Drip pricing is banned in the UK: how to show a total price that still sells

The CMA's guidance on price transparency explains the relevant parts of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. When a business tells a customer about a product and its price, that is normally an invitation to purchase, whether it is a price tag, a newspaper ad, a social post or a web page, with or without a way to buy on the spot.

In that invitation the business must give the total price, presented in a clear and timely way the customer is likely to see. The total normally includes every mandatory charge: a fee such as delivery or booking, a tax such as VAT, and any other unavoidable payment. Showing a mandatory charge separately will normally be insufficient. Hiding charges until later in the process, drip pricing, is illegal, and the penalty can be a fine of up to 10% of turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater, plus compensation.

A from price or indicative price is allowed when it includes all applicable mandatory charges and misleads nobody about what it covers. The CMA's own examples are a holiday price based on a seven night stay for two people between set dates, and photography services from a stated figure.

Where the total cannot reasonably be calculated because it depends on the customer's requirements, the business must give the information needed to work it out, and that information must be as prominent as the part of the price it can state. The CMA's example is made to measure curtains at £25 per metre with the £9.95 delivery charge shown directly under the headline price.

Mandatory delivery goes into the total price where it can be calculated. Optional delivery, such as next day, must still appear in the invitation to purchase but may sit outside the total. Where the customer chooses between delivery options, the cheapest is included until they choose another. A retail site may comply by showing its delivery fees prominently and keeping a running total through checkout that the customer is likely to see.

A per transaction charge, such as a flat booking fee, belongs in the total price even in early advertising, and in any from price. For periodic pricing, a rolling monthly contract shows the full monthly price; a minimum term contract shows either the cumulative price for the whole term or the monthly price with the number of months. The CMA's example is a gym at £70 a month for twelve months plus a £30 joining fee, shown as total annual membership £870.

Drip pricing survived as long as it did because the lower number won the click. It also trained customers to distrust every headline price, which is why so many service businesses now hear "but what does it actually cost" on the first call.

A total price, stated once and explained plainly, does the opposite. It tells a customer the business has nothing to hide, it shortens the price conversation, and it makes the business the one competitors get compared with. The rule and good positioning ask for the same thing: one clear number a customer can repeat to someone else.