warning letter that applies [to us] is the aiding and abetting," Moore explained, contending that his company played no part in physically importing Canadian pharmaceuticals to his customers, as the FDA letter alleges.

"And we are going to continue to aid and abet," he said.

"Our interpretation of the law is that it's not a criminal act [facilitating Canadian imports]," Moore said. "There's not one thing we do that you cannot do at the public library, not one thing."

The Rx Depot is also prepared to fight an injunction of its operations from the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy and the Oklahoma attorney general's office that as yet has not been served, Moore reported. "I wish they would [shut us down]," Moore said. "I hope we do have our day in a court of law so that we can prove our position. But all they do is rattle sabers."

And business could not be better, despite all the political rambling, Moore noted. The Rx Depot "chain" currently operates 21 storefronts across six or seven states. An Rx Depot typically occupies between 800 square feet and 1,000 square feet of space. Of those locations, 19 are directly owned by Rx Depot and two are affiliates.

Rx Depot affiliates do not enter any franchisee relationship with the home company, Moore said, nor is there any other financial relationship to Rx Depot. "We simply allow them to come under our master purchase agreement," Moore said, an agreement the company has with one of three Canadian pharmacies, the largest of which is Canada US Pharmacy. Canada US Pharmacy operates as Northgate Clinic Pharmacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The affiliated companies don't necessarily take on the Rx Depot brand, either. "We serve as their big brother throughout, in terms of keeping their database updated," Moore said.

And the chain hopes to open as many as 100 more locations by year's end, Moore said. Of those new storefronts, 30 would be owned directly by Rx Depot. "We weren't going to do that many, but we've gotten so many People now who want to get involved that we're simply putting up two to three per Moore said.