Kintsugi vs Avalara: The Smarter Choice for Tax Compliance
Barkin Doganay · October 9, 2024 · 8 min read
As a business owner, you want to make safe investments when getting an essential service or product. Of course, financial risk is always there, but you want a guaranteed return on investment as much as possible. You want to make money and not lose it.
Among the services that the majority of the entrepreneurs have availed is sales tax compliance automation. According to CPA Practice Advisor, 53% of business owners find tax rules and rates complicated and subject to change, and about 32% said audit risks are high when managing consumer use obligations. Automating sales tax compliance presents several advantages, especially if you feel that managing consumer tax is expensive for your business.
42% admitted that managing consumer use tax obligation costs their business too much. Twenty-three percent shared that the average cost of managing consumer use tax was between $10,000 and $50,000 and another 20% said it costs them more than that, per CPA Practice Advisor[1].
"In a post-Wayfair environment, automating the use tax accrual and validation of vendor charged sales tax has become even more critical for many organizations, particularly the middle market," said Michael Giannettino, Partner, State and Local Tax at RSM US LLP. "At RSM, we have experienced that many of our clients are being overcharged tax on purchases. By leveraging automation, businesses can mitigate audit risk, enhance accuracy, and streamline the reporting function."
Avalara and Kintsugi are two companies offering sales tax automation solutions. They both provide valuable services for tax compliance.
Avalara is the first name you will find when searching for sales tax compliance automation and that's given since they had been in the market since 2004. With 10 years of service, Avalara, it sure is, is a big name in the industry. However, that doesn't guarantee Avalara is the best fit for your company.
Kintsugi, although much newer in the market, is becoming popular thanks to its satisfied and happy clients. Avalara and Kintsugi have different approaches, pricing, and customer experience. On this page, you will learn why Kintsugi is the smarter choice for tax compliance.
What Did The Avalara Customers Say About the Company?
Companies switch to automatic sales tax compliance for comfort, convenience, and peace of mind when it comes to tax filing and sales tax management. Unfortunately, many customers who turned to Avalara expressed dissatisfaction with their service. Among the common complaints are the hidden costs and unwanted upgrades, which they did not ask for.
Imagine this: you are expecting to spend less on your sales tax compliance and have more free time so you can relax and be with your loved ones. However, you realize that you are charged more than you expected. Instead of having peace of mind, you spend days contacting their customer support to have your money back but without progress.
Unhappy customers speak volumes about the quality of service Avalara offers and here are some of them.
One user called Avalara a “Horrible Company“ for reportedly charging them $7,000 a month without alerts/notifications. “Horrible service! They never really answer your question. Read all the reviews left for this horrible company and head the warnings!“ the customer wrote.
Unfortunately, this unwanted upgrade is not an isolated case. Another user said they started a free account and it was upgraded without their knowledge. And they were reportedly charged even after they closed their business. “THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I’VE EVER USED! I closed my business down at the beginning of the year - I used [A]vatax on my bigcommerce store and it was FREE when I installed it. Come to find out they got rid of that and auto-upgraded my account to an $897 plan despite my business being closed,“ another irate customer said.
With Kintsugi, there are no surprises when it comes to charges. With our pay-as-you-go model, you will only pay for the services you will use. Rest assured that there are no hidden costs or unwanted upgrades.
Avalara's reporting is also reportedly less accurate and reliable compared to its competitors, including TaxJar and Kintsugi. Several Avalara customers reported wrong tax calculations.
According to John R., they encountered wrong tax calculations, and it went on for months. Avalara's poor customer service made it even more difficult for him to resolve the issue because they were not responsive.
"We're multiple months into having the same type of order's tax miscalculated and I'm still fighting to get any help on it, meaning hundreds of orders are being charged incorrect sales tax," he wrote.
Another customer said Avalara “overpromises & under-delivers.“ Blake H. struggled with its non-intuitive set-up and encountered wrong tax calculations like John.
“There are tons of issues where it doesn’t calculate sales tax correctly or at all for some states or on returns,“ Blake wrote, adding that “There are just a whole lot of things not to like about Avalara.“
With Kintsugi's proprietary AI-powered system called Kintsugi Intelligence, rest assured that tax calculations are not just fast but accurate, too.
Kintsugi vs Avalara User Experience: Evaluating Ease of Use
Kintsugi and Avalara are designed to make sales tax compliance easy and convenient. However, only Kintsugi delivers, making the onboarding process and integration stress-free for users.
