Shopify's help pages say some regions, such as the UK, expect prices that already include VAT, while others, such as the US, expect tax added at checkout. If your product page, cart and checkout behave the same way for everyone, some shoppers will see a price that is wrong for them, or an address form that does not fit their country.
This article sets out what official pages say about price display in the UK, the EU, Canada and the US, what Shopify's own help pages say you can configure, and how to design addresses and phone fields. It suits owners who brief a UI/UX design team or edit the screens themselves, and ends with a three-screen checklist. We read every page on 5 November 2026. Where we could not find an official page, we say so.
Four places, four different starting points
UK. The Competition and Markets Authority published its price transparency guidance (CMA209) on 18 November 2025. It says the total price must include the fees, taxes and charges the shopper will necessarily pay. It says prices aimed at consumers must include VAT where it applies, and that delivery counts as a mandatory charge where the shopper cannot arrange their own delivery. If a charge cannot be worked out in advance, you must give the information needed to calculate it, as prominently as the part you can calculate. The guidance says drip pricing, where mandatory charges appear later, is prohibited. Our articles on UK consumer law for online stores and a Shopify store for UK customers go further.
EU. The European Union's Your Europe page (last modified 30 April 2026) says the quoted price must include all taxes and delivery charges, and that extra costs which cannot be calculated in advance must be disclosed upfront. It also says a discount must show the lowest price from the 30 days before it was announced, that unit prices apply to many products, and that traders cannot charge more because of nationality or country of residence, although objective factors such as postage costs can justify differences. Shoppers must give permission before being redirected to a country-specific version of a site. The page points readers to national consumer associations and European Consumer Centres for advice, so ask an adviser about each country you sell to.
Canada. The Competition Bureau (page last modified 24 August 2026) defines drip pricing as advertising a low price that shoppers cannot actually pay because mandatory fees are added later. It treats a fixed charge imposed by government on purchasers as acceptable and gives sales tax as its example, while a variable mandatory fee could still raise concerns under the law. The page does not discuss how federal and provincial taxes should be shown, so ask an adviser for the wording for each province you sell to.
US. The pages we read did not show a federal rule on how a general online store displays sales tax. The Federal Trade Commission's fees rule took effect on 12 May 2025. Its page says the rule covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging, and asks those sellers to show the total price up front including mandatory fees. Taxes, shipping and optional add-ons may be left out of that total but must be disclosed before payment. The page does not say whether the rule reaches other kinds of retail. We did not read any state pages, so ask an adviser whether a state rule applies to you. See selling to US customers and sales tax.
What Shopify says you can set
Shopify's help pages describe a store-wide setting under Settings, Taxes and duties that includes tax in product prices and shipping rates. Shopify works out the tax portion from the listed price and shows it next to the total at checkout. You can also include or exclude tax by customer location, set separately for each market.
A second option, dynamic tax-inclusive pricing, is a Markets setting. Its page says some regions, such as the UK, expect VAT-inclusive prices while others, such as the US, expect tax added at checkout, and the feature adjusts the displayed price to match. On 5 November 2026 its list of regions named the UK and all 27 EU countries but not the US or Canada, so read it for your countries. The cautions matter for design:
- Checkout shows correct prices, but product pages and the cart may not unless you sell in local currencies with Shopify Payments or the shopper meets conditions such as cookies being enabled.
- It adjusts product prices, not shipping, and fixed prices set through international pricing are not adjusted.
- It is not supported on stores that use third-party post-purchase upselling apps. The tax-inclusive page adds that accelerated checkout buttons are not supported when tax inclusion depends on location.
For cross-border orders, Shopify says a store can collect duties and import taxes at checkout if it meets conditions such as using a DDP-capable carrier for shipping labels and having HS codes on products. It calls the amounts estimates, so wrong product data can still lead to charges on delivery. Display is set per market: taxes as an included amount or a separate line, duties as a line item or absorbed in the price. Setup needs customs product codes (HS codes) and a country of origin, among other items. Shopify also says local currencies need a country selector, and that full functionality is limited to stores that use Shopify Payments and have one-page checkout. For market and currency setup, see selling in several countries with Shopify Markets.
Address forms
A 2018 Shopify engineering post explains why one form does not fit every country. Field order differs: France puts the postal code before the city, while Canada puts it after. Labels differ too. The postal code may be called a ZIP code, postcode or postal code, and the region may be a state, province, region or department. Some fields are required in one country and optional in another. Canadian province names change with the language. The post says Shopify stores a format for each country and reorders fields when the country changes.
Design from that: ask for the country first, then show the fields and labels for it. Do not make "State" required for countries without one.
