TaxCloud
The ONLY thing stopping me from using Kickstart is sales taxes. Taxcloud is available for Ubercart as of a few weeks ago. This is sad as the future is clearly with drupalcommerce. The module installs but gives some error about dependency names. I hope the ones responsible for developing taxcloud for Ubercart will make sure it is working in Kiskstart. In Oklahoma, we have 816 sales tax zones and more being added monthly. I need this soon. Tax Cloud is keeping me with zencart. :-(
Avalara is a great option too. Though they are not free, they do have some surprisingly competitive offers, great customer service, and is very scalable.. Alvalara is also the market leader in terms of Shopping cart compatibility.
Comments
Sales Tax for Public Corporations
adTumbler has no issue with start up companies wanting FREE open source software, using the Kickstart distribution, and free sales tax services (rules usually works fine) or cheap hosting, with small development budgets and whatever else can be scrounged!
But large or public companies have different needs. They want functionality that sells more merchandise, an infrastructure that is secure and will scale, and software that will COMPLY with the business legislation applicable to them.
As one EVP recently said "we do not want a sales tax issue" - and I bet Amazon wish they had listened to that thought, as they now face the billion dollar law suites from NY and other states.
For example AEG merchandising, a billion dollar corporation, operating stores like - http://lakersstore.com/ - Lakers Store (one of 7 high profile stores) (using Ubercart) decided to move to Drupal Commerce for their latest store - http://toughmuddergear.com - possibly one of the hottest web properties of 2013. AvaTax supports both platforms, and will support whatever Drupal 8 holds tomorrow!
There is a reason that adTumbler selected Avalara as it's partner to deliver a sales tax solution - http://drupalsalestax.com - for larger corporations using Drupal as their open source platform of choice. Costs were the least important of our considerations. Larger corporations need accounting compliance, sales tax filings, access to sales tax holiday data, in all 50 states, and a 7 year audit trail - to name just a few of their needs.
If you are a start up, go for it - FREE is a must - Kickstart is great - low cost hosting is helpful, and rules will do most of what you need.
But, fellow developers, in particular those who focus on smaller companies, although there is nothing wrong with your start up mentality, there are other markets. They desperately need more contributed modules, professional developers, and commercial services.
If we do not recognize all our diverse needs. That there must be paid and unpaid services. We are all at serious risk of alienating ourselves from the commercial companies who fund our projects, and have considerable influence with the decision makers we depend on!