logo
Buy Now or Pay More Later? ‘Macroeconomic Uncertainty' Has Shoppers Anxious

Buy Now or Pay More Later? ‘Macroeconomic Uncertainty' Has Shoppers Anxious

WIRED09-05-2025

May 9, 2025 10:00 AM President Trump's tariffs have started pushing prices higher. Tech giants and ecommerce strategists offer some clues on when to buy. Photo-illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images
Buying something before you absolutely need it isn't always affordable. But if there were ever a time to consider making an early investment, this would be it. President Donald Trump's tariffs are beginning to nudge prices higher on products from high-end strollers to cheap smartphone chargers.
This is an essay from the latest edition of Steven Levy's Plaintext newsletter.
SIGN UP for Plaintext to read the whole thing, and tap Steven's unique insights and unmatched contacts for the long view on tech.
The Trump administration has suggested the tariffs are a negotiating tactic. Some could be eliminated as the US makes deals with other countries. That means US shoppers willing to wait out the current chaos could end up getting a better deal.
I have been wondering what to do here myself. As a new dad, my family will need a new car seat early next year, and these plastic buckets, which generally must be bought new, don't come cheap—even under normal circumstances. For clues on how to navigate the dilemma of buying now or later, I have been collecting thoughts from experts in the online shopping industry.
One of the first lessons I learned doing this research was that if I decided to buy in advance, I wouldn't be alone. 'To some extent, we've seen some heightened buying in certain categories that may indicate stocking up in advance of any potential tariff impact,' Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on an earnings call last week. eBay also said it saw signs of what could be prebuying, though it didn't specify which products people are stocking up on.
On the other hand, there are hints that most consumers have been holding out for now. This time of year tends to be relatively quiet for sales of iPhones and other Apple products, and that's been true to date in 2025, CEO Tim Cook said on the company's earning call last week. Mastercard's earning comments also said that shoppers were spending the expected amount. And Etsy even saw a drop in the total value of merchandise sold as customers held back on gifts and trinkets.
So if other consumers are a guide, I could go either way with my car seat purchase. What about prices? As the impact of tariffs started to hit last week, Amazon's Jassy said that prices on the platform hadn't surged 'appreciably' so far. He added that Amazon was 'maniacally focused' on keeping prices down. It helps that Amazon has a global network of competing suppliers and merchants. For example, if one seller raises prices, another may hold theirs steady to gain market share, Jassy said. 'Customers are going to have a better chance of finding variety on selection and on lower prices when they come here,' he added.
Jassy didn't touch on illicit tactics, including tariff evasion, that could keep the prices of imported products artificially low. But several ecommerce strategists who help companies sell products on Amazon tell WIRED that factories and distributors in Asia are admitting to new attempts to skirt tariffs, including by underdeclaring the value of shipments to US customs officials. 'It's always been an unfair playing field, and now they are pushing the envelope even more,' says Dave Bryant, cofounder of EcomCrew.
Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin says sellers 'are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations when importing items for sale.'
The government losing out on tariff revenue isn't great, but name a shopper that's going to fret at the trade-off of more affordable prices, Bryant says. He and other strategists agree with Jassy that competitive items—think household goods or generic party favors—are unlikely to skyrocket in price on Amazon. More boutique offerings, though, could grow more expensive because of tariffs.
Some of those increases appear to be materializing. In mid-April, the average price of goods on Amazon was higher than the previous 90 days in nine out of 27 categories monitored by the price-tracking firm Keepa, according to a WIRED analysis. By this past Wednesday, the number of categories with higher prices shot up to 24. Industrial items, tools, and baby products experienced some of the biggest jumps, with average price increases of around 2.5 percent to 5 percent. More increases are coming later this month, including reportedly a bump of $20 or more for the Graco car seat that I have been eyeing.
The big question is how much worse will those increases get. The steepest tariffs—those on Chinese imports—could more than double the price of affected products. Normally, Amazon restricts sellers that make drastic price hikes. But it has been allowing for increases of about 10 percent a week in certain cases, roughly five times more than the previous limit, according to Jason Boyce, CEO and founder of ecommerce strategy company Avenue7Media. That means significant surges could come in days and weeks, not months, adding pressure on consumers like me to make decisions sooner rather than later.
Martin, the Amazon spokesperson, says prices have not changed outside of usual fluctuations and that the platform's pricing policy continues to apply.
The last factor at play in the when-to-buy dilemma is the chance of a resolution. If you trust the vibes that some big tech platforms are publicly expressing, there is some optimism in the air about averting crisis-level prices
Companies are buying online ads to market their products like it's 'mostly business as usual,' Reddit chief operating officer Jen Wong said on an earnings call last week. Typically, marketing budgets would be an early casualty for companies trying to cut expenses and keep their prices low. Wong's comments echoed those of executives from other leading online ad sellers, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. The positive outlook has been encouraging to Wall Street—the US stock market is trending up as if tariff-fueled price hikes aren't going to dissuade all of us from shopping in the coming months.
But Trump and the outcomes of negotiations between the US and its trading partners are unpredictable. 'Obviously, none of us knows exactly where tariffs will settle or when,' Amazon's Jassy said in his comments last week. CEOs and their chief financial officers have taken to calling this reality 'macroeconomic uncertainty.' The phrase has been uttered on 222 companies' earnings calls already this year, up from 178 in all of last year, according to a WIRED review of transcripts from financial data company AlphaStreet.
Some companies have been trying to create certainty when it comes to Trump and his trade policies since his first presidential term. Apple attempted to control its costs by shifting some of its manufacturing out of China, which has long been Trump's top target for tariffs. But this time around Trump has applied tariffs to every country imaginable, including an island inhabited solely by penguins.
Exemptions remain another hope for companies and their customers. Last week, baby monitor maker Nanit led a rally in New York City urging for a tariffs reprieve for baby products. This week, Trump and his treasury secretary both said they were considering it, though Trump added that he preferred not to have too many exemptions.
Nanit's Malaysia-made monitors—it abandoned China during Trump's first term— are subject to 10 percent tariffs at the moment. The levy could grow to 24 percent or more come July under the president's current plans. Nanit CEO, Anushka Salinas, says her goal is to avoid price increases as her company tries to grow its base of 1 million monthly users. It helps to have supportive investors who could step in with additional funding. The startup's subscription-based software, a business line that tends to have wider profit margins, also gives it some financial cushioning.
But the higher the tariffs go, the more challenging it will become to avoid a price increase. Salinas personally made the call to buy a bed for her 4-year-old sooner than she would have otherwise. I made a similar choice. A car seat I don't need until next year is arriving tomorrow. Better $200 now than $500 later.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

