A2X vs. Link My Books: Which Automation Tool is Best for UK Amazon Sellers?

If you are scaling an Amazon FBA business, you eventually hit a wall. It’s that moment you look at your Xero dashboard and realise the cash deposit hitting your bank account doesn’t match your sales figures.

Amazon sends you a "net" payment—sales minus FBA fees, advertising costs, storage fees, and refunds. If you simply record that deposit as "Sales," you are under-reporting your turnover and likely underpaying VAT. HMRC does not look kindly on that, especially now that digital audit trails are standard practice.

As an ecommerce accountant that UK sellers trust to handle seven-figure portfolios, I get asked the same question weekly: "Should I use A2X or Link My Books?"

Both are excellent tools. Both solve the "Amazon Settlement Nightmare." But they are built for slightly different businesses. In this guide, I’ll break down exactly which one fits your model, and address the gap in the market for creators and affiliates.

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The Danger of Manual Data Entry for High-Volume Amazon Sellers

Let’s be honest: manual reconciliation is a liability.

When you try to manually break down an Amazon settlement report, you are dealing with hundreds of transaction lines. You have to separate the VAT on sales (which varies by destination) from the VAT on Amazon’s fees (which often uses the Reverse Charge mechanism).

What this means for you:

• VAT Errors: If you miss the Reverse Charge on advertising fees, your VAT return is incorrect.
• Cash Flow Blindness: You don’t know your true margins if you can’t see how much Amazon is taking in fees versus what you are actually selling.
• Time Drain: Spending four hours a month on data entry is four hours you aren’t spending on product sourcing or TikTok content.

Automated accounting software sits between Amazon and Xero (or QuickBooks). It grabs the settlement report, tidies it up, calculates the tax correctly, and sends a clean invoice to your accounting software that matches the bank deposit to the penny.

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A2X Review: The Gold Standard for Global Multi-Channel Reconciliation

A2X has been around a long time. They were the first to really nail this problem, and they remain the heavyweight champion for complex, global businesses.

The Pros:

• COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) Accuracy: A2X has a very robust system for tracking inventory costs. It calculates the value of the stock you sold in that period and posts it to your accounts, giving you accurate gross profit data month-on-month.
• Historical Data: If you haven’t done your books for two years, A2X is brilliant at fetching historical data to tidy up a mess.
• Multi-Channel Power: It handles Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy incredibly well. If you are selling globally across all these platforms, A2X is often the centralised hub you need.

The Cons:

• Price: It is generally more expensive than the competition, especially as your order volume increases.
• Complexity: The settings are granular. This is great for an accountant like me, but can be overwhelming for a solo founder.

Best for: Sellers with complex inventory needs, global VAT registrations across multiple continents, or those selling on Walmart and eBay alongside Amazon.

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Link My Books Review: The Streamlined Choice for UK-Based Amazon Brands

Link My Books (LMB) was built by Amazon sellers, for Amazon sellers, and it shows. The user interface is cleaner, and the setup process feels much less like "accounting" and more like "business logic."

The Pros:

• The Setup Wizard: LMB has a fantastic setup flow that asks you simple questions about your VAT status and where you hold stock. It then maps the tax rates automatically.
• Xero Integration: The integration with Xero is seamless. The invoices it pushes through are clean and easy to read.
• Cost-Effective: Even with the price adjustments we saw in 2025, LMB usually works out cheaper per month than A2X for small to mid-sized sellers.
• Product Grouping: They have a feature allowing you to apply different VAT rules to different product groups easily (essential if you sell zero-rated goods like baby clothes or coffee).

The Cons:

• COGS feature: While they have a COGS feature, A2X’s inventory method is arguably slightly more robust for very high-volume, complex inventory movements across multiple currencies.

Best for: UK-based PL (Private Label) brands, arbitrage sellers, and anyone who wants a "set and forget" solution that handles UK/EU VAT perfectly.

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Price Comparison: Which Accounting Integration Tool Offers Better Value?

Pricing changes often, but the structure usually remains the same. Both operate on a tiered model based on the number of orders per month.

The Verdict on Value: If you are purely looking at the monthly subscription cost, Link My Books usually wins for the average UK seller. However, if you need the granular inventory tracking A2X offers, the extra cost pays for itself in data accuracy.

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Step-by-Step: Connecting Amazon Settlement Reports to Xero or QuickBooks

Regardless of which tool you choose, the workflow is similar. Here is how we set this up for our clients to ensure total automation.

1. Connect the Marketplace: Log in to A2X or LMB and authorise the connection to your Amazon Seller Central Europe account.
2. Connect the Accounting Software: Authorise the link to Xero or QuickBooks Online.
3. Map the Accounts: This is the critical bit.
   
   • Create a "Clearing Account" in Xero (Current Asset).
   • Map the Amazon payouts to this clearing account, not your main bank account.
4. Configure Tax Rates: Ensure UK sales map to "20% VAT on Income" and Amazon fees map to "Reverse Charge Expenses" (if you are VAT registered).
5. The Reconciliation: When the money hits your bank feed in Xero, you don't reconcile it as a "Sale." You transfer it from the Clearing Account. The software pushes an invoice to the Clearing Account that matches the deposit. You simply click "Match."

Pro Tip: Never guess your tax mappings. If you get this wrong, you could be paying 20% VAT on income that should be zero-rated (exports), or claiming back VAT on fees you aren’t entitled to.

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The 2026 Verdict: Which Software Should Your Amazon Business Use?

So, which tool gets the Social Commerce Accountants stamp of approval?

• Choose Link My Books if: You are a UK-based business selling on Amazon and Shopify. You want a great UI, perfect VAT handling for Europe, and fair pricing. For 90% of our clients, this remains the top recommendation.
• Choose A2X if: You are an enterprise-level seller, you sell on Walmart/eBay extensively, or you have highly complex inventory cost-tracking needs across multiple currencies outside of the standard scope.

Here is the hard truth: That integration software doesn't really exist yet.

Even in 2026, marketplaces like TikTok Shop treat creators differently to sellers. The payout reports are often simple PDFs or CSVs that don't plug directly into A2X or LMB. For now, creators usually require a more bespoke, hands-on approach to separate their agency fees, sample costs, and net commissions.

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About Author

Sam Hoye is the founder of Social Commerce Accountants, a firm dedicated to modern ecommerce businesses. From TikTok Shop interactions to Amazon FBA logistics, Sam helps creators, influencers, and brands navigate the complexities of UK tax and accounting. He believes in plain-speaking advice and leveraging technology to replace boring admin work.

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