Part 5. Price Marking Order / Payment Surcharges Regulations

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 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.

CTSI pricing guidance

CTSI has produced detailed Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices, which contains information for traders on good practice regarding pricing.

Government guidance

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has published guidance on the Price Marking Order 2004.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has produced Unfair Commercial Practices: Price Transparency - Guidance for Businesses on the Price Transparency Provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (CMA209). The linked web page includes a shorter summary, alongside the full guidance.

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.

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