Is Shopify Affected by Tariffs? Here’s How to Test with Upsell Master

Selling on Shopify means your store can reach customers from all around the world. But selling to customers in other states or countries comes with additional costs in the form of tariffs.

Tariffs are fees applied to imported products, and they directly affect every overseas sale made through your Shopify store. In some cases, both store owners and customers may face losses due to rising tariffs that are beyond their control.

The good news is that Shopify itself does not charge any extra tariffs on top of import duties.

Let’s understand why tariffs exist in international trade and how they can impact your business growth.

What are Shopify tariffs?

Tariffs are additional costs paid by importers and customers when purchasing a product manufactured in one country and sold to another. This tariff is paid to the customs department officials upon the product’s arrival in the importing country by the partnering shipment or logistics company.

Tariffs directly affect the profit margins of small businesses when they sell products, attracting higher import tariffs across nations. Also, being transparent with tariff calculation during product checkout is crucial for retaining customers’ trust.

Why testing tariffs matter for Shopify owners

As a store owner, the most significant impact of sharply rising tariffs would mean that your profit margins become tighter. This consequence is due to the rising import costs that the customers pay while purchasing, but the actual profit or commissions for the seller slowly diminish.

• Unexpected duties that show up in the final bill often lead to cart abandonments.
• A lack of transparency regarding tariffs and their calculations during checkout can lead to bad reviews and refund requests from customers.
• Setting correct tariffs during checkout helps protect your profit margins and also builds trust among customers.

Having a tariff testing widget bundled with your Shopify store is essential to win your customers’ trust and prove that you follow fair trade practices.

How does Shopify handle tariffs?

To ensure that your customers are not surprised by any cost hikes between the price they see when adding to the cart and switching to the payment gateway, Shopify provides widgets to carefully compute and display the additional costs that customers must bear.

• Shopify helps you assign the correct HS codes for each product you sell, based on its country of origin.
• Use the Shopify duties and import taxes feature to determine the additional costs customers will incur for importing your products into their country.

However, Shopify does not have any built-in feature to let you test how tariffs affect your product checkout. Not being able to test your tariff estimates under different sales scenarios can be risky for your business and can cost you your trusted customers.

How does Upsell Master help you test Shopify tariffs?

Tools like the Upsell Master tariff widget enable Shopify store owners to create, revise, and test tariff charges for all their products before launching them.

Here are some of the standout features that make Upsell Master a must-have widget for your Shopify store.

• Configure tariffs depending on current rates for each product or store-wide purchases.
• Perform A/B testing of tariffs with control and variant scenarios to depict tariff reflections accurately.
• Preview the checkout experience for customers and customize it for different products and sales bundles.
• Bulk test multiple products with the same or different tariffs to understand how tariffs can impact your profits, and revise your prices accordingly.

How to test tariffs with Upsell Master: Step-by-step

• Create a list of your products and their current tariffs, corresponding to their HS codes as designated by the World Customs Organization (WCO), before starting with the tariff testing process.
• Install Upsell Master from the Shopify App Store through your store account.

• Under the Checkout section, scroll through and locate the Tariff Widget in checkout settings. Here, you can customize the tariff amount and how it is displayed to your customer during checkout.

• Configure the tariff rules based on products, categories, or store-wide tariffs. Use the built-in A/B testing feature to test control and variant scenarios and verify tariff estimates.

• Go live after saving the current settings in your Shopify dashboard.
• Preview what customers see before going live with the new tariff revisions.

You can test and visualise firsthand how tariffs get reflected on your checkout page by booking a demo with Upsell Master.

Benefits of A/B testing Shopify tariffs with Upsell Master

Testing tariffs is a crucial step before going live with a sale to ensure tariff introductions do not affect the anticipated sales revenue. Here are some of the benefits of testing tariffs for different sales scenarios:

• Reduced cart abandonment from potential customers.
• Protects the compliance and profit margins of your business.
• Helps build customer trust with transparent pricing before billing.

Final thoughts

Tariffs are mandatory barriers that every global Shopify store owner must face when trying to sell their products worldwide. A lack of transparency in setting tariffs and unexpected costs for the customer after checkout can significantly impact your business.

Shopify does not charge any additional tariffs for overseas sales. But store owners must follow fair selling practices and set transparent tariffs for their customers.

Learn more about the Upsell Master’s tariff widget, which is exclusively designed for Shopify store owners to test tariffs on their store’s products.

You can install Upsell Master from the Shopify App Store. Feel free to book a demo with us to learn how Upsell Master can give your business a much-needed boost to manage and improve your sales.