Read the retailer terms
Determine whether the retailer states that taxes or duties are included, collected at checkout or excluded.
DEEP DIVE · DESTINATION CHARGES
Unknown destination charges are not zero.
Cross-border charges can depend on destination rules, order value, product category, shipping terms and the party collecting them. A comparison should report what the retailer checkout shows without predicting a shopper's legal liability.
Inspect the checkout fields
Record separately labelled tax, duty, handling and mandatory service charges for the fixed destination and basket.
Identify the collector
Distinguish retailer-collected amounts from charges that a carrier or authority may request later.
Limit the claim
Describe only what the retailer source supports and direct shoppers to the relevant authority for current rules.
EVIDENCE BOUNDARY
A checkout observation is not a legal determination.
A retailer may say duties are included, prepaid, collected at checkout or payable later. Use the retailer's current wording and do not invent a missing charge treatment.
Thresholds and exemptions can change and can depend on facts that a public site does not know. The absence of a charge at one checkout moment does not prove that no later charge can apply.
For privacy and accuracy, a comparison should not collect unnecessary identity or customs information. Use only what the retailer page, retailer-provided data or destination checkout actually supports.
Included in price
Use only when the retailer expressly says the displayed amount includes the charge.
Collected now
Record a separately itemized charge visible for the fixed basket and destination.
Potential later collection
Do not add an invented estimate; explain that the known subtotal is incomplete.
Treatment unavailable
Keep the comparison from claiming a final landed total.
SAFE SUMMARY
Separate facts, possibilities and advice.
Facts come from the retailer page, retailer-provided data, terms or destination checkout. Possible later charges should be clearly qualified. Personalized tax or customs advice is outside the comparison.
If a material mandatory charge cannot be verified, the route can still show the known item and delivery components but should not be labelled a complete landed total.