Merchant advocates across the country are fighting for sales tax collection enforcement for online retailers like Amazon.com. Currently online-only companies can achieve as much as a 10% price advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers by notifying the buyer to record and pay the tax themselves, instead of collecting state sales tax on their websites.

The Importance of Buying Local

Local businesses are the glue that hold our local economies together! When we buy from local businesses, almost 50% of the proceeds go right back into the local economy. Not to mention the jobs created in our local economies.

Their Solution

Forcing online companies like Amazon.com to collect and pay sales tax for tax payers, instead of educating the tax payer to follow tax laws, or to buy in local stores instead of online retail giants.

“It’s an issue of fairness,” said Virginia Retail Merchants Association’s President, Laurie Aldrich, at a special e-fairness breakfast held by the Lynchburg RMA this morning. “Amazon.com aren’t the only bad guys,” she said, referring to all those companies who are purposefully not collecting sales tax.

Merchants associations and legislators across the country are fighting for bills to be passed on state and national levels that will require online retailers to collect those taxes that are already required to be paid by the taxpayer.

The Internet is Changing Our Culture

The internet is changing everything. Instead of finding time to go shopping we can shop online at work or in class on our mobile devices. Our entire culture is changing due to social media and hand-held technology. There is a vast generational difference between a 19-year-old who wants to send a text message instead of make a phone call, and an 80-year-old who still goes to the post office or salon just to catchup with the people they know.

The core issue is that more and more people are using the internet to shop, instead of taking the time to shop in a local store for what they need. A buyer can go to Amazon.com or dozens of other online giants to get the same products at lower prices, often for free shipping and no sales tax is collected – cutting another 5%.

But there is more to the story – people don’t just shop for better prices, but for convenience and variety. Most local specialty stores are limited as to what they can carry – and they are also limited to the local market and product demand.

The buying cycle has changed – we can now educate ourselves on what products to buy instead of walking into a store hoping someone there will be able to answer our questions. We can lookup product ratings and consumer reviews without fears of being lied to or misinformed by the local workers.

I have a personal conviction to buy local over buying online, but I can tell you first hand the need to buy online is often greater than the ideal of buying from a local selection. A great example is maternity clothing and baby shopping. There are no local maternity stores here in Lynchburg, VA and very few stores carry what I need at an affordable price. I am often forced to find it online or drive to a larger city. And the local help is no  help at all! One of the only local stores to buy baby items is Burlington Coat Factory here locally… but when my husband and I went in to find a newborn car seat, we were given false safety information about one of the more affordable seats, in an effort to get us to buy the more expensive one! Now we refuse to shop at the local Burlington factory.

The economy also plays a role in our spending. The economy has affected the bottom line of hundreds of self-employed workers and has increase unemployment due to layoffs or budget cuts. When we have to change our buying habits altogether, sometimes the best place to get what we need at a price we can afford is Amazon.com!

Will Tax Bills Level the Playing Field Between Online and Offline?

I don’t know that it will. There are vast differences between a brick and mortar business and online-only retailers. Online retailers will still have a competitive advantage through the large numbers of consumers they can reach online, versus being constricted to a geographic area. They don’t have the same overhead, either. Does that mean we should charge them higher web domain and hosting fees to make the playing field level?

And what about local businesses who also have an online store? Does it make it unethical for them to market to consumers in other states, collecting the taxes to pay here in Virginia?

What would happen if people stopped buying from Amazon.com? Would a non-US company then have the opportunity to take the market share they were getting? Remember, people aren’t going to stop buying online.

One thing I love about websites like Amazon.com is that it allows people to buy the same item from multiple sellers, even individuals. It also allows for freedom in the marketplace, for people to be able to sell their items without having to establish a business and pay overhead on it. Craigslist.com doesn’t require sellers to collect sales tax when they trade online, either, does that make them a “Bad guy” too?

Is this really an issue of 5% sales tax?

