In this section

Pricing and payment

The selling price

The law on price marking states that where motor vehicles and other goods are offered for sale to consumers, they must have their price clearly indicated. The pricing information must be clearly legible, unambiguous, easily identifiable and inclusive of VAT and any other taxes. This information must be clearly visible to your customers without them having to ask for it.

The selling price is, by definition, the final price and must, therefore, include the unavoidable and foreseeable components of the price, components that are necessarily payable by the consumer.

Pricing when selling online

Pricing information is required in both the retail forecourt environment and when selling by distance means, such as online.

General requirements in relation to pricing

The law prohibits businesses from misleading their customers - for example, displaying goods at a lower price than actually charged, or showing a sale price when the higher price was never charged. The law also prohibits a trader from omitting or hiding information that a consumer would need to make a decision regarding whether or not to purchase goods. An example of this would be failing to inform a customer of a compulsory additional charge.

Additional charges

Additional charges must be included in the advertised selling price if they are compulsory. A failure to include compulsory charges in the advertised price may breach the law.

Further information

For more information on pricing, see 'Providing price information', which includes links to detailed pricing guidance from CTSI, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Payment surcharges

In most cases, surcharges for electronic or card payments are not permitted. Businesses are not permitted to impose surcharges for paying by a consumer debit or credit card, or an electronic payment service. The ban on surcharges does not apply to commercial debit or credit cards.

Please see 'Payment surcharges' for more information.

< Part 3. Consumer Contracts Regulations

> Annex A. Deduction for use calculations: a proposal

Back to top