{"id":1941,"date":"2017-04-24T12:32:30","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T12:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccpc.ie\/consumers\/?page_id=1941"},"modified":"2025-06-27T14:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:25:07","slug":"pricing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ccpc.ie\/consumers\/shopping\/pricing\/","title":{"rendered":"Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Businesses are generally free to set their prices as they like, provided they do so independently. However, consumer law does place some requirements in relation to pricing on businesses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Display<br \/>\n<\/strong>Businesses must display prices on or near products that they sell. If the total price isn\u2019t known, you must be told how it will be calculated. For example, the price of fruit that is displayed might be a price per pack, or a price per kilo, if sold by weight.<\/li>\n<li><strong>VAT<br \/>\n<\/strong>Prices for goods and services sold to consumers must always show the total price, including Value Added Tax (VAT).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are also other requirements on businesses in certain circumstances:<\/p>\n<div id=\"accordion-1\" class=\"accordion no-js\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t1\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tIncorrect price display\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c1\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Businesses must display the correct prices on products in euro. However, if the price displayed is not honoured by the business and you are asked to pay a higher price when you go to pay, you do not have an automatic right to buy the item at the displayed price. As long as the business tells you before you pay that the higher price applies, you have the option to either buy it at the higher price or decide not to.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t2\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tUnit pricing\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c2\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Certain goods are required to have a unit price displayed as well as a total selling price. The unit price is the final selling price for goods in the following measurements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>one kilogram<\/li>\n<li>one litre<\/li>\n<li>one metre<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unit pricing allows you to compare the cost of similar products that are sold in different sized packs. Comparing prices this way can help you save money as you can see which one is the best value \u2013 regardless of the brand or the size of the pack.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t3\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tSale prices\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c3\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>When running price promotions or \u2018special offers\u2019, it\u2019s against the law for shops to give a false or misleading previous price.<\/p>\n<p>When selling goods at a sale price, businesses must display the \u2018prior price\u2019. This should be the lowest price the goods were on sale for in the 30 days prior to the sale. For example, if a laptop is advertised as \u2018was \u20ac700, now \u20ac500\u2019, then it must not have been available for less than \u20ac700 in the 30 days before the sale started.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t4\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c4\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tDynamic pricing\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c4\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccpc.ie\/consumers\/shopping\/pricing\/dynamic-pricing\/\">Dynamic pricing<\/a> is when businesses adjust the price of products or services in response to supply and demand. If lots of people want to buy, and there isn\u2019t enough to go around, prices can go up. If you\u2019re buying when others aren\u2019t, you might get a bargain.<\/p>\n<p>Dynamic pricing is used in a variety of industries, such as airlines, hotels, restaurants and energy companies. It is not currently defined under Irish or EU consumer protection legislation and, in most cases, it is not prohibited.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t5\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c5\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tDeposit return scheme\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c5\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>A deposit is charged on certain plastic bottles, aluminium and steel cans. This deposit is not part of the price and is displayed separately. Your receipt will clearly list this deposit on a separate line. The deposit return scheme is operated by <a href=\"https:\/\/re-turn.ie\/\">Re-Turn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of the deposit is also not included when calculating a unit price.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t6\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c6\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tPrice controls\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c6\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In general, there are no price controls in Ireland. This means that, in most cases, there is no minimum or maximum price for goods or services. This is to allow for competition among businesses.<\/p>\n<p>A shop is not breaking the law by charging more than their competitors. If you feel that you are not getting good value, then you should shop around for a better price.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 role=\"button\" id=\"accordion-1-t7\" class=\"accordion-title js-accordion-controller\" aria-controls=\"accordion-1-c7\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t\tNon-euro prices\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div id=\"accordion-1-c7\" class=\"accordion-content\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Prices must be displayed in euro but it is not against the law for shops to also display prices in other currencies such as sterling. A shop doesn\u2019t have to accept payment in another currency where multiple currencies are displayed.<\/p>\n<p>If a price is displayed in another currency, it doesn\u2019t have to be a direct conversion of the euro price. Other currency prices displayed are usually the price you would pay if you bought the item in another country.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Businesses and service providers must display their prices, and there are rules on how they must be displayed. You have the right to clear and accurate information on the prices of goods and services so that you can compare prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"parent":12505,"menu_order":70,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-1941","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-shopping"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Pricing - CCPC Consumers<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is an independent statutory body that enforces competition and consumer protection law in Ireland\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccpc.ie\/consumers\/shopping\/pricing\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pricing - 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