Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#141

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:28 PM UTC

profmonocle wrote: post #76

I'm fine with this as long as they include the tariff in the listed price. I'm worried businesses are going to use tariffs as an excuse to have a fake list price, then hit you with massive hidden fees at the point of sale. Some sectors have been doing this for years - "service fees" at restaurants, "regulatory response fees" in the telecom industry, all sorts of nonsense in event ticketing. Physical goods have mostly…

It’s kind of petty to list tariffs as a separate line item and not all the other costs that contribute to the final price. Why just the tariffs, unless Amazon is trying to make a political point?

It strikes me as just as petty as when restaurants started listing “Living Wage Fee” on their bills. They’re bitching and moaning directly to the customer just because they need to pay their staff more and they’re butthurt about it. Why not list all the restaurant’s costs as line items on the bill? They could list the customer’s proportion of the restaurant’s rent, electricity charge, water bill, licensing and taxes if they wanted to. But no, all they put in your face is the Living Wage Fee.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#142

Post by bee_rider » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:29 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #36

littlestymaar wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would also be quite a misleading way to do it.

I’m sure it would be off in some cases, but “quite misleading” seems like an exaggeration: the economy was steadily growing and there weren’t any major drivers of inflation other than Trump’s massive tax hike.

I don’t think they are going to do some novel calculation or go out on a limb much at all.

I mean, passing along tax information is a political act (in the same way not showing items on the shelf with sales tax, and then including it on your bill is an anti-sales-tax political statement—the point is to blame the government for an annoying surprise), but it is (I think, at least) widely seen as sort of… normal acceptable behavior in the US.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#143

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:29 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #136

ceejayoz wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. My grocery store raised bananas from 49¢/pound to 55¢/pound this week, with a sign about 10% tariffs… but the tariff would be on their wholesale costs, not the shelf costs. They're probably paying 1-2¢/pound extra. People have a hard enough time understanding who pays tariffs. Stores'll be able to muddy the waters this way pretty much at will.

Grocery stores have famously low margins. Everyone thinks they’re cash cows, but they have some of the thinnest profit margins of common consumer businesses. Stores often sell common staples like bananas, generic milk, and other basics at close to cost. They’re the things that get people in the door. They make their profit on things like cereal, deli meats, packaged goods, and other non-staple items that people also…

Low margins, high volume. The family owners of our regional privately held grocery store chain (Wegmans) are worth billions. They're making plenty.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#144

Post by enragedcacti » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #124

gherkinnn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect businesses to bump prices. Bump em because of tariffs, bump em some more to pad the margins because what is an extra 5%, bump em even when they're not affected by tariffs because everyone else is doing so, and delay un-bumping them once tariffs fall again.

Prices are always set by supply and demand. The price will rise until it gets high enough that the product of sales * price falls. It has always been that way. Businesses haven’t been selling goods and services out of the goodness of their hearts at an arbitrary price. It’s always supply and demand. Tariffs are expected to reduced demand because they increase prices. This is why the stock market is down and nearly ev…

> Prices are always set by supply and demand.

Normally I'd make a joke about econ 101 but I'm pretty sure you'd lose points for answering with this in an econ 101 class

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#145

Post by sowbug » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

zmgsabst wrote: post #133

throwaway7894 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In stores yes, but on the Internet, including it in the price makes it easier to bump up prices. Showing the price without tariff allows you to easily compare before / after, and then when you see tariff added to your bottom line order (e.g. on Amazon) it should drive home the point that tariffs are a tax paid for by the consumers (which unfortunately lots of people still dont believe).

I actually think that would backfire: I see two items for $5, but when I add the imported one, suddenly it costs more — and Amazon didn’t tell me that ahead of time or give me any way to choose the one without tariffs on the grid/list view. This makes tariffs more effective because they can’t bump the domestic price to match — while giving customers a negative chock each time they choose an importer for a product.

You say this as if the domestic seller wouldn't also raise prices.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#146

Post by xnx » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #124

gherkinnn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect businesses to bump prices. Bump em because of tariffs, bump em some more to pad the margins because what is an extra 5%, bump em even when they're not affected by tariffs because everyone else is doing so, and delay un-bumping them once tariffs fall again.

