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Card class: Hero • Category: Ecommerce Platform

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At a glance

Average order value with VAT removed, the merchant’s net per-order revenue before tax. Most ecommerce dashboards default to AOV inc-VAT (matches the customer’s view of price). B2B-heavy stores prefer ex-VAT because their accounting and forecasting is denominated in net revenue, and because their B2B customers reclaim VAT (so the inc-VAT AOV overstates the customer’s effective spend). The card answers “what did we earn per order, net of tax?”
What it countsSum of order subtotals excluding all tax components, divided by order count. Computed across the current 30-day period. Excludes refunds and cancellations. Uses BC’s subtotal_ex_tax field where available; falls back to total_inc_tax - total_tax otherwise.
Sample typeBackend API data from BigCommerce orders, refreshed on the standard data refresh.
Why ex-VAT AOV matters(1) B2B accounting view: B2B businesses report revenue net of tax because they remit collected VAT to the tax authority. The ex-VAT AOV is the figure that flows to the P&L. (2) Cross-border comparison: stores with mixed UK + EU + US shoppers face different VAT rates by jurisdiction; ex-VAT AOV normalises the comparison. (3) Margin planning: COGS and ad-spend are typically ex-VAT; AOV ex-VAT enables clean margin math without needing to back out tax each time. (4) EU compliance: many EU merchants standardise on ex-VAT for management reporting per local accounting practice.
Reading the value(1) Compare against aov (inc-VAT version) to see the tax wedge magnitude. (2) Trend movement parallels aov_trend (the inc-VAT trend); changes in tax mix can cause minor divergence. (3) For UK + EU stores with 20% VAT, the ex-VAT figure is roughly 0.83x the inc-VAT figure. (4) For US-only stores, the two should be effectively identical since US sales tax is typically not part of the order subtotal in BC’s data.
Currencycurrency (£/€/$/etc., automatically detected from store settings).
Time window30D vsP.
Alert triggerinherits aov_trend (BAD ≤ -5%).
Sentiment keyaov_trend.
Rolesowner, finance, b2b

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Calculation

aov_ex_vat = SUM(orders.subtotal_ex_tax) ÷ COUNT(orders)

WHERE order_date IN [today - 30d, today)
AND payment_status IN ('paid', 'captured', 'completed')
If subtotal_ex_tax is not directly available, compute as total_inc_tax - total_tax - shipping_inc_tax + shipping_ex_tax per order, then divide by order count.

