Sales Tax: When ‘Animal Farm’ Meets the Metaphysical World of the Internet

Second, the taxes didn't detract from online commerce in general. Rather, they only hurt Amazon. To the contrary, consumers remained online but shifted their focus to other e-commerce retailers (some of which might have collected sales taxes themselves). So what the study really managed to prove was that online consumers are price sensitive. Ease of search means that store loyalty gives way to price preference.