Buyer basics
Sales Tax and Shipping: Why the Total Is Higher Than the Price
The price on a sales page is rarely the amount that leaves your account. Tax and shipping are added on the order form, and on physical products the difference can be large.
Why is the total different from the price?
Because tax depends on where you live and shipping depends on what you buy. The sales page usually shows neither.
Digistore24 acts as the reseller and calculates sales tax from the address you enter. Digital products in many US states carry tax; in others they do not. Physical products add shipping, sometimes itemised, sometimes folded into the price.
We record totals from a US address in every review, and we note when tax was added and when it was not.
1. How much does sales tax add?
Usually a few percent. It is small on cheap ebooks and noticeable on larger purchases.
The Forbidden Keto Code costs $9 plus 8.25% US sales tax, $9.74 in total. Heart Harmonics costs $27 plus tax, $29.23. The Sleep Reset: 14 Nights costs $29.99 plus tax, $32.46.
Other forms we checked, such as Mindset Power: Top 100 Tips, added no tax from the same address. The difference depends on the product and the state.
2. How much does shipping add?
On single supplement bottles, often $19.99. That can be close to a third of the price.
MindSilence costs $69 plus $19.99 shipping, $88.99 in total. Burntide shows $177 plus $19.90 shipping for three bottles. By contrast, Advanced Joint Support adds a modest $6.95.
When one bottle carries $19.99 shipping and six bottles ship free, the bundle looks like a saving. Our multi-bottle bundles guide explains why that is often an illusion.
3. Is there an extra line for insurance or handling?
Sometimes, and sometimes it is ticked by default.
iGenics added an $8.99 shipping insurance line that was pre-selected, taking the total to $76.99. Handling fees on free books work the same way: the item is free, the handling is not.
Our guide to pre-ticked add-ons shows where these lines appear.
4. Who pays shipping if you return it?
Usually you do. That makes the refund on physical products smaller than it looks.
Digital refunds return the full amount. Physical refunds often require you to send the product back at your own cost, and many supplement guarantees cover only unopened bottles. Grounding mats, seed kits and bottles all fall under this.
Read the refund terms on the form before you order anything shipped from abroad.
5. How should you compare offers?
On the total, including tax and shipping, divided by what you actually get.
A $49.95 bottle with free shipping, such as Advanced Memory Formula, costs less than a $39 bottle with $19.99 shipping. The headline number cannot tell you that; the bottom line of the order form can.
Our order form guide shows where each of these lines sits.
How do tax and shipping affect our scores?
We score value on the total, and we note when tax or shipping were not visible before the form.
An offer is not penalised for charging tax that the law requires. It is penalised when the headline price is designed to hide a large shipping charge, or when an extra line is pre-selected.
Every review on this site gives the total we saw and the date we saw it, so you can compare offers on the same basis.
Frequently asked questions
Why was I charged sales tax?
Digistore24 calculates US sales tax from your address, where the law requires it.
Is shipping refundable?
It depends on the vendor's terms. Return postage is usually yours.
Why is one bottle so expensive to ship?
Many supplement sellers charge flat shipping on single bottles and ship bundles free.
Where do I see the real total?
At the bottom of the Digistore24 order form, before you pay.
Sources
Platform rules quoted in this article come from these official pages, read on . Product prices and terms come from our own reviews, each dated on its page.
Worthorpass publishes offer reviews, not hands-on product tests. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our review pages; it never changes a score. Nothing here is financial, medical or legal advice.