FAA nominee tells senators he will modernize air traffic control system
FAA nominee tells senators he will modernize air traffic control system

Washington Post

time26 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

FAA nominee tells senators he will modernize air traffic control system

Bryan Bedford, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, told a Senate panel on Wednesday that if confirmed, he will push the agency to act with urgency on the administration's multi-billion-dollar revamp of the nation's air traffic control system. 'I know change can be hard, but I believe the agency can get back on the right track,' Bedford told members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Bedford, 63, the CEO of regional carrier Republic Airways, acknowledged that public confidence in the safety of the nation's airspace has been rattled this year by the midair collision near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people, as well as by equipment failures that caused thousands of delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport. He said he is committed to rebuilding trust in the agency, which has seen an exodus of veteran leaders as part of staff reductions championed by the U.S. DOGE Service. 'The FAA is sorely in need of his steady leadership,' said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the committee's chairman. 'No Senate-confirmed head of the agency completed a full five-year term since 2018.' The agency has seen a parade of permanent and acting leaders in recent years, which some analysts and lawmakers think has hampered its ability to move forward on efforts to tackle decades-old problems including the persistent shortage of air traffic controllers. The FAA's last permanent leader, Michael Whitaker, stepped down in January after just over a year in the job. Bedford told lawmakers he is committed to serving out his full five-year term. Bedford pledged to 'to build a new best-in-class air traffic control system and to rectify the chronic understaffing in our nation's air centers. However, to accomplish this, I hope we can agree we can't repeat the mistakes of the past. We can't accept half measures.' In response to written questions from the committee, Bedford signaled that he would not hesitate to shake up an agency that he views as too cautious and risk-averse. 'There appears to be no incentive for anyone at FAA to take any innovation risk for fear that it could fail,' he wrote. 'You could say there was an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' attitude, but that has morphed into a quiet resignation that 'we can't fix it, but we can do our very best to make the system work safely today' mindset.' Bedford said as a result a 'malaise' has set in at the FAA, where 'managers believe the agency is helpless to make the necessary changes, and furthermore, they rationalize it isn't really their fault,' he continued. 'The best they can do is fight every day to make the current system limp along safely.' Bedford has served as CEO of Republic Airways, a regional carrier based in Indianapolis, since 1999. He is married with nine children, several of which joined him at Wednesday's hearing. He has a bachelor's degree in business from Florida State University. Bedford has won praise from an array of industry groups, with Airlines for America, the trade group that represents the nation's largest carriers, calling him a 'superb choice' to lead the agency. 'He intimately understands the importance of a strong working relationship between the FAA and airspace operators of all sizes,' the group said in a statement, urging the Senate committee to move quickly to confirm him. But his nomination has drawn opposition from Democrats on the panel and some labor unions, including the Air Line Pilots Association, which cited his support of efforts to reduce the number of flight hours required to become a commercial pilot. Though repeatedly pressed by several Democratic senators about whether he would seek to reduce the current 1,500-hour requirement, Bedford would only say that he would not take any action that would compromise safety. 'It's important that we have an FAA administrator who strengthens our aviation standards to honor the families who have lost loved ones in these tragic accidents,' said Sen. Maria Cantwell (Washington), the committee's ranking Democrat. 'The tragic midair collision in January between the Army Blackhawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 took the lives of 67 people and is a stark reminder of what happens when the system fails.'

