Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK)

All Comments on OSTK

  • commenter
    guliamo
    Aug 20 04:11 AM
    My Website
    Best and Worst Performing Stocks on Earnings [view article]
    As a WFR shareholder i must say this is comforting news. These guys have been beaten up bad and my research has led me to the conclusion that there is no reason to sell. Investors soured on WFR because it wasn't able to handle the huge influx of business it's receiving.. get it? the stock is cut down because there is too much business!
    Now if this were a high flying company with a high P/E, it would make sense to figure they won't be able to grow as fast as was expected, but WFR has a P/E of 16..
    This is more proof that wall street institutions have simply lost touch with the street. I used to have respect for these guys but it's become so technical, you can't see the company from all the shenanigans they try to pull.
    I for one am happy wall street bankers are loosing their jobs and going to jail.. they robbed us blind and left our tax dollars to clean up their mess - they need to do time.
     Reply
  • commenter
    dc1
    Aug 19 11:44 AM
    Best and Worst Performing Stocks on Earnings [view article]
    Hey Frankfurt, add something constructive or shutup. Reply
  • commenter
    Boaz
    Berkowitz
    Aug 19 04:42 AM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    AUTHOR’S UPDATE:

    Thank you all for your comments and thank you to user "dumb money 76" for providing some interesting contrast to my article. Mr. (or Ms.) dumb money 76, you are correct on several points. As I mentioned in the article, New Yorkers have always been required to pay sales tax on their online purchases but few if any do. In a similar vein, people are supposed to pay income tax on the profits they make from selling their old junk at garage sales or on eBay. But again, few do. What I failed to mention however, is that one has to keep in mind why brick and mortar stores charge sales tax. The money is used for services that benefit these stores such as maintaining roads, repairing electricity, trash collection, etc. Amazon, Overstock and other sites based outside of NY receive no such benefits. NY's "Amazon Tax" may be closing a loophole in the law or even leveling the playing field as you suggest, but I'm not convinced Amazon should be subsidizing the government services that Barnes & Noble receive in NY. And is it really leveling the field? There are advantages and disadvantages to buying an item online besides sales tax. A customer may save on the sales tax but at the same time, they may have to pay much more for shipping and/or endure lengthy ship times. And in the spirit of true competition, Barnes & Noble should not petition that Amazon be forced to charge sales tax as well (brick and mortar companies have been lobbying for this law for years) but rather should be forced to find creative ways at competing with Amazon on their own core strengths (price is one of Amazon's core strengths not theirs). For instance, one way Barnes and Noble successfully accomplished this has been by offering Manhattan customers same day delivery, something Amazon's business model could never offer.

    Perhaps a solution would be to charge sales tax to all customers with the tax revenues going to the website's home state. For instance, Overstock is based in Utah, so it might make more sense for them to charge Utah sales tax on all sales which could be used to subsidize services within their own state, not New York. But of course that would involve a huge overhaul of our current tax laws. But am I against a sales tax as some readers have suggested? As a consumer, I of course prefer paying lower prices for items but as a U.S. citizen I appreciate the value that paying taxes offers to society. But those who made this accusation are missing the point. The question isn't whether Amazon should be charging tax to New Yorkers, the question is whether New York's new law is technically illegal? And regardless, is it bad for New York? While I am no law expert, I think it is a stretch to claim affiliates qualify as a legal presence. And yes, I do think it can hurt NY businesses. First of all, if NY succeeds in keeping this tax on the books, other states are virtually guaranteed to pass similar laws of their own. Which means people may shun NY based internet companies, for those based in states that haven't passed such a law. Additionally, larger internet stores will likely follow Overstock's lead and shun them as well. Overstock may have been trying to send a message to Albany that the law will hurt NY businesses, but it was also a simple mathematical equation. As explained in their most recent earnings call transcript (seekingalpha.com/artic...), they calculated that they would lose more business by charging sales tax to New Yorkers than they would by abandoning their NY affiliates. If NY actually fights the lawsuits and wins, I think we will be seeing Amazon employ the same math and if their calculation brings the same result, Amazon’s affiliates will be out the door as well. Why haven't they done this yet? Amazon is very focused on customer service and my hunch is that they believe NY will either back down or lose the lawsuit. If that happens, there will be no need to kick out their NY affiliates and will have generated tremendous goodwill by not having done so. Especially in light of Overstock's abandonment of theirs. Plus many of Overstock's 3,400 NY affiliates will likely join Amazon now that Overstock has closed its doors to them. When this all blows over, many of them will probably choose not to rejoin Overstock. So as much as I hate paying more at Amazon, I thin this was a good move for them.

    As for the user “Lisa” who requested an update, there unfortunately isn’t much to report. While a bill to repeal the law has passed the Senate by a wide margin (voting 6-24-08), it wasn't passed until the last day of New York's Session. The bill still needs to be approved by the Assembly to become law and that can't happen before the next Session which will not be until January, 2009.