Doesn’t really sound like it, does it? I suspect it would be more critical to educate the ignorant on why it is important to buy local – what it does for the economy and how it affects each and every one of us.

One gentlemen pointed out this morning that New Jersey stopped requiring sales tax at all and people drive to NJ just to go shopping. Hm, maybe that is a good idea for Virginia?

“That’s a a WHOLE different issue,” Aldrich replied. ” It would be great to get rid of sales tax altogether but what we need to do is stick to these bills that we are fighting for.”

Is it? Is it really a different issue or does it address the exact same problem, plus a slew of other problems that face local businesses today! For example, how much money would it save brick and mortar businesses not to have to collect sales tax for the state? Is that really their job to begin with, to commit their time and money to working for the government because they are business owners? And how much more money might we spend in a store if we didn’t have to pay taxes on items? At least 5% right?

Businesses Will Have to Adapt

Online buying is NOT going away. The best thing that we can do is to adapt to it – put your business online, make sure you are available to be found in Google and by mobile devices, or start an online store.

What if We All Bought Local?

Developing bills forcing people to do things instead of educating them is not a correct course of action.

So, let’s pretend for a moment that we took all that time, money and energy lobbying, and put it towards a buy local campaign instead? That we all rallied together and we didn’t write our legislators for bills that may – or may not – truly impact our stores.

I’m in, who else?

Unlike intuit, Website Tonight, or Yahoo’s Site Builder, our custom turn-key websites are:

• Search Engine Optimizable (Get Found Online!)
• Fully customizable with hundreds of themes
• Simple editing of your own content
• Get local business marketing support and training!
• Backed by the best, and most easy to use admin tool around
• Forget the junky website builders, this is instant websites on steroids!
• Get a professional site, not a cheap imitation!

WordPress Turn-Key Websites

WordPress is one of the most popular website building platforms today, chosen for its flexibility, easy customization and countless free tools. WordPress was originally built for blogging but has become a web-standard tool for building top of the line websites that are easily found by search engines like Google.

Get started here!

What Does WordPress Include?

Themes: Choose from countless themes! You have the ability to change the look and feel of your site with the click of a button.

Plugins: Add extra functionality by searching a database of thousands of free tools. Our WordPress sites come with the most popular plugins pre-installed and ready to use, including SEO packages, YouTube videos, SPAM protection and Analytics tracking.

Hosting: is included with your site. Hosted on one of our world class secure linux servers, we can have you setup instantly.

Training: Our instant wordpress sites include training videos that will help you get started. And unlike big corporate website chains, our websites have the backing of local business marketing experts who want your business to succeed!

A Domain Name: Already have a domain name? Need to buy a new one? Both solutions are simple with our system.

Email: Our wordpress sites include optional email accounts. Get up to 20 email addresses like “yourname@yourdomain.com.”

Owning a website has never been this easy. Forget those cumbersome cheap website builders you find all over the internet. Wordpress is easier to use than anything else we have ever seen! No wonder people around the world are discovering the power of WordPress as a website platform.

Get started here!

Why?

• It’s expensive to buy a website
• It’s complicated and confusing
• Sometimes people don’t know the value

But with 350 million users hitting Facebook this month, most are coming to realize that social media is not a fad – it is actually a means for people to make their buying decisions. The need for websites has never been greater.

Hosting providers like Godaddy.com and Yahoo offer site builders and overnight websites that are affordable. Unfortunately the price tag reflects the quality of the sites. They look like something from the 1990’s, and they work like it, too. They are so low quality that search engines can’t even find them… making them useful as ugly online business cards, but nothing more.

Well look no further! JailBreak Creative realizes the need for affordable yet high-quality websites that are search engine friendly. Starting January 1st we have payment options for semi-custom and some select custom websites.

Get the website you want at a price you can afford!

Most companies and organizations opt for the cheaper websites because its all they can afford. Well, now you can get the website that you need (or want) at the price you can afford.

