Hi folk,

Having just ordered from the Apple web store, I noticed a curious thing: they don't calculate tax during the web order process!

At the end of the order process you see in the confirmation screen...

------------------------------------------
Thank you for your order.
We’re processing it now. You will receive an email confirmation shortly.
... lots of details about the order here ...
... then, down in the summary area ...
Please note that your order subtotal does not include applicable sales tax or rebates. Sales tax, if applicable, will be added when your order is processed.
------------------------------------------

A few seconds later, the order confirmation email arrives and of course tax has been calculated and charged.

I find it odd they don't do this during the web order process. Certainly it hasn't hurt their web site sales, I think.

I wondered if it was set up this way so the customer doesn't have to wait for the credit card processing to finish. But then they wouldn't want to show the customer a confirmation screen if payment hadn't gone through, so that doesn't make sense. Which leaves me wondering why they do it this way. Any ideas?

Rob