Jake Langley never planned on starting his own supplement company. He worked in affiliate and performance marketing, helping clients grow their businesses. But after working closely with several supplement brands, Jake had an idea—why not launch his supplement product?

That spark of inspiration led Jake to start Luma Nutrition in 2020. Luma took off quickly as a side project, especially when COVID-19 hit, and consumers became more health-conscious. 

"I remember I had one product in particular, quercetin, and that was getting a lot of publicity in the media because it was something that doctors recommended to help with the immune system and could help with COVID. So that got us some early traction, and we just kept the ball rolling.”

Luma continued to expand its product line after its initial success. As Jake puts it:

"We've been launching more and more products ever since then. So our strategy is to keep developing products that the market wants."

Challenge: facing the sales tax challenge

As Luma grew, Jake knew he had to get serious about sales tax compliance. Running an ecommerce business, he needed clarification about economic nexus, physical nexus, and how selling through Amazon affected his tax obligations.

Without taking action, Jake risked getting letters from states informing him he owed back taxes. However, sales tax compliance for ecommerce is complex, and Jake needed help tackling this challenge.

Jake first turned to TaxJar to handle his sales tax needs. However, he quickly grew frustrated with their lack of pricing transparency and poor communication. As Jake explains:

"They annoyed me with not being transparent. There was just something not transparent about the pricing."

Jake then switched to Avalara, hoping they could fully handle his sales tax compliance. Unfortunately, he again faced poor communication and many unresolved issues. As he describes:

"Avalara was frustrating because they say they’ll get you signed up for each state. But really, they don't. Like they do some of it, but there's still a lot of manual work they just send back to you."

Dealing with Avalara for sales tax filing and management became a burden for Jake. The service simply wasn't what he expected:

"I was being billed as if they were handling state sales tax, and that was not the case."

Avalara focused only on the simple filing of returns. Any problems or communication from tax authorities fell back on Jake to resolve. Getting support from Avalara to fix these issues was nearly impossible. 

"What frustrated me was that I had an account manager, but that account manager was just there to get me to sign up for the new stuff. They'd be super proactive in getting me to sign up. I would do that, and then I could never contact them."

After over a year of struggling with Avalara, Jake knew he had to make a change. 

Avalara's service was inadequate, leaving Jake with too many sales tax issues to handle alone. He needed a service to take the sales tax burden off his shoulders.

Solution: Numeral—the white glove sales tax service for ecommerce businesses

While talking to other ecommerce founders on Twitter and podcasts, Jake kept hearing about Numeral. The reviews stood out—people seemed happy with their sales tax provider. 

"I'm always on Twitter and podcasts and getting more info. So, of course, sales tax must have been discussed at one point, and I realized, okay, I need to start being compliant with this.”

Jake decided to switch and see if Numeral could solve his sales tax woes. Right away, he noticed a difference. 

Numeral delivered on what Avalara had failed to do—genuinely comprehensive sales tax management. As Jake explains, the key differentiator was responsiveness and expertise.

"The big thing is that the actual Numeral handles the entire process of every aspect of the sales tax. And the biggest thing with that is I can talk to someone quickly in real time if there's an issue, and then we figure it out."

With Numeral, Jake no longer had to worry about taxes. Numeral’s team managed it all for him. 

Whenever problems came up, from registration errors to queries about returns to filing taxes and handling tax-related emails, Numeral stepped in to resolve them.

Jake highlights the responsiveness and expertise of Numeral's team as the most valuable features:

• Quick communication with sales tax experts via phone, email, and chat
• Proactive monitoring and resolution of state tax authority issues
• Comprehensive sales tax management, not just filing
• Easy sales tax registration and filing in new states

Jake's burden of sales tax compliance disappeared after switching to Numeral, which ensured he could focus on growing his business rather than stressing over administrative tax problems.

Impact: more growth, less stress for Luma

Since switching to Numeral, Jake has seen a measurable impact on his business. He estimates saving at least ten monthly hours that previously went towards managing sales tax issues.

"If there's a problem in another part of my business that I know how to handle. But what made the sales tax issues difficult, even if it wasn't a massive amount of hours, is that I have no idea how to fix them."

More importantly, Numeral eliminated the stress of dealing with state tax authorities. Instead of dreading communication from tax boards, Jake could rest easy knowing Numeral had it covered:

"Whenever you're dealing with the government, and they want money from you, you don't want to mess with that."

With his sales tax concerns resolved, Jake could now focus entirely on growing Luma Nutrition. 

Numeral handled the tax complexities so he could concentrate on his passion—launching innovative supplements to help customers live healthier, happier lives.

By the numbers: Luma's growth since switching to numeral

Since making Numeral its official sales tax partner, Luma Nutrition has seen impressive growth:

• 3x increase in revenue over the past year
• Expanded from 25 to 35 states registered for tax
• 10+ hours saved per month on sales tax management
• 0 tax authority letters or compliance issues
• On track to hit $5M in revenue in 2023

Numeral's tax experts handled all compliance aspects, from registrations to reconciliations. With the sales tax burden lifted off his shoulders, Jake drove Luma's growth to new heights.

As Luma Nutrition continues rapidly expanding, Jake rests easy knowing his sales tax compliance is entirely under control with Numeral. 

He happily rates Numeral a 9 out of 10—much better than the 2 out of 10 experience he suffered with Avalara.