Art,
How many people who have bought products from Mini-Max are members of SMC? We don't know. Therefore, we don't know if Mark is the only person who received a call like this.
If Mini-Max is doing this....when did they start.....The morning Mark posted this?
I am not in any way slamming Mini-Max or any other company and I'm still not convinced this is a scam. It may very well be that states are starting to require people who sell via telephone or the internet to collect sales tax and deliver it to the state involved.
Call Mini-Max and find out if they have instituted this policy and why.
Frankly, if they were going to charge you sales tax, I'd think they'd have to do it at the time and point of sale. In other words, they'd have to inform you and let you know BEFORE you give them your credit card number.
But then again....I'm not a lawyer or a legislaturer and I try to think logically!