    Meanwhile, I’m afraid my article may have been overly optimistic. Even if the bill to repeal the tax passes the Assembly, according to Saul Hansell at the NY Times (bits.blogs.nytimes.com.../), it seems that Governor Paterson will likely veto it. So at the end of the day, those that want to see the Amazon tax repealed may have their hopes hinge on the outcome of Amazon and Overstock's lawsuits. And that could take a long time to resolve. It will also cost NY taxpayers a lot of money in lawyer's fees. Unfortunately, New York is very creative at finding ways to charge sales tax and if they lose the lawsuits, they'll likely find some other way to increase tax revenues. Anyone else remember when New York State sent agents to stake out New Jersey malls in 1992 to record NY license plate numbers? They were trying to crackdown on New Yorkers crossing the border to save on the lower taxes. It makes me wonder if New York would be more effective in increasing tax revenues by being competitive and actually lowered the NY tax rate. Then maybe our neighboring states would be flocking to NY stores instead of the other way around.
    Reply
  • commenter
    Lisa
    Aug 10 10:23 AM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    I purchased some books and CDs from Amazon to be delivered to my address (NY), and found for the first time that Amazon is charging me sales tax. In the past, I've bought big ticket items -- particularly electronics -- from AMZN because it's much cheaper than purchasing locally, largely due to the sales tax difference. Now I'm not sure I'd do this. Wonder whether this will have a big impact on AMZN's sales until it's resolved.

    Any update on what's going on with the sales tax issue?     Reply
  • commenter
    davewj2o
    Aug 07 10:57 AM
    My Website
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    The majority of voters in NY are bloodthursty for more government services. If you are a legislator here and wish to cap spending you will be promptly voted back to your farm. So, there doesn't appear to be an answer for NY until it collapses.

    Water always takes the easiest path. Us savy NY'ers have learned that if you're buying a big ticket item, have it shipped in and save almost 10%. You can't stop free enterprise. The Soviet Union tried until there were more black market vendors and legit.

    If the NY legistature were really concerned about local vendors they can make it easier for them to compete in many ways . . . but they won't.     Reply
  • commenter
    marysch
    Jul 30 03:44 PM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    Ooops. Where am I? I mean Gov. Paterson. Reply
  • commenter
    marysch
    Jul 29 06:53 PM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    I am also against the Amazon Tax. You can be sure that I emailed
    my opinion to both NYS Gov. Pataki and my district assemblyman.
    Election time is coming up. We need to clean house!     Reply
  • commenter
    dumb money
    76
    Jul 29 10:51 AM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    I agree with Nima. What the amazon tax does is it closes a tax loophole, which may seem bad if you are enjoying the loophole like the author seems to be, but trying to make it seem that there is an argument is based on the claim that the law will be bad for the businesses in the state is ridiculous. This new law levels the playing field between internet companies that can get away without charging tax and currently are enjoying record profits, and the brick and mortar companies located in the state, that currently have to charge tax, which makes it hard to compete. Also, it is not that you currently have a right to not pay tax, the reality is that even without the new law, new yorkers are still supposed to be paying sales tax when they purchase from these companies. This law is just currently not being enforced. The argument that Overstock stopping it's New York affiliates will hurt businesses in New York, shows that they do actually have a presence in the state and thus should not get special benefits. I would be all for a flat tax or even no tax, but it does not seem right to have a loophole to allow some companies to operate without charging tax is not fair, and stacks the deck against the companies that are located in the state. Reply
  • commenter
    mvkarl
    Jul 29 01:18 AM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    nima's comment makes the most sense to me. Support no tax, a national flat tax or get congress to pass a law to make collection of use tax mandatory. Local brick and mortar stores will continue to lose to the internet unless the field is leveled. Without local sales tax revenue states will have to make up the deficit by increasing property tax, fuel tax etc. In the end you will still pay the $15.11 one way or another. Reply
  • commenter
    David
    Jackson
    Jul 28 01:20 AM
    My Website
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    Excellent article. Reply
  • commenter
    David477
    Jul 27 02:41 PM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    Question: A friend who runs a NY based affiliate business was part of the group kicked off of Overstock because of this law. He said he was going to avoid the whole problem by incorporating in Delaware. Would this work? Reply
  • commenter
    David477
    Jul 27 02:21 PM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    This was a great summary of the situation. New York State's decision is only gong to hurt NY based affiliate businesses and will end up costing tax payers much more if they try to fight the lawusits. The law was a bad decision on their part. Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. Reply
  • commenter
    fsaldanha
    Jul 25 09:17 AM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    I lived in Connecticut until 2005. In 2004 I received a letter from the tax authorities informing me (and millions of state taxpayers) that we would have to pay taxes on all online purchases of items that would be used in Connecticut (?!). If I remember correctly it was called a "use tax." This was not restricted to Amazon.com or to retailers that had a presence in Connecticut. If CT can get away with this then NY will surely get away with taxing Amazon.com. Reply
  • commenter
    zev
    Jul 24 10:29 PM
    Amazon/Overstock Gamble May Pay Off [view article]
    Nima

    Parking tickets go to the municipality, not the state. The reality is that a company outside of New York State cannot be told by New York what to do. it would be like Belgium passing a law that says Americans must mow their lawns every day. It make no sense. I'm not sure why they even complied. If they want to help the brick and mortar stores, as they should, then they should lower their taxes and make them less than New Jersey, so people from there will come to new york to shop and not the other way around. Simple business practices. Lower your prices, get the customers.     Reply
  • commenter
    wwonka
    Jul 24 07:50 PM
    Overstock.com: Patrick Byrne's Private War Against Naked Short-Sellers [view article]
    It's ironic that if naked short selling is not a big problem, then why did the gov't ban it for a limited time? To preserve its cherished financial institutions? If naked shorts weren't the problem, then why all the hooplah! Why not just let Freddie and Fanny fail because of the subprime mess? Reply
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