Holiday Shopping Spree Continues With Cyber Monday

A four-day shopping frenzy continues with Cyber Monday tomorrow, where online retailers are vying for consumers by offering huge discounts following Black Friday — the sale-mania dominated by big box retailers that generated $11.4 billion this year — up nearly 7 percent from 2010, according to an article published in the Huffington Post.

HuffPo reported that:

Bill Martin, who founded ShopperTrak, said he was surprised by the strong showing. He had expected the weak economy to dent consumer confidence and keep more shoppers out of the stores, or at least from spending much. Instead, he said, they responded to a blanket of promotions, from 60- and 70-percent off deals to door-buster savings on electronics.

Will you be hunting for deals tomorrow? Have you already started online shopping? Or are you fatigued by aggressive sales ads, and revolting against the holiday shopping frenzy?

If you're buying, state officials are urging consumers to be aware of state sales tax laws that require those who chose to shop online to be aware: some purchases may require payment of what's called a "use tax."

"Use tax" is equal to the sales tax the consumer would have paid when purchasing a similar item in California, according to the state's Board of Equalization, the publicly elected tax board.

The board estimates that California loses more than $1.1 billion in revenues from unpaid use taxes from consumers and businesses. Current law requires consumers to pay the tax if they purchase taxable items from online retailers that do not collect the tax.

"The use tax brings fairness to the marketplace by making sure that online retailers play by the same rules as storefront retails," board member Betty T. Yee said in a statement this week.

Yee said that online retailers could help inform consumers of their legal obligation.

"Online retailers have the closest contact with their consumers, so their help in informing the public could go far toward increasing compliance with the law," she said.

According to the board, many online, out-of-state retailers do not collect the tax, giving them an unfair advantage over those retailers that do. State legislation passed this year will require many such retailers to collect the tax beginning next year, which the board estimates will increase state revenues.

Until the law takes effect, consumers need to calculate and pay the use tax. Consumers can find more information about the tax on the board's website at boe.ca.gov.

-Bay City News and Angela Hart.