Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Online checkout
Raised as a usability problem by 88 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 74 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Final price and fees revealed only at checkoutUnreviewed
20082026- Final price and fees only revealed at checkout, so people abandon carts2024-08-08
- Users fill out card details before seeing the final cost, pushed into buying by sunk cost2022-12-22
- Retailers show one price up front, then add many fees only after sign-in at checkout2022-04-20
Card number plus second factor for every payment is annoyingUnreviewed
20082026- Typing in card numbers plus a second factor for every online payment is annoying.2023-11-06
- Having to type in all the card numbers is inconvenient2022-10-25
- Paying online requires registering, extra password and full card details, causing friction2017-02-13
Forced account signup and re-entering details before buyingUnreviewed
20082026- Some stores force account signup and re-entering personal details before buying2023-01-22
- Too many steps to buy online: account setup, email confirmation, and re-entering address2017-11-06
- Forced account creation and extra steps make people abandon buying2016-12-30
Coupon boxes send shoppers searching for codes that failUnreviewed
20082026- Coupon code box sends shoppers off to search for codes, and codes fail to work2019-06-21
- Unclear whether a coupon code is required, confusing to figure out how to check out2014-03-31
- Customers can't find the coupon code, so they miss savings2013-08-13
Clicking checkout takes over 11 seconds to reach checkout pageUnreviewed
20082026- Checkout page takes too long to load, with repeated loading indicators2021-03-02
- Clicking Add Item takes half a second to several seconds to respond2020-09-28
- Clicking checkout takes over 11 seconds to reach the checkout page2016-10-23
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Consent for direct debit is sneaked in during payment via a dark pattern2026-08-28
- Print order needs cart, cookie banner, account creation and email verification before paying2025-12-03
- No visible response after clicking submit, so users click again and double the order2025-07-21
- Autocomplete fails, fields break on validation, and forms are hard to fill correctly2024-12-19
- Final price and fees only revealed at checkout, so people abandon carts2024-08-08
- Must wait a minute before an added item can be removed from the cart2024-02-18
- Orders are accepted and charged, then randomly cancelled and refunded hours or days later2024-01-07
- Payers face repeated extra verification steps like 3D Secure codes and app approvals2023-12-10
- Submit button stays disabled even when every field is filled correctly2023-11-30
- Typing in card numbers plus a second factor for every online payment is annoying.2023-11-06
- Total cost is hidden until deep in the order process2023-07-10
- Dropdown for card expiry date is awkward compared to a plain text field2023-06-21
- Must enter account, email or extra fields before seeing postage costs2023-06-21
- Can't tell which currency is charged or where the seller is based2023-04-30
- Some stores force account signup and re-entering personal details before buying2023-01-22
- Checkout asks for a tip, which the commenter finds objectionable and it drives them away2023-01-07
- Guest orders don't appear in history after registering later, even with matching email2022-12-22
- Forced account creation and pre-checked extras make checkout annoying and push unwanted choices2022-12-22
- Users fill out card details before seeing the final cost, pushed into buying by sunk cost2022-12-22
- No visible cart button at top; shipping details hard to find2022-11-29
- Having to type in all the card numbers is inconvenient2022-10-25
- Product pages take minutes to load and often error out2022-07-10
- Must type all personal data before seeing shipping options, causing abandoned purchases2022-05-26
- Retailers show one price up front, then add many fees only after sign-in at checkout2022-04-20
- Items get sneaked into the cart during checkout without the shopper choosing them2021-11-15
- Checkout popups get blocked, so users must switch browsers or disable many protections to pay2021-05-18
- Site becomes unusable when scripts are blocked, so checkout breaks for users2021-05-18
- Newsletter signup happens by default through a checkbox people fail to untick2021-03-11
- Checkout page takes too long to load, with repeated loading indicators2021-03-02
- Can't tell shipping cost or whether the site ships to Israel before checkout2020-12-01
- Upsell page forces extra add-ons; shipping cost hidden until after PayPal checkout2020-12-01
- Clicking Add Item takes half a second to several seconds to respond2020-09-28
- Extra fees appear late in checkout after the person has invested effort2020-07-27
- Easy to mistype email addresses at checkout, leading to missing invoices2020-06-11
- State dropdown has no option for non-US addresses, forcing users to pick wrong value2020-05-22
- Out-of-stock item only revealed after entering payment and shipping details2020-05-13
- Unclear registration, unsubscribe steps, broken multi-page checkout, and missing delivery estimates2020-03-16
- Forms fail when blocked scripts load from other domains, risking duplicate charges2019-11-13
- Logged-in checkout fails at the last step with an unknown error2019-07-15
- Coupon code box sends shoppers off to search for codes, and codes fail to work2019-06-21
- Long one-page checkout forms need lots of scrolling on mobile phones2019-06-21
- Must repeatedly reload checkout and allow successive third-party servers to proceed2018-09-11
- Order cancelled and refunded for a name mismatch without warning or chance to correct it2018-04-27
- Too many steps to buy online: account setup, email confirmation, and re-entering address2017-11-06
- Forms reject valid non-US postal codes, making cards unusable online2017-10-04
- Cancelling an order requires calling customer service with long hold times2017-08-19
- Typos in card number only show after resubmitting, wiping the form and forcing re-entry2017-05-27
- Paying online requires registering, extra password and full card details, causing friction2017-02-13
- Forced account creation and extra steps make people abandon buying2016-12-30
- Generic payment failure messages leave users frustrated, especially first-time online payers2016-12-05