According to Command AI, "89% of potential customers will consider switching to other solutions if the onboarding process for a tool they're currently using is complicated." Kintsugi understands this, so we make the whole ordeal smooth, from onboarding to integration.
Avalara customers said they struggled with the platform's onboarding process, which was a big turn-off, considering that they paid high for the platform but still had to do all the hard stuff.
“Difficult to set up and when it is not working as expected it can get in the way of processing documents," one user said.
Another user complained about the process when setting up the platform, saying that it was “absolutely ridiculous“ since there was no “setup wizard“ and they instead received a “barrage of emails telling you to click links and do the steps detailed in the email.“ The user added, “Business owners paying thousands of dollars to get started should never have to do what this app is requesting.“
Kintsugi is proud to say that our customers have no trouble using our platform. In fact, we receive tons of compliments from our clients for their smooth onboarding experience with our tool.
“Getting started was a piece of cake,“ Arjun said. According to Arjun, our platform “was super easy to set up. It’s clear they invested a ton in a good user experience.“
Another user echoed the same sentiment about his onboarding experience with Kintsugi. “Fast onboarding experience,“ Caelin S. wrote. “Super easy to setup and use Kintsugi and everything wokred perfectly!“
Arjun was right, we invested a lot of resources to give our customers a great experience starting from the onboarding process because we want you to experience the service we offer from the get-go and we know that we did well in this area.
Kintsugi Offers Better Integration Than Avalara
Kintsugi and Avalara support API integration with major business software like QuickBooks, Shopify, and others, to ensure smooth tax calculations within existing workflows. However, Kintsugi stands out when it comes to integration.
"83% of organizations view product integrations as one of their biggest priorities**,” Merge [2]
While Avalara offers the same integration, their process is not as smooth as Kintsugi’s. Instead, they require more complex implementation and configuration Some customers said they encountered issues when integrating their current tools into Avalara’s platform.
Grant R. who used Avalara said he was so “disappointed and frustrated“ with the platform and it began when they integrated Avalara with WooCommerce. “Since integrating Avalara with our WooCommer website, we have faced nothing but problems, costing us tens of thousands of dollars and an enormous amount of time and resources,“ he wrote.
“Avalara has been a nightmare to work with. We are dealing with multiple unresolved issues that are directly Avalara's fault and their poor communication and lack of support have only made things worse. We've wasted an incredible amount of money trying to make their system work, and unless they take immediate action and issue a refund, we will be looking for alternative slutions,” Grant concluded.
Another customer experienced a similar integration issue with Avalara, but this time it was with QuickBooks. According to Tom A., “Avalara has failed to support an update the QBO rolled out and now tax calculations [takes] 3-5 minutes to calculate.“ Tom said they had to wait for a couple of minutes to create and invoice and send it to their customers.
“Because their QBO integration is so bad, you end up having to use 3x the usage you expected, which then costs you 3x what you expected. We literally paid more because their product was worse than expected,“ he added.
Kintsugi does not just offer integration, we make sure that they work perfectly. With our no-code integrations, you do not have to sweat in plugging in your ERP, HR or billing platform to our tool. And our customers can attest to how smooth the integration process is.
One of our customers previously worked with another tax service provider, but when they switched to Kintsugi, the experience was seamless. "Kintsugi integrates seamlessly with my Shopify site, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy stores," Ishop wrote.
Another said our platform made "tax filing less of a headache" for them. "This app saves me time, hassle, and frustration. Setup is quick and straightforward, and once done, the sales tax filing is all automated," our customer said. "It easily integrates with my Shopify store."
Streamline Strategies said Kintsugi was a "game-changer" for their business. "Onboarding was seamless, and the app's integration from Avalara was incredibly smooth," they wrote.
Kintsugi ensures that integration works for all tools our platform supports and that every customer will experience the ease of the process. Another user said that Kintsugi is “Much better than Avalara“ because the “Integration process was self-serve and it was easy to navigate and set everything up.“
Kintsugi’s no-code integration supports the following platforms:
“39% of organizations cite integrations as the most important factor when selecting a software provider,” Merge [2]
Kintsugi Has Excellent Customer Support Over Avalara
According to Verint, seven out of 10 customers have stopped doing business with a company due to a poor customer service experience. However, Avalara's clients have multiple complaints about this matter.
Avalara’s customer support was reportedly not responsive. One was so unhappy that they felt Avalara’s customer support was “non-existent.“
The customer added that Avalara Customer Care reached out to address the issue, but when they asked for a follow-up, they didn't receive any update.