The US Postal Service gives US-specific rules. Its Publication 28 (revision shown: October 2024) prefers uppercase in the address block and treats punctuation as optional, except the hyphen in a ZIP+4 code. It says addresses should use the city names in the Postal Service's own City State file. If you validate US addresses, ask your provider whether it follows that file.
We did not open official postal operator pages for the UK, Canada or the EU countries. Ask your courier for each country's postcode patterns and any limits on line length, and test with real examples. Shopify's developer documentation describes how an app developer can replace the address autocomplete provider in checkout, for example for countries Shopify does not support. It says checkout UI extensions are available only to Shopify Plus merchants, and that you can return up to five suggestions. Autocomplete suggests, and the shopper must still be able to type an address it does not know.
Phone numbers and names
The International Telecommunication Union maintains Recommendation E.164, the numbering plan for international public telecommunication numbers. Its page showed the 2026 edition in force on 5 November 2026. The page we read did not set out digit rules, so check the format your courier and text message provider accept. Then do three things: ask for the country code, store numbers in one consistent format, and tell the shopper why you need a number (usually for the courier). For names, use fields your courier can print on a label, and allow long and hyphenated names.
Delivery cost, date and returns near the price
The UK and EU pages above both point the same way: delivery cost is part of what the shopper needs to know before paying, or the way to calculate it must be clear. In practice, show delivery cost or a postcode or country checker on the product page and cart. Show a delivery date only if your courier can keep it. We did not find an official page on delivery dates, so treat that as a business promise and ask your courier what it can commit to. Put a short returns line near the price with a link to the full policy. Rules differ by place: see returns and refunds in the UK, EU, US and Canada.
A design checklist for three screens
Product page
- The price shows in the shopper's currency, with a label such as "incl. VAT" or "tax added at checkout" that suits their country. Ask an adviser for the exact wording.
- A country selector lets shoppers choose, instead of redirecting them without asking.
- Any "was" price follows the rules for your markets (the EU page above asks for the lowest price in the previous 30 days).
- Unit prices appear where they are required.
- Delivery cost or a checker, a returns line, and a duties note for cross-border orders sit near the price.
Cart
- It uses the same price basis as the product page. Check this by hand, since Shopify says the cart may differ in some setups.
- It shows tax, delivery and discounts as clear lines.
- It shows duties and import taxes if you collect them.
Checkout
- Country comes first, and fields and labels change with it.
- State or province is required only where it applies.
- The phone field accepts international numbers and says why it is needed.
- Address suggestions help, and a shopper can override them.
- The final total matches what the shopper saw earlier, including tax, delivery and any duties.
- Error messages say what to fix in plain words.
Run the whole path as a shopper from each country, on a phone and a laptop. Our multi-country checkout test plan covers test orders. For a related look at addresses and phones in the Gulf, see checkout design for Gulf addresses, phones and payments.
Questions to ask
- Adviser: how should we word tax on prices for each EU country, Canadian province and US state we sell to?
- Courier: which phone format and postcode patterns do you accept, and what are the line limits?
- Platform: do our apps or accelerated checkout buttons change how prices show?
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.
Need a hand?
ESTASOFT offers UI/UX design for product pages, carts and checkouts. Send a short brief on the contact page, and name the countries you sell to. If you are sorting out the tax side first, read selling to US customers and sales tax.
Sources
- Unfair commercial practices: price transparency, CMA209 (GOV.UK): UK total price, VAT, delivery charges (checked 5 November 2026)
- Unfair pricing (Your Europe): EU price display, discounts, nationality, redirects (checked 5 November 2026)
- Drip pricing (Competition Bureau Canada): Canadian drip pricing and government fees (checked 5 November 2026)
- Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: frequently asked questions (FTC): coverage and total price (checked 5 November 2026)
- Include taxes in product prices (Shopify Help Center): tax-inclusive setting (checked 5 November 2026)
- Dynamic tax-inclusive pricing (Shopify Help Center): per-region tax display and cautions (checked 5 November 2026)
- Collecting duties and import taxes at checkout (Shopify Help Center): duties display and setup (checked 5 November 2026)
- Pricing in markets (Shopify Help Center): local currencies and country selector (checked 5 November 2026)
- Handling addresses from all around the world (Shopify Engineering): address format differences (checked 5 November 2026)
- Build address autocomplete (Shopify developer documentation): autocomplete provider replacement (checked 5 November 2026)
- Postal Addressing Standards, Publication 28 (USPS): US address format guidance (checked 5 November 2026)
- Recommendation E.164 (ITU): international numbering plan edition (checked 5 November 2026)