Option 1: Monthly Payments

Make monthly payments as low as $50/month depending on the scope of your project. This option requires 10% down and accrues interest.

Option 2: Three Total Payments

Time your website with your payments by making 3 separate payments pending on the timeline of your project! Pay no interest!

Option 3: Pay in Full for a Discount

Pay your website off in-full on the project start date and get 5% off your entire project!

Read more about our commitment to quality custom website services >

Read more about our semi-custom website services >

All Jailbreak Clients that sign a contract for a new website before 2010 will receive free hosting on one of our secure dedicated servers.

JailBreak Creative creates stunning websites using hand written code and industrial strength content management solutions. Jailbreak websites are easy to manage and have the attractive appeal you come to expect from a design agency with style. Say goodbye to the website builders that leave your organization’s website looking cheap and hinder your search engine placement. Jailbreak Creative creates websites that will help accomplish your organizations brick and mortar goals on the interenet.

Get rid of your business card website and let Jailbreak create a professional internet marketing solution that even beginners can be successful with!

FREE Yearly Website Hosting

We offer a linux-based hosting solution for website owners. Our server is dedicated, which means it doesn’t share space with lots of other companies’ server, making it more secure! Our server gets backed up on a regular basis, saving the files so they never get lost.

Hosting Includes:

• Hosting for the domain name of your choice
• Up to 500 free email accounts
• FTP access and file storage
• Hosted in the Cloud for Redundancy
• Secure Linux Hosting Environment
• Unlimmited Sub Domains!
• Hosted on Private Dedicated Servers

Normal Yearly Cost: $250
Discounted Cost: FREE

In order to receive free hosting, please select from one of the packages below. (NOTE: Jailbreak Creative does not offer free hosting on packages and contracts not listed in this offer)

Semi-Custom WordPress Website

We use custom themes to build professional websites in a content management system called WordPress. WordPress is a completely free platform that allows the end-user to take the reins on their own website, without having to pay a developer an hourly fee to do upkeep. You take control of your own marketing! Wordpress is also great for Blog websites!

This Package Includes a turn-key website from start to finish:

• Template Licensing and Database Setup
• Logo design from Template Chosen
• Template Customization
• Up to 20 pages of content placed and rewritten for the web
• Contact form, Google Analytics, Permalinks, other features are optional
• Website training so you can perform website upkeep yourself with ease!

Package Cost: $1,500

Custom Developed & eCommerce Websites

Our developers create the most user-friendly, web standards compliant, and cleanly coded websites available on the web, offering ecommerce shopping websites and custom developed sites based on any look and feel you can imagine!

Average Site Cost: $2,000 – $4,000

Search Engine Optimization

There are billions of websites in Google’s index. Is anybody going to find your website?! They are if we use search engine optimization to boost your rankings in Google and Bing. By using the right key phrases in the right places on your website, your site becomes a marketing piece in and of itself!

This Package Includes:

• Detailed research to find the key phrases your target market is looking for
• A list of key phrases and their competing websites
• Detailed instructions on how to write pages and articles to optimize your website
• Website code optimization using key phrases

Package Cost: $1,000

Website design and development is a wasted effort unless the effort of your website project lead to real world results. Our web design team has a strong background in internet marketing, social media, and search engine optimization. We begin our design and development process by identifying the clients brick and mortar goals to create a website conversion plan, and create the roadmap for a successful web project.

Web design is a broad field, and Jailbreak Creative has experience in several areas.

• Ecommerce
• Content Management
• Custom Development
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Optimization
• Branding

Jailbreak Creative is on the cutting edge of the web design community as early adopters of search engine optimization, email marketing, and social media.
Based in Central Virginia, we are one of few Virginia web design agency’s with team members operating inside silicon valley. Our company pools web design and development tallent from across the United States, and the results are stunning.

The realities of social marketing and content management systems have changed the rules for innovation in marketing. Consider your self free from the preconceived ideas about how advertising works and join us in remaking your market presence in new and creative ways.