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CRT-003Cart · transparencyHigh

Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout

Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout.

Check my store for this rule →Cite this
Free · no card · runs all rules at once · judged on 40 stores · updated
68%of the audited stores we could judge fail this rule
11 pass2 partial27 failPublished audits · September 2026
Stores judged
40
of 40 published audits
Score weight
1.3pts
of the 100-point score
Page share
20%
of the score is the cart

What earns each verdict

Same outcomes on every UXFix rule · how verdicts work
✓ Pass11

Tax visible with amount OR explicit note it's calculated later.

~ Partial2

Tax mentioned but unclear.

✕ Fail27

Tax silent, user won't know until final step.

not assessable is recorded when the rule applied but the store could not be judged on it (bot protection, a region lock, a step we could not reach), and not applicable when the store has nothing for the rule to judge. Those stores are left out of every number on this page, never guessed. Why we do that
Why it matters

The cart does not clearly show tax, either as an amount or as a note that tax will be calculated at checkout.

Buyers in the US and Canada expect a tax line before they commit. Silence at the cart step means a jump in the total at checkout, and that jump is what makes them abandon.

That sentence is the one a failing store sees in its own UXFix report.How rules are weighted and scored →
40 audited stores, one dot each
27 fail
PassPartialFail

Every published UXFix audit this rule could be judged on, as of 23 Sep 2026. A count of real stores, not a simulation of yours.

How we test it

Scripted walk, fresh signed-out browser · the full walk
  1. 1Fresh browserSigned out, cookies cleared, desktop and mobile viewports, the store's live theme.
  2. 2Open a productA real, in-stock product page, found the way a shopper finds one.
  3. 3Add to cartDefault variant, quantity one, then the cart page itself.
  4. 4Judge this ruleAgainst the standard above, on what a shopper can see.
  5. 5Record the verdictPass, partial or fail, saved with the screenshot it was judged on.
What the agent looks for
Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout.
Confidence
The rulebook rates this check’s confidence High. When the agent is not sure, the rule is recorded as not assessable rather than guessed.
Not judged
0 of 40 published audits: the rule did not apply or could not be judged. Dropped, never guessed.

The numbers behind the rule

Published UXFix audits · more statistics
Published audits failing this rule
and 15 more, newest audit first.
No pictures here yet: none of the audits above saved a marked area for this rule.
Where this rule sits among 103 UX rules
Most-failed rank
#26
Score weight rank
#20
Fail rate
68%

Score weight: a fail costs 1.3 pts of of the 100-point score; a partial costs half that. Most-failed rank is among the 79 rules with enough published audits to report a rate.

The fix

The same steps a failing store sees in its report

A pass means: Tax visible with amount OR explicit note it's calculated later.

Severity
High
Score gain
+1.3pts
Page
Cart

Score gain is roughly what a fail-to-pass change adds; rules that could not be judged are left out, which can move it a little. Re-run a free audit after the change ships to confirm the verdict moved.

Checklist for the pass
0 of 3

Tick each step as you ship it. The audit judges the live store, so re-run it once all of them are done.

Every store that fails this rule

The 27 audited stores that fail Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout, with each store's published score and the day it was audited.
#StoreScoreAuditedPublished audit
1Ooniooni.com64Open audit
2Bxbx.eu46Open audit
3Mujimuji.us61Open audit
4Arhausarhaus.com60Open audit
5Blackstoneproductsblackstoneproducts.com60Open audit
6Tupperwaretupperware.com60Open audit
7Caspercasper.com62Open audit
8Wpswingswpswings.com57Open audit
9Keenfootwearkeenfootwear.com56Open audit
10Verabradleyverabradley.com58Open audit
11Tomstoms.com52Open audit
12Bodenboden.com64Open audit
13Forever21forever21.com57Open audit
14Gymsharkgymshark.com57Open audit
15Reebokreebok.com58Open audit
16Reebokreebok.com57Open audit
17Fashionnovafashionnova.com56Open audit
18Kathmandukathmandu.com.au63Open audit
19Bentibrandbentibrand.com66Open audit
20Ladounladoun.com41Open audit
21Toysrustoysrus.com57Open audit
22Brewdogbrewdog.com56Open audit
23Zulilyzulily.com61Open audit
24Mejurimejuri.com65Open audit
25Timextimex.com54Open audit
26Enviafloresparadifuntosenviafloresparadifuntos.com56Open audit
27Tentreetentree.com58Open audit

What our auditors say about this rule

Tax that appears from nowhere at the last step feels like a trick, even when it is the law.
Omar Dabbas, Co-founder, UXFix

Written by the person who audits this rule, and reviewed every quarter.

Keep going

All rules →
RuleCRT-001
Cart shows full cost breakdown: items, shipping estimate, tax estimateCart · Critical ›
RuleCRT-002
Shipping estimator (ZIP/country) available in cartCart · High ›
RuleCRT-005
Delivery estimate for each item visible in cartCart · Medium ›
RuleCRT-006
Discount/promo application shows explicit line item, not silent adjustmentCart · Medium ›
RuleCRT-007
Line items editable in place (qty, variant, remove) without page reloadCart · High ›
RuleCRT-010
Primary checkout CTA visually dominant on the pageCart · High ›
RuleCRT-011
Express wallet options (Apple/Google/Shop Pay) present in cartCart · High ›
RuleCRT-012
Express wallets do not visually compete with primary checkout CTACart · Medium ›
Cite this

«27 of 40 online stores audited by UXFix fail the rule "Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout" (CRT-003) as of September 2026. UXFix, uxfix.ai/audits/rules/tax-estimate-in-cart»

Rule record · JSON
Dataset →
{
  "id": "CRT-003",
  "name": "Tax shown or clearly labeled as calculated at checkout",
  "area": "cart",
  "severity": "high",
  "weight": 1.304,
  "published_audits": {
    "judged": 40,
    "pass": 11,
    "partial": 2,
    "fail": 27
  },
  "updated": "2026-09-23"
}
Check your store

Does your store pass CRT-003?

One address, every rule, the verdicts with the screens they were judged on.

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