Easyship Feature: A Guide to Calculating and Displaying Taxes

When it comes to international shipping, taxes can be a big unknown for both merchants and customers. Each country has different requirements; they might have different rates and calculation methods or require different documentation in order to import a particular product to a country. As a result, many merchants consider international shipping “too hard” and miss out on huge growth opportunities.

Easyship solves the problem by making it easy for retailers to calculate estimated taxes and duties for their shipment. We also allow merchants to display taxes and duties on their online store so that customers get full visibility over the fees they might need to pay.

How Easyship Makes Taxes a Breeze

For every shipment, we can calculate the expected import taxes and duties so that you have an estimate of the potential cost. We communicate this within the app, during the shipment creation process.

Retailers that use the “Rates at Checkout” feature on their store’s checkout page can also display estimated taxes and duties alongside shipping rates. This offers a complete overview of costs and full transparency to customers so that they feel more confident about ordering from your store. The net benefit? More conversions and sales for you.

Easyship users can also give customers the option to decide whether to prepay their taxes or pay them when the shipment is delivered. If your customer decides to prepay, we guarantee the amount of tax they pay so that they won’t be stuck with any additional charges; they may encounter extra charges if they decide on post-paid taxes.

So, What Are the Benefits?

Easyship has developed its unique tax calculation and display features to provide a range of benefits for both online retailers and their customers. Here are a few ways we can help:

1. By using our tax calculator, you’ll have a very good idea of how much import tax your international shipments will incur.
2. You’ll be able to automatically generate all the required shipping documentation so that your shipments don’t get stuck at customs en route to your customers.
3. You can choose to prepay import taxes and duties for many courier services to ease the burden on your customers and ensure smooth delivery.
4. For users who use our “Rates at Checkout” feature, your customs can see exactly how much taxes and duties they will need to pay. By removing uncertainty, you’ll see increased checkout conversion rates.

Viewing Taxes While Creating a Shipment in the Easyship Dashboard

If you want to be able to see estimated taxes while creating a shipment in the Easyship dashboard, here’s what you need to know:

1. While creating a shipment, enter the relevant product information, including product type and item value.
2. The expected tax and duties will then be displayed - you can use this to inform your customers of these costs before going ahead with the shipment.
3. At this point, you can also choose to prepay the taxes rather than make your customer pay this (though most merchants wouldn’t choose this option).
4. Then, when looking at your courier suggestions, hover over the information icon next to the shipment cost to see the full breakdown and estimated taxes. You will also be able to see this in the column next to the shipment cost.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Displaying Taxes with “Rates at Checkout”

If you want to display estimated taxes and duties for your customers on your store’s checkout page, here’s how to do it:

1. When configuring “checkout” in your Easyship dashboard, select the option that allows you to specify the tax and duty amount.
2. Choose whether you want to show shipping options with the taxes included in the price - this allows customers to prepay the import tax if they want. Note: This isn’t available for all couriers and isn’t offered for postal solutions.
3. The relevant tax information will now display when your customers see their shipping options.

Boost Customer Confidence by Displaying Taxes and Duties at Checkout

Showing taxes and duties alongside shipping rates can be useful for retailers who want to have a better overview of the true cost of their international shipments. But, offering this transparency can also give customers the confidence they need to make purchases, resulting in higher conversions and more sales for your store.

If you have any questions about how this works or want to learn how to implement this for your online store, reach out to the Easyship support team for advice and guidance!