How Craft-e-Corner moved 50-state filing off Avalara without missing a return

Industry

Ecommerce

Location

Oshkosh, WI

Website

craft-e-corner.com

Migrating from

Avalara

Integration

Shopify

Introduction

A national sales footprint. Multiple sales channels. Nexus in all 50 states.

Craft-e-Corner sells Cricut cutting machines and crafting supplies out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A close reseller partner of the manufacturer, the company moves product through Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and their own Shopify storefront.

Sales exploded during COVID, when people stuck at home bought hobby equipment faster than the company could ship it, and growth has held steady since. By the time Alan Ahrens was hired as controller, Craft-e-Corner was already registered and filing in all 50 states and enrolled in the Streamlined Sales Tax program. The compliance stack came with the job. But so did the manual monthly spreadsheets.

“We’ve always sold to the whole country across multiple channels, including our own website. Wherever someone bought from us, we had to be prepared to file sales tax in that state.”

Challenge

Paying enterprise prices to do the work by hand.

Two problems surfaced fast. Avalara was hard to use, and it cost a lot.

Craft-e-Corner’s compliance workflow was largely manual. Pull a sales report from their own systems. Build the Excel file. Upload it into Avalara. Every filing period, across every state.

So the tax data never came directly from Shopify, where the transactions actually lived. It came from a report Alan built by hand, with far less detail than what Shopify was already capturing.

And when something broke, it stayed broken. Issues with the old software lingered for months without a clean answer.

For a controller filing nationwide, that’s two open risks at once. Every hand-built file is a chance to put the wrong number on a return. Every unresolved issue is still sitting there when the next deadline arrives. Neither one shows up until a state sends a letter.

“We’re a pretty good size company, but it still felt like Avalara was built for even bigger operations. The platform was never really easy to use, and the cost was substantial, especially given how much manual work we had to put in just to make it work.”

Solution

Lower costs, a direct Shopify integration, and 50 state registrations moved without a missed return.

At first, Alan’s search for a new provider was all about cost.

“I had a very low bar. My mindset was: I’ll do whatever we gotta do to save money.”

TaxCloud came up early, and the quote came in well under what they were paying Avalara. But the evaluation turned up something else that Alan hadn’t been shopping for.

“When we learned that we didn’t have to upload files, that TaxCloud could integrate right into our Shopify where all the data was coming from… it took all of that process away.”

Shopify held far more detail than the reports Alan had been building by hand. Connecting to it directly meant the export, the spreadsheet, and the upload all disappeared.

Migration was the other part Alan and his team were dreading. Switching sales tax software when you’re registered in 50 states is where most migrations stall.

It took a couple of calls and some working sessions, mostly sharing state credentials. Every state transferred and SST enrollment carried across without a glitch.

“TaxCloud’s initial quote was great. The cost savings were huge compared to what we were paying Avalara. From day one the software was easier to use, and we could tell the support was going to be better too, just based on the way they handled onboarding.”

Results

Filing across 50 states, automated and handled.

A year into working with TaxCloud, the filing work Alan used to do himself no longer reaches his desk.

“I don’t have to manually upload sales data. I don’t have to manually check anything. I’m not chasing bad timing on filings.”

Here’s what changed in Craft-e-Corner’s first year after switching to TaxCloud:

• No manual uploads. Sales tax data flows from Shopify straight into filing. No exports, no spreadsheets, no files to build before a return is due.
• State notices are handled. When a letter arrives, Alan forwards the PDF and the TaxCloud team takes it from there. Most turn out to be misunderstandings on the state’s side, and he never touches them.
• Confidence in the numbers. The data now comes from the source rather than a report assembled by hand. Filings and payments land on time.
• No state portal check-ins. In a year of filing across 50 states, Alan has not once logged into a state portal to confirm a return went in.
• Expert support that answers fast. Asked what stands out about the TaxCloud team, Alan names two things: their knowledge and their responsiveness. Alan’s questions go to a US-based support team that knows sales tax and Craft-e-Corner’s setup.
• No renewal price hikes or surprises. A cheap first-year quote is easy to offer, and year two is usually where it catches up with you. Craft-e-Corner’s TaxCloud renewal came in reasonable and priced as advertised.

“Sales tax compliance isn’t a riddle anymore. The stress is gone from the entire process, and I’m confident that it’s working.”

Looking ahead

Scaling the business without scaling the finance team

Now that compliance is handled by TaxCloud, Alan knows sales tax won’t get in the way of growth. Craft-e-Corner is already registered everywhere it needs to be, so growth just means more transactions, not new states, new filings, or new surprises.

“Once you’re set up, TaxCloud just handles compliance. We’re already in all 50 states, so growing means more orders, not more states to deal with. I don’t worry about our sales tax software or workflows keeping up anymore.”

His advice to anyone sitting where he sat a year ago: look hard at what they are paying versus what they’re getting, then move if the ROI isn’t there.

“If we didn’t switch to TaxCloud, we’d still be behind on accuracy and efficiency and cost. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend TaxCloud to other national sellers.”