08/10/2026
Why does the price change on the last screen of an international checkout?
Because the number on the product page is only the first layer. Shipping depends on the destination and the weight. Duty depends on how the product is classified. Tax depends on the country and the order value. None of that can be calculated until the shopper types in an address, so many stores calculate it at the very end.
That timing has a cost. Baymard Institute research finds that 48 percent of shoppers who abandon a cart point to extra costs as the reason. Packages sent without duty paid upfront see up to 10 percent refused at the door, according to Portless, and a DutyPilot analysis of more than 1,200 international transactions found that showing the full price early lifted conversion by 18 percent.
For a small seller, the fix is not a lower price. It is showing the full price earlier.
Explore ShipSmart to see how landed cost can be shown before the shopper reaches the last screen.