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Worked example

A UK-based BigCommerce home-and-garden store, AOV reading on Wednesday 15 May 26.
MetricCurrent periodPrevious periodNotes
AOV (inc-VAT)£261.09£243.27The customer-facing figure
Total tax per order£43.51£40.55Average VAT @ 20% on net
AOV (ex-VAT)£217.58£202.72Net revenue per order
Tax wedge16.7%16.7%Standard UK VAT-inclusive arithmetic
AOV ex-VAT change+7.3%-Matches the inc-VAT trend
What the ex-VAT reading is telling us:
  1. The merchant’s net AOV is £217.58. This is the figure that flows to the P&L and matters for margin math. At a 50% gross margin assumption, contribution per order is £108.79 before fulfilment, ad-spend, and overhead. Compare this directly against per-order CAC (typically £15-£40) to compute true contribution per order.
  2. The tax wedge is consistent at 16.7%. This indicates the merchant’s customer mix is stable across geographies (no recent shift between UK + EU + non-EU shipping). A divergence in the tax wedge across periods would signal a customer-mix change worth investigating.
  3. Why the ex-VAT and inc-VAT trends are identical at +7.3%. When tax rates and customer mix are stable, the two AOVs move in lockstep. Divergence between the two trends signals either: (a) a tax-rate change in a major jurisdiction, (b) a customer-mix shift between taxable and zero-rated regions, (c) a product-mix shift between standard-rate and reduced-rate categories.
  4. Use cases for ex-VAT AOV:
    • Margin reporting: feeds directly into P&L without requiring tax-back-out.
    • B2B reporting: matches B2B customer experience (they reclaim VAT).
    • Cross-border comparison: normalises across jurisdictions with different tax rates.
    • Investor decks: most ecommerce KPI benchmarks are quoted ex-VAT for international comparability.
  5. Cross-reference cards:
    • aov (inc-VAT): customer-facing AOV.
    • aov_trend: percentage change.
    • bc_aov_discount: AOV with vs without discount.
    • bc_aov_by_country: geography decomposition.
    • total_revenue: revenue companion.
The diagnostic flow:
  1. Read ex-VAT AOV. Compare to inc-VAT AOV.
  2. Confirm tax wedge is stable across periods.
  3. Use ex-VAT for margin and P&L work; use inc-VAT for customer-experience and conversion analysis.
Rapid-response playbook:
Time horizonAction
First 1 hourRead ex-VAT vs inc-VAT. Confirm tax wedge stable.
First dayUse ex-VAT for margin reporting.
PeriodicAudit tax wedge for jurisdiction-mix shifts.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy merchants reach for it
aovAOV inc-VAT (customer-facing).
aov_trendAOV trend; carries sensitivity logic.
bc_aov_discountAOV with vs without discount.
bc_aov_by_countryGeography decomposition.
bc_channel_aovChannel decomposition.
total_revenueRevenue companion.
total_ordersVolume companion.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in BC: Analytics → Insights → Orders (toggle tax-inclusive vs ex-tax view if available); Reports → Sales Tax Report. Why our number may differ:
ReasonDirectionWhat to do
Tax-field interpretation. BC has both subtotal_ex_tax and total_tax; small numerical differences arise on rounding.±0.1%Use the same field.
Shipping tax handling. Some merchants charge shipping with tax included; others ex-tax.VariableConfirm shipping tax setting.
Multi-tax-jurisdiction orders. Orders with multiple tax components (e.g., UK + EU OSS) may compute slightly differently.MarginalUse BC’s authoritative tax breakdown.
Cross-connector: shopify.aov_ex_vat, adobe_commerce.aov_ex_vat for cross-platform parity (when same merchant uses multiple platforms). Quick rule: confirm the tax-field source and shipping-tax handling first.

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Q: We’re a US-only store. Should we use ex-VAT or inc-VAT? US sales tax is typically not part of the order subtotal in BC’s data (it’s collected as a separate line). The two AOV values will be effectively identical for US-only stores. Stick with inc-VAT (aov) as the headline; treat ex-VAT as informational. The distinction matters for UK + EU + multi-jurisdiction merchants. Q: Why does ex-VAT AOV not have its own sensitivity threshold? Because the trend behaviour is identical to inc-VAT AOV when tax rates and customer mix are stable. The sensitivity logic lives on aov_trend, which reads the percentage change. The ex-VAT version is a presentation variant for stores that prefer the net view. Q: Our tax wedge changed from 17% to 14%. What happened? Likely a customer-mix shift toward lower-tax-rate jurisdictions (e.g., more EU OSS-zero-rated B2B customers, or more US shipping addresses). Investigate via per-country revenue decomposition (bc_revenue_by_country or bc_aov_by_country). Q: B2B customers reclaim VAT, does this card account for that? Indirectly. The ex-VAT AOV shows what the merchant earned net of tax; whether the customer reclaims their input VAT is the customer’s tax position, not the merchant’s. The merchant’s revenue recognition is at ex-VAT regardless. Q: Our shipping is sometimes inc-VAT and sometimes ex-VAT depending on jurisdiction. How does that affect AOV? Configurable per profile. Default behaviour: align with the order’s tax inclusion setting. A consistent ex-VAT view requires consistent shipping treatment; if your shipping varies, the trend may show small artefacts. Audit the BC shipping tax configuration. Q: When should I quote ex-VAT to investors and when inc-VAT? Investors and benchmarks typically use ex-VAT (net revenue) for international comparability. Internal customer-experience metrics use inc-VAT (customer-facing). For a board pack, lead with ex-VAT; for a marketing dashboard, lead with inc-VAT. Q: GMV vs revenue, which does this card reflect? Revenue (net of refunds, cancellations, returns). GMV (gross merchandise value) typically includes those and is higher. If you need GMV, sum subtotal_ex_tax across all orders including refunded; the difference between this card and GMV is the refund-rate adjustment. Q: How does this card differ from aov? aov is inc-VAT (customer-facing); this card is ex-VAT (merchant accounting). Different audiences, same underlying data. Run both alongside on stores with mixed audiences.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Average Order Value (ex-VAT) is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.