Prices are always set by supply and demand. The price will rise until it gets high enough that the product of sales * price falls. It has always been that way. Businesses haven’t been selling goods and services out of the goodness of their hearts at an arbitrary price. It’s always supply and demand. Tariffs are expected to reduced demand because they increase prices. This is why the stock market is down and nearly ev…

> Prices are always set by supply and demand.

True, but human psychology is a huge confounding factor. One area where this is evident is gas prices that "go up like a rocket, and come down like a feather" in response to crude oil prices. Simple supply and demand does not explain this.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#147

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #141

profmonocle wrote: post #76

I'm fine with this as long as they include the tariff in the listed price. I'm worried businesses are going to use tariffs as an excuse to have a fake list price, then hit you with massive hidden fees at the point of sale. Some sectors have been doing this for years - "service fees" at restaurants, "regulatory response fees" in the telecom industry, all sorts of nonsense in event ticketing. Physical goods have mostly…

It’s kind of petty to list tariffs as a separate line item and not all the other costs that contribute to the final price. Why just the tariffs, unless Amazon is trying to make a political point? It strikes me as just as petty as when restaurants started listing “Living Wage Fee” on their bills. They’re bitching and moaning directly to the customer just because they need to pay their staff more and they’re butthurt a…

> Why just the tariffs, unless Amazon is trying to make a political point?

Why would they not want to make this political point?

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#148

Post by xnx » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:34 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #141

profmonocle wrote: post #76

I'm fine with this as long as they include the tariff in the listed price. I'm worried businesses are going to use tariffs as an excuse to have a fake list price, then hit you with massive hidden fees at the point of sale. Some sectors have been doing this for years - "service fees" at restaurants, "regulatory response fees" in the telecom industry, all sorts of nonsense in event ticketing. Physical goods have mostly…

It’s kind of petty to list tariffs as a separate line item and not all the other costs that contribute to the final price. Why just the tariffs, unless Amazon is trying to make a political point? It strikes me as just as petty as when restaurants started listing “Living Wage Fee” on their bills. They’re bitching and moaning directly to the customer just because they need to pay their staff more and they’re butthurt a…

> It’s kind of petty to list tariffs as a separate line item and not all the other costs that contribute to the final price

I can see that, but these tariffs seem unique in that they are 1) sudden 2) significant 3) broad 4) totally unmotivated

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#149

Post by bee_rider » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:34 PM UTC

abirch wrote: post #9

jl6 wrote: post #4

Presumably they can determine this for items directly imported, but for all other cases (such as a made-in-the-USA product that is built using made-in-China tools, or from made-in-China components), surely the cost impact on the final product could be extremely complex to work out, if they even have access to that level of supply chain detail?

A lazy way to do this is to take the current price as the non tariff price and assume any increase in price is based on tariffs.

Seems novel and kinda “going out on a limb,” sort of unlikely for a big entity like Amazon, right?

I wonder if they will just allow their suppliers to add in an additional “my tariff costs” number, which the supplier can compute however they want and be responsible for. (This would be on top of the main tariff price, the one paid directly by Amazon, which of course they’ll have receipts for).

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#150

Post by conductr » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 1:35 PM UTC

trollbridge wrote: post #66

ericmay wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way to avoid this kind of behavior is to avoid shopping at stores where you can’t trace the origin of their products. Stop buying “brands”, and looking for “deals” and acting like a consumer. Do research and find high quality products, pay more for those products, buy less disposable junk. This isn’t just a “China” thing it’s in general.

I buy cheap things at Harbor Freight now instead of on Amazon because at least then I know I can return it if it breaks.

I find Amazon has the better return policy. HF has at times zero flexibility and I find I really have to pay attention to each item’s policy and weight the risk of failure (eg. A $5 hammer is low risk, $400 machine is too high risk). It’s not worth the mental math required while shopping. I only buy consumables there (HF) now, gloves, ropes, tarps, etc. Nothing with moving part, especially a motor. I’ve been left holding the bag on $400 items I I couldn’t even assemble because the bolt holes were out of alignment (obvious manufacturing defect) and they’ve refused to allow the return or force a boxing fee on me.