Elver E-Commerce & A2X: Comprehensive Ecommerce Accounting and VAT for UK Sellers

From humble beginnings to specialists in ecommerce

Back in 2014, Steve Blackmore was working from home in the UK – he’d just started his own accounting practice. He admits the first six months were a steep learning curve, with new clients slowly trickling in, but it wasn’t long before it became his full-time gig.

Over time, the growth led to leasing an office and hiring more staff, including his son Oliver. Along the way, the firm made one very important decision – to pivot its focus to ecommerce.

Keeping online businesses “in-line”

Today, Elver E-Commerce Accountants is a rapidly growing firm of chartered accountants, focused on supporting ecommerce clients selling on 15 different marketplaces and platforms.

Their tagline – “Helping to keep your online business in-line” – is a nod to both tax compliance in different jurisdictions and keeping an ecommerce business in line with its goals and aspirations.

That requires “maximising the use of technology to automate bookkeeping tasks, minimising not just the effort required from us, but also the amount of data and documentation our clients are required to provide,” Steve explains.

Before: manual, labour-intensive processes

Ecommerce is at the heart of what Elver does – and it’s far from simple. Every marketplace or platform works differently, and without the right tools, each one can become a source of time-consuming manual work.

For UK ecommerce sellers – especially those dealing with cross-border EU sales, One Stop Shop (OSS) reporting, or a complex Chart of Accounts – reconciliation is a constant battle.

“Previously, the process of reconciling and accounting for Amazon sales would have been manual and labour-intensive – downloading reports and spending far too much time analysing Excel spreadsheets,” Steve adds.

The solution: A2X, the UK’s most comprehensive ecommerce accounting software

Fortunately, Steve and Oliver found A2X quite early on in their journey. While basic tools often force users into rigid, hard-coded tax buckets that limit customisation, A2X for UK provides unmatched flexible configuration. A2X lets accountants build tax mapping exactly to their specifications, bending to the business model rather than the other way around.

“With the number of ecommerce clients that we have, we couldn’t manage without A2X. We would undoubtedly need more staff – easily ten or more additional hires – and that would cost us a lot more,” Oliver says.

Steve says that what sets A2X apart from other ecommerce apps is it “covers a wider variety of marketplaces than others and has a more global support network.”

“A2X has been our favoured ecommerce accounting app for several years now. We like how it automates the flow of sales data from the various marketplaces and platforms. It easily enables additional analysis of sales by product category, country, or marketplace.”

This level of granular control is crucial for HMRC compliance. To meet Making Tax Digital (MTD) rules, A2X isolates every single payment gateway into its own entry. It physically attaches the itemised data file (which includes order-level details) directly to the journal entry, creating an unbroken digital link that perfectly preserves data for an audit without manual spreadsheet manipulation.

A2X also provides true accrual accounting. Instead of the dangerous “back out” methods used by basic tools (that can artificially inflate P&L statements with phantom profits), A2X calculates EU VAT liability immediately. Day-to-day financials remain completely accurate because the tax liability is stripped out from the start.

Best-in-market setup brings new business opportunities for clients

Because A2X seamlessly handles advanced scenarios – like automated deferred adjustments for Amazon’s Delivery Date + 7 (DD+7) policy – Elver’s clients always have accurate, investor-ready financials.

A major milestone for the firm occurred when one of their clients decided to sell its online business, and “A2X was a key component of that process.”

Not only did A2X enable clear visibility of the business’ financial performance, and therefore true sale value, it presented a new opportunity for Elver.

“Usually, our expectation is once a business has sold, we would no longer be acting as accountants for that business. However, during the due diligence process, the buyers (who are a group that acquires Amazon businesses) obviously looked at the accounts and the management reporting closely. They were sufficiently impressed, and now we manage the books for all of their Amazon companies,” Steve explains.

What started as a one-off outcome has since repeated itself multiple times, and it’s now become a recurring route to growth for the firm.

Steve adds that A2X was a key reason they were able to achieve that partnership, along with a well-connected digital setup that includes Xero, Briefcase, Spotlight Reporting, Brightpay, SafeHR, Inform Direct, and Karbon.

“As a firm, we’re constantly trying to find new, better digital solutions so that we can automate more and more of our processes. We also regularly attend accountancy and ecommerce trade shows to learn about the latest apps on the market and make sure we’re delivering the most digitalised service possible to our clients,” Oliver says.

Their advice to those considering using A2X?

“Think of the time you’re spending on your current processes (like manual reconciliation) and imagine what you could spend that time doing instead.”

Are you an accountant or bookkeeper who works with ecommerce clients? Sign up for the A2X Partner Program today!