Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#311

Post by welshwelsh » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:50 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…

What's wrong with Amazon trying to make a political point?

Amazon is obviously trying to pressure the Trump admin into easing the tariffs. Why wouldn't they? Why shouldn't they? Amazon is as much a political actor as any other company, and they have a major stakeholder when it comes to tariff policy.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#312

Post by amanaplanacanal » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:50 PM UTC

fallinghawks wrote: post #123

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.

Back when the price of crude oil was in the news a lot, if a rise was announced, gas stations would immediately hike prices, even though it takes like a month for the oil to be refined into gas and delivered to the station.

They have to. When it comes time to refill their tanks they need the money, which they won't have if they keep charging the old price.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#313

Post by ethbr1 » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

abirch wrote: post #253

StanAngeloff wrote: post #250

"Amazon says it never considered listing import charges on main site - report" https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cpvrrre4zlkt?post=asset%3A0240...

Yes, Amazon is denying it though it would make sense. “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” the company said in a statement. “Teams discuss ideas all the time. This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-29/wh…

Should probably get an [updated], since the submission title now seems inaccurate after Amazon clarification.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#314

Post by indoordin0saur » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:53 PM UTC

Clubber wrote: post #307

indoordin0saur wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they can get away with it I don't think this will work so well. So upon check out you're just getting a fee and sometimes it's egregiously high and sometimes it is nonexistent? If you're buying a $100 item (and let's say a $50 cost basis) that has three versions: US made, Japanese made and Chinese made you could get a $0 fee, a $5 or a $50 fee. And at the same time you know that retailers could be just comple…

>So upon check out you're just getting a fee and sometimes it's egregiously high and sometimes it is nonexistent? If you're buying a $100 item (and let's say a $50 cost basis) that has three versions: US made, Japanese made and Chinese made you could get a $0 fee, a $5 or a $50 fee. It would be more obfuscated than that. They're scummy, I didn't say they weren't clever. A company probably wouldn't make the exact same…

I currently trust that when I add items to my shopping cart at a known retailer (either online or brick&mortar) the prices listed are the ones I'll see at checkout, plus some small deterministic sales tax and/or shipping fee.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#315

Post by s1artibartfast » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:54 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #208

Aurornis wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Supply and demand can both be impacted by perception, which can be tweaked by humans. Supply and demand is impacted by many factors, but it’s still supply and demand. You can put different labels on different components of the influences, but at the end of the day it’s still supply and demand.

> at the end of the day it’s still supply and demand What a pity we accidentally gave Nobel prizes out for things like game theory, then.

It's not a pity. It's a valuable tool to understand behavior as it relates to supply and demand.

Supply and demand isn't the only thing that exists, but basically everything else feeds into and informs it. It isn't the only starting position, but you can reach basically any point from it.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#316

Post by sorcerer-mar » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:55 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #277

sorcerer-mar wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it - there are brands that are well-known for being brands (i.e. famous for being famous) and there are brands that are well-known for making legitimately good products. Avoid the former like the plague, but the latter is one of the best methods to find legitimately great stuff.

Absolutely. I actually keep and maintain extensive lists of businesses that produce "real stuff" that we only buy from for those item categories.

Do you publish these anywhere? Very into good products and as you know they’re hard to find haha

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#317

Post by EasyMark » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:56 PM UTC

This is the right thing to do. Transparency is good. Let people decide if they want to pay the backdoor VAT that Trump is adding to their lives. When politicians scream and wail when transparency increases, then you know the right thing is happening.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#318

Post by reverendsteveii » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:57 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #286

reverendsteveii wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thank you for correcting me. the point still stands: it's really weird the way the government uses "political" as a pejorative when everything they do is, by definition, political. it smacks of doublethink.

Not if your point was that Trump Really Said It. You said one thing and it was wrong. And since it was in the second sentence of the article you linked, I assume you just read the headline.

I...just told you what my point was in the comment you're replying to?

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#319

Post by s1artibartfast » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #202

danesparza wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can increase demand as high as you'd like. If people don't have money to buy it, they're not going to buy it.

People need to eat.

Calories are cheap. You can get 2,000 calories for a couple bucks.

Everything after that is preference substitution.

This doesn't invalidate consumer demand. People judge society and ultimately governments based on if they are able to obtain their preferences.

Re: Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers

#320

Post by reverendsteveii » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #296

reverendsteveii wrote: post #215

"This is hostile and political." --The President. No, Really. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/white-house-blasts-amazon-ov...

I mean, it is a manufactured story that Amazon denies. It was obviously crafted as a hostile political act by whoever made it up (or exaggerated a random remark someone made.) I don't understand your point. Am I supposed to be shocked that people could be politically hostile towards Trump? Am I supposed to be shocked that his press secretary accused Amazon of being politically hostile towards Trump? Is there a new "n…

The denial from amazon is only half an hour old as of this writing, which means it was about 6 minutes old when you posted this. and again, as I had said plainly before you even joined this thread, the thing I want to discuss is politicians using the word 'political' as a pejorative. I think it's interesting how he seems to be redefining the term and taking advantage of everyone else's distaste for it in order to make what other people do "political" (conniving, backstabbing, and all sorts of other negative connotations) whereas what he does AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is not "political".