An original conceptual painting makes the parts of a price visible inside a transparent blue tag, a visual invitation to show customers the full cost early.
A practical case for showing the full cost early, separating real choices from unavoidable charges, and letting customers decide with their budget in view.
By Arbab Naseebullah Kasi, Chief Executive Officer - CEO, Feel Worldwide Foundation Inc.
Imagine a small business offering a weekend craft workshop. Its advertisement says US$20. A customer checks the date, asks a friend to join and begins booking. Only then do the required US$4 materials charge and US$2 booking fee appear.
In this hypothetical example, there are no other charges or taxes. The workshop costs US$26. Yet the customer has spent most of the decision thinking about US$20.
Every item in the breakdown might fund something real. Materials cost money. A booking service has expenses. The difficulty is when those costs become visible.
A person comparing that workshop with another advertised at US$25 cannot make a fair comparison from the first numbers alone. Someone with a firm US$20 budget has been invited into a purchase they cannot complete on the advertised terms.
For a small business, social enterprise or organisation charging for an activity, clear pricing begins with a simple responsibility: help the customer understand the commitment while they still have a meaningful opportunity to choose.
A familiar checkout problem has measurable scale
Research published by the UK's Department for Business and Trade on 4 September 2023 examined 525 online and mobile-app providers across retail, hospitality, entertainment, and transport and communication. It found that 46% of the sampled providers included at least one fee revealed later in the checkout process, excluding delivery fees. The researchers examined purchasing journeys rather than merely asking people whether they disliked extra charges. Department for Business and Trade research
That is a finding about the study's selected providers and historical period. It is not a current estimate for every business, country or industry. Even with that boundary, it shows why the timing of a price deserves attention.
People need more than an eventual disclosure. A price that becomes complete only after several screens has already shaped which options they considered and how much effort they invested.
Small organisations can examine the same issue without commissioning a market study. Follow one ordinary purchase from its first advertisement to the final payment screen. Write down every amount a customer sees. Then ask where the first figure becomes a realistic description of what that customer will pay.
If the answer is near the end, the earlier communication needs work.
Begin with the actual offer
Before editing a price label, define what is being sold. A class, a seat, a household booking and a monthly membership are different offers. The amount is difficult to understand when the unit is vague.
For the hypothetical workshop, a clear starting point would be US$26 per person, including the required materials and booking charge. A breakdown can still explain the components. Customers should not need to add them together to discover the ordinary total.
Then examine anything described as optional. Can the customer genuinely receive the advertised service without it? A souvenir photograph might be optional. A compulsory materials pack is part of the cost of attending, whatever name appears beside it.
Payment choices deserve the same attention. If a fee applies to the only practical way to pay, calling it an optional convenience charge does little to explain the customer's real position. Check the applicable rules before deciding how such a fee may be charged or displayed.
This review should include the offer's boundaries. State the quantity, duration and essential inclusions. If a service covers one location, one session or a defined amount of work, say so. Clear pricing and clear scope belong together because the customer needs to know what the total buys.
Put the information where comparison happens
An accurate total on the payment page cannot repair every earlier impression. People also make decisions from social posts, search listings, posters, menus and messages forwarded by friends.
The practical goal is consistency across that journey. A customer should not need to move between channels to discover that the prominently advertised amount excludes an unavoidable part of the purchase.
Airbnb described a concrete product change on 21 April 2025: it made total-price display standard for guests worldwide, including fees in search results. Its announcement explicitly qualified the treatment of taxes. In some countries and regions, taxes were included in the displayed total; elsewhere the initial figure was before taxes, with the tax-inclusive amount shown before checkout. That is a first-party account of a design change, not independent evidence that every guest saved money or that every host benefited. Airbnb's April 2025 announcement
The useful lesson is the location of the information. Search results are where options first compete for attention. A local business has its own equivalent, perhaps a flyer, a course calendar or the first reply to an enquiry.
Review those starting points before polishing the final receipt. Also check the ordinary mobile view. If the total is visually small while a lower component price dominates the screen, the hierarchy may still communicate the wrong message.
When the price varies, explain the calculation
Some work cannot be priced fully before the customer's needs are known. A made-to-measure product, a translation project or a delivery to an unknown location may require additional information.
