The guideline
Show the real shipping cost on the cart, before the user enters payment details. Where it genuinely depends on a destination, ask for the minimum needed to resolve it — usually a postcode or a country — on the cart itself, and show the resulting figure. "Calculated at checkout" is not a price. If the amount truly cannot be resolved yet, state the range and what determines it. Never let the first appearance of a delivery charge be the payment step.
Common failures
- The cart shows no delivery charge, and one is added later in the flow, so the user commits to a total that is not the total.
- The cart acknowledges that delivery will cost something but does not say how much, using a placeholder such as "calculated at checkout" or an estimate with no stated basis.
Where it applies
Pages
Disciplines
Devices
Why it matters, how to fix it, and the research behind it
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