The Washington Post has a new Opinion editor four months after Bezos touted ‘significant shift'
The Washington Post has a new Opinion editor four months after Bezos touted ‘significant shift'

CNN

time30 minutes ago

  • CNN

The Washington Post has a new Opinion editor four months after Bezos touted ‘significant shift'

The Washington Post on Wednesday announced it has a new Opinion editor. The move comes four months after it announced a 'significant shift' to the Opinion page and the departure of its embattled section chief. Adam O'Neal, who currently serves as The Economist's Washington correspondent, will take over as the Post's top Opinion editor, the outlet announced in an X post that includes an introductory video from O'Neal. 'We're also going to be stalwart advocates of free markets and personal liberties. We'll be unapologetically patriotic, too,' O'Neal said in the video. 'Our philosophy will be rooted in fundamental optimism about the future of this country.' The Opinion section won't 'lecture' readers about ideologies or 'demand you think certain ways about policy,' O'Neal said. The stance falls in line with the vision articulated four months prior by the Post's owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos also mentioned free markets and personal liberties when describing the section's new mandate, which drew backlash from some staffers — including from Marty Baron, the Post's revered former executive editor under whom the outlet won 11 Pulitzer Prizes — and praise from some conservatives. 'We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,' Bezos wrote in a February X post. 'We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.' As part of the February announcement, Bezos noted that David Shipley, O'Neal's predecessor, had been offered the opportunity to continue leading the section under the new directive but that Shipley had 'decided to step away.' Shipley's departure from the Post followed four months of mounting criticism from Post staffers and readers. The storied newspaper drew criticism for its eleventh-hour choice not to endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid, which led to several editorial board members resigning and more than 200,000 subscribers canceling their digital subscriptions. Shipley also decided not to run a cartoon satirizing the relationship between Bezos and US President Donald Trump from Ann Telnaes, leading to the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist's resignation. Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. Since Shipley's departure, deputy Opinion editor Mary Duenwald has served as interim section chief. No start date has been announced for O'Neal. In a Wednesday email to staffers obtained by CNN, Will Lewis, the Post's chief executive and publisher, noted that O'Neal 'recognizes the importance of ensuring our opinion coverage is relevant, accessible, and consequential for readers who feel underserved.' 'His appointment is about more than just filling a role; it is about connecting our editorial voice to the real concerns and conversations happening across America,' Lewis said. In the email, Lewis similarly championed Bezos' mandate for the Opinion section: He said its new direction is not 'aligned to any political party' but instead presents 'an opportunity for our Opinion section to share the best of American values.' O'Neal's hiring comes just over two weeks after the Post offered voluntary buyouts to Opinion staffers, the Post's video and copy desks and any news employees who have been at the paper for 10 years or more. The buyout offers run through the end of July.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store