"Sadly, this illustrates my point - it's frustrating to be a net promoter of a great technology, but unable to recommend the company due to unacceptable poor Customer Service," the customer wrote. Kintsugi understands the importance of customer support and will not leave you hanging.
Another customer claimed that the response time was too long, and the people they talked to were reportedly not knowledgeable about the product.
"If you have an error, their front-line support does not know the product and, in my experience, will give incorrect advice. Support will close tickets without providing a solution and claim that the issue was [a] user error," the Avalara customer wrote.
Apparently, the long response time and poor customer service are something many Avalara customers experience. A third client echoed the exact same sentiment saying Avalara had "incredibly poor service and response time."
The customer experienced too much inconvenience when making changes or adding services and found the whole ordeal "extremely frustrating." "Their support and response time is just awful," Debbie B said.
Kintsugi values its customers' time and money, so we do not let you wait for too long whenever you reach out to us for assistance. Kintsugi offers 24/7 support and real-time access to tax experts via Slack. This immediate support system helps resolve issues more quickly, minimizing disruptions for users.
Kintsugi’s customers do not encounter many issues and rarely need assistance because we designed our platform to work well for them the first time they use it. But we still make sure that you have the support you need all the way.
One Kintsugi customer said the app was easy to use and we have "fantastic customer support."
Another said Kintsugi streamlined their sales tax management and one of the things they appreciated was our helpful customer support. "The customer support team is top-notch - they helped me set up the app, answered all my questions, and even provided guidance on navigating the complex world of sales tax compliance," Al Azqa wrote.
Kintsugi ensures every customer is attended and TechTrove.shop can attest to that. "The support team is always available to answer questions," they wrote.
Kintsugi vs. Avalara Pricing Models: Finding Value for Your Business
Avalara and Kintsugi have significant differences when it comes to pricing. Avalara typically offers pre-paid plans for a set number of filings and registrations, which can be less flexible for smaller or fast-scaling businesses. Users have reported dissatisfaction due to hidden fees and unexpected charges, like professional services that weren’t completed.
Avalara also provides a 12-month agreement that customers can pay annually or monthly. Apparently, they want you to sign up for their platform for the long term, which can be expensive if you are unhappy and want to end the service abruptly. Plus, they reportedly make automatic upgrades in their customers' plans, costing them more.
One Avalara customer said the plan they availed was “discontinued“ and they were upgraded from a $3,000 annual plan to $15,000 without notice. “No ramp up, no discussion, no nothing - just here is your 5X increase,“ the customer said.
Another user was unhappy because, in her experience, every service she received from Avalara had a cost. “That EVERYTHING is a cost and nothing is all encompassing. From the customer service to the number of transactions/returns you have, each one is a cost and it’s not cheap,“ Elizabeth wrote, suggesting to other users to “consider all options“ because Avalara is “Expensive.“
Another customer was satisfied with Avalara’s performance but wasn’t happy with the amount he was paying for. According to Todd G., “Product works well, but pricing is not commensurate with value.“ In Todd’s experience, he noticed that the pricing increased at an “exponential rate.“
“Avalara has passed through annual net price increases. of38%, 42%, and 110%. Currently, my annual usage fee to Avalara is greater than my annual sales tax liability! This doesn’t work for me any longer. Additionally, my account rep changes at least once a year and the current one is not as responsive as I would like,“ Todd added.
Kintsugi, on the other hand, uses a pay-as-you-go model, allowing users to pay only for the services they use, offering transparency with no hidden costs or long-term contracts. We also do not require credit cards and have no onboarding and implementation fees. Plus, we offer tons of free services you won't get from Avalara like the following:
- Free nexus monitoring
- Free address validation
- Free advanced CSV importing
- Dedicated Slack support
- Free VDAs
Due to this, our customers are satisfied with not just our service but our pricing plans too. One customer even said Kintsugi offers “True automation at 1/10 cost.“
Kintsugi The Smarter Choice For Tax Compliance
Kintsugi is a great Avalara alternative because it performs well and delivers. Actually, it performs better without the high price, unwanted upgrades, and hidden charges that Avalara customers mostly complained about.
Plus, Kintsugi is way ahead of Avalara in customer support and integration. We ensure every customer feels the ease and convenience when using our platform and is supported all the way. Also, with our accurate sales tax computation and error insurance, you will enjoy peace of mind. Kintsugi takes accountability and gets you covered with our error insurance coverage up to the total amount you've paid for the service. Book a demo now or Sign up for free.
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