Honesty does not require pretending that uncertainty has disappeared. It requires explaining what is known, what remains unknown and what changes the amount.
For a customised service, useful information could include the unit being charged, any minimum charge, the factors that affect the estimate and when the customer will receive a firm quotation. Distinguish a quote for agreed work from an early indication that may change after assessment.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority addresses this issue in its price-transparency summary, updated on 7 January 2026. Where the nature of a product prevents a total from being calculated reasonably in advance, the guidance says customers should receive the information needed to calculate it, with appropriate prominence. Its examples distinguish mandatory charges from optional choices. These are UK-specific legal explanations, not a universal set of rules for every reader. CMA price-transparency summary
As a practical communication habit, avoid using an attractive starting price without explaining the situation in which it applies. The customer should be able to recognise whether their own request resembles that starting offer.
If the scope changes later, show the revised amount and obtain agreement before doing additional chargeable work. That gives both sides a clear point at which the original arrangement becomes a different one.
Know the local rules without confusing them with universal advice
Pricing laws differ by jurisdiction and type of transaction. Tax treatment, delivery charges, subscriptions and payment surcharges can have distinct requirements. An example from another country is a reason to check, not a substitute for checking.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect on 12 May 2025 and covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging. Its staff guidance says covered businesses must display the total price prominently upfront, including known, calculable mandatory charges. The rule allows specified exclusions from that initial total, including government charges, shipping and optional purchases, while requiring the final payment amount before asking customers to pay. It is not a blanket rule covering every American product and service. FTC guidance on the fees rule
For an organisation reviewing its own offer, the sensible next step is to check the current rules that actually apply to its location, customers and activity. Obtain qualified advice when the position is unclear.
Alongside that legal work, retain the broader communication question: can a reasonable customer understand the amount and the commitment before making the decision?
Do not promise that transparency will always increase sales
There is a tempting argument that clearer pricing will automatically produce more bookings, better reviews and stronger loyalty. Those outcomes should be measured, not promised.
A study by Tom Blake, Sarah Moshary, Kane Sweeney and Steve Tadelis, published in 2021, analysed a large field experiment conducted on StubHub in August 2015. Visitors were assigned at the browser-cookie level to see fees upfront or later in the purchase process. The later-fee condition generated higher revenue. The paper also found that obscuring prices made comparison more difficult. This historical ticket-market experiment does not predict the result for every small business, but it challenges the easy claim that transparency necessarily increases immediate revenue. Price Salience and Product Choice
An honest pricing review therefore needs a broader purpose than making a conversion chart rise. People should be able to decline an unaffordable offer early. A customer who understands the total and chooses something cheaper has made an informed decision.
Businesses still need to cover their costs. They can explain quality, service, expertise and the work included in the price. They can redesign an offer that customers cannot afford. Those are substantial business decisions, and they deserve more attention than rearranging the moment at which an unavoidable charge appears.
Give one offer a complete pricing review
Start with a frequently purchased product or service. Keep the first review small enough to finish.
First, collect the customer-facing material: the advertisement, listing, booking page, quotation and payment summary. Record the date so that old versions do not quietly return to use.
Second, list every payment connected to the advertised purchase. Identify what is required, what is genuinely optional, what depends on the customer's choices and what cannot yet be calculated. Have the person responsible for compliance check how those distinctions must be presented.
Third, ask someone unfamiliar with the offer to explain the price back to you. What would they pay for an ordinary purchase? What could increase that amount? Is the amount per person, per item or per period? Do they understand any continuing commitment?
Fourth, correct the first misleading point in the journey, then follow the changes through every later stage. A better website is only part of the work if an old flyer or saved message still advertises an incomplete figure.
Finally, watch what happens. Record questions about unexpected charges, differences between quoted and final amounts, and requests to cancel because the cost was misunderstood. Consider those alongside sales figures. Changes in demand can have many causes, so a simple before-and-after comparison should not be treated as proof that one wording change caused the result.
A fair price can be modest or substantial. Its fairness cannot be judged only from its size. Customers also need a clear account of what they are buying and what they will owe.
Give them that information while they can still use it. The first price should help someone make a decision they understand.
