Elver E-commerce Accountants

-commerce founders selling on Amazon – what’s your plan when FBA says no?

A client said this to me this week:

“We can’t send any more stock in… Amazon says they’re full.”

Demand was there.
Customers ready to buy.

But no way to fulfil through FBA.

So what happens next?

Scrambling to switch couriers.
Trying to set up Seller Fulfilled Prime.
Dealing with delays, frustrated customers, and mounting pressure.

This is the bit most brands don’t plan for.

Operational problems hit profit before they show up in your numbers.

Lost sales.
Refunds.
Ranking drops.

All because there wasn’t a backup plan.

One simple action:
Have a second fulfilment route ready before you need it.

Not when Amazon forces your hand.

Do you currently have a fallback if FBA gets restricted?😀

E-commerce founders – here’s a mistake I see all the time when expanding internationally.

This week we looked at a business pushing into Australia.

On the surface, it looked like progress:
Sales were happening. Stock was moving.

But underneath?

• One distributor doing very little
• No Amazon presence
• The product being sold under a different brand
• No clear channel strategy

And this is where it goes wrong.

Because revenue can make it feel like things are working…

But if you don’t control how your product is sold, you don’t control your growth.

Margins get squeezed. Brand gets diluted. Progress stalls.

One simple rule:
Before entering a new market, decide who owns each channel.

Amazon. Website. Wholesale.

If that’s unclear, you’re not scaling – you’re just shipping stock.

How are you approaching international expansion right now?

We recently worked with a seller using Allegro to ship products within Poland. Their EU VAT agent was filing all the sales - including ones where Allegro already handled the VAT.

That meant they were unknowingly paying double VAT on B2C orders. 😬

We stepped in, reviewed the settlement reports, and confirmed that Allegro deducts VAT before payout — as they should.

This is a classic example of why platform knowledge matters. Marketplaces like Amazon, Allegro, and eBay often act as the “deemed supplier” for VAT — but not all advisors know that.

💡 Selling across borders? Make sure your accountant actually understands how each platform works.

If you’re using Xero, here’s something to watch out for. 👀

We recently took on a new client and noticed something strange…

Their previous accountant had access to Xero, but wasn’t submitting VAT returns through it - even though it’s fully MTD-compliant.

Worse still, they’d made manual adjustments to the VAT returns without reflecting those changes in Xero. So the numbers in the software didn’t match what was actually submitted to HMRC.

When we asked for the workings to fix the discrepancies, they said: “Ask the client.”

Only after the client mentioned a complaint to their professional body did they respond.

✅ If you’re running an e-commerce business, make sure your accountant is:

Using Xero properly for VAT returns

Posting any manual adjustments back into the system

Keeping a clear audit trail

Your reports are only as good as the data behind them.

One of our new clients thought they were saving time and money by asking ChatGPT to help prepare their accounts.

The result?

🚨 Their “profits” weren’t profits at all.
🚨 The AI treated director loans as income.
🚨 And it didn’t flag the need to file a corporation tax return - which is now late.

The report looked great. But under the hood, it was way off.

We love AI at Elver - we use it for research, brainstorming, and automation all the time. But when it comes to your numbers, filings, and compliance?

⚠️ There’s no substitute for expert knowledge.

Especially if you’re growing on Shopify or Amazon - one missed detail can cost you more than just time.

Call now to connect with business.