Does forcing customers to calculate shipping cause abandonment?

As a Shopify store owner in the fashion accessories space, I've been wrestling with a frustrating problem that's been killing my conversion rates. Every time a customer reaches the shipping calculation stage, I can almost see them mentally checking out. They'll start squinting at the screen, pulling out calculators, trying to figure out exactly how much extra they'll pay. It's like watching potential sales evaporate in real-time. My analytics show a dramatic drop-off right at this point – customers who were excited about the product suddenly become hesitant. I've watched heat maps where users spend an inordinate amount of time hovering over shipping options, doing mental math, and then – poof – they're gone. The abandoned cart rates are killing me. What's worse, these aren't just random browsers; these are people who've already invested time browsing, selecting products, and adding them to their cart. The friction of calculating shipping feels like an unnecessary obstacle course that's costing me real revenue. I know shipping costs are a legitimate expense, but there has to be a more customer-friendly way to present this information that doesn't make customers feel like they're doing complex mathematical gymnastics just to complete a purchase.