They find out at checkout.
customer who came to spend €18 is now looking at €25. That's a 39% price jump. At the last step.
They leave.
The problem isn't the shipping cost. It's the surprise.
Customers who know upfront they'll pay €25 convert at roughly double the rate of customers who discover it at checkout.
Same price. Different moment of disclosure. Completely different outcome.
The psychology is simple: a surprise at the last step feels like a trick. Even when it isn't. Even when your shipping cost is completely fair.
What best-practice stores do
Three things. That's it.
1. Show shipping on the product page.
Next to the price, one line: "€18 + €7 shipping for orders under €50." No mystery. The customer knows before they click add-to-cart.
2. Surface the free shipping threshold in the cart.
"Add €32 more to get free shipping." This works two ways: it removes the surprise, and it drives up AOV naturally. Customers upgrade themselves.
3. Never let the total change between cart and checkout.
Whatever number they see in the cart is the number they pay. If it changes at checkout, even by €0.50, you've broken trust.
The fix for this store
Add one line to each product page showing estimated total.
Flag the free shipping threshold in the cart.
Keep the checkout total locked.
That's a morning's work.
At 4,000 visitors and 7.5% add-to-cart, moving conversion from 1.11% to even 1.8% means 28 extra orders a month.
At €50 AOV, that's €1400/month.
From a single line of text on a product page.
Let me know if you need my help improving your checkout.
