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Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

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Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#181

Post by Aurornis »

iterance wrote: post #135
Aurornis wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Supply and demand is one driver of economic pricing, but not the only driver. Efficient pricing is a complex topic and not as black-and-white as it seems. As demand falls, the price may be expected to fall, but there is an inelastic limit set by material, labor, transport, and taxation cost. A company may elect to decrease their profit margin per sale to offset increased costs, but there is only so much margin to eat…

This is just semantics. If it becomes untenable to supply a good at a given price, the supply for that good decreases.

Then supply and demand reach equilibrium.

Supply and demand doesn’t mean that either or both supply and demand remain constant. Both supply and demand change depending on the price.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#182

Post by ceejayoz »

Aurornis wrote: post #172
ceejayoz wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Everything in the world makes more sense when you accept that it’s all supply and demand. The net worth of the family that owns the business is irrelevant.

Supply and demand can both be impacted by perception, which can be tweaked by humans.

If tariffs increase the wholesale cost of an item by $1, but you can make consumers think $5 retail is what the increase should be, that’s an extra $4 in your pocket.

Economics education doesn’t stop at 101 for a good reason. “Supply and demand” is like “veins carry deoxygenated blood” - it’s largely true, but further learning reveals complexity.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#183

Post by throwaway83845 »

gherkinnn wrote: post #109
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…

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.

In my experience, once they raise prices due to "external reasons", once they lower prices they are almost always higher than the original price. At least for goods that people buy anyway

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#185

Post by throwaway7894 »

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.

In your example, why would the domestic seller keep their price at $5 if the other option costs $15?

They'll just raise the price of the domestic good to $13 and we will all pay $8 extra on a thing that used to cost $5.

If the price displayed is still $5 but tariffs added at the end, the domestic seller's $13 sticker price will not look attractive to buyers.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#187

Post by bathtub365 »

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…

This seems in line with other government taxes on goods that the consumer ends up paying, like sales tax.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#188

Post by Eextra953 »

I'm not sure why so many comments think this is a bad idea. I think it's a great idea and should be adopted by all retailers. We already do the same thing with sales tax. Tarriffs are close to sales tax in there effect to consumers so it makes sense to show it up front. It lets customers see just how much more they have to pay due to the, ever changing, tariffs.

Good for Amazon.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#189

Post by breadwinner »

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…

> Some sectors have been doing this for years - "service fees" at restaurants...

If the additional fees is government-forced, such as taxes, then it makes sense to display it separately. You are throwing government-forced costs and regular business costs in the same bucket. If tariffs should be included in the listed price then why not taxes?

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#190

Post by Workaccount2 »

al_borland wrote: post #75

I’d like them to add a Made in USA section where people can find tariff free products that support local businesses and workers.

People won't use it. Even with tariffs, stuff is still cheaper than made in usa.

People are going to be pissed that a basic clothes iron now cost $80, but they will not go buy the $225 that is made in texas or wherever. Especially when it is no better, and likely even worse, than the $80 one.

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