Pricing and price reductions
What are your businesses obligations when displaying product prices?
Businesses have legal requirements in Ireland when displaying product prices. These cover reduced pricing rules, tax-inclusive pricing, unit pricing, distance selling, and price fixing. The information provided is based on Irish legislation and is designed to help businesses comply with consumer protection laws.
Businesses must clearly display the selling price of each item offered for sale. It should be obvious which item the price refers to. Claims about pricing must comply with consumer protection regulations.
How should you display reduced prices?
Under Irish consumer law, any price reduction announcements must include the 'prior price'. You must also base any discounts, such as an amount or a percentage off, on this prior price. This is the lowest price the item was sold for in the 30 days before the promotion started.
For example: If a laptop is advertised as 'was €700, now €500', it must not have been sold for less than €700 in the 30 days before the promotion.
You can learn more about this in our price reductions section.
Do prices need to include tax?
Yes, prices shown to consumers must include all applicable taxes, such as VAT. There should be no hidden charges.
Exception: Wholesalers selling exclusively to other businesses may display prices excluding VAT.
What happens if prices are marked incorrectly?
Shops can and often do make an honest mistake about the prices they display. A common example would be where some price indications are wrong and the marked price is lower than the price charged at the till.
In such circumstances the customer has the choice whether to purchase the item at the higher price, or decline the purchase. There is no obligation on the shop to offer the item at the lower price. While it is desirable that the matter is satisfactorily resolved with the consumer, they still have the option of making a complaint to the CCPC in relation to the misleading price.
How can you display prices for products behind the counter?
If you have products for sale behind a counter or away from immediate access by the consumer, you may use shelf stickers, wall charts or notices, or catalogues to display the prices.
The key thing is to show prices that can be clearly related to the goods being offered for sale.
Are there specific rules for certain types of businesses?
Yes, price display orders apply to:
- Licensed premises
- Restaurants and cafes
- Petrol stations
- Hairdressers and barbers
Price display orders make it mandatory for these types of business to display prices in a particular way so that consumers can easily compare prices without committing themselves to purchasing in that premises. For more information on this, visit our guidance for businesses section.
Do you need to show prices in adverts and shop displays?
Adverts
You are not required to show selling prices in advertisements. However, if you do, you must also show the unit price if applicable.
Shop displays
- Displays with products for sale (e.g. bakery windows) must show selling and unit prices where relevant.
- Displays for promotional purposes only can be marked as 'display only'. Under the rules the display would be regarded as purely promotional, and would be equivalent to an advertisement, so they must be marked correctly.
What is unit pricing and when is it required?
Some products are covered by “unit pricing” rules. Many products sold by groceries, supermarkets and shops are sold by weight, volume or measure, and unit pricing means you must display not only the product’s actual selling price, but its unit price too. Where a product is sold loose by weight (e.g. loose mince, loose sweets), only the unit price can be displayed.
The unit price is the price for a given quantity of the product (e.g. the price for a litre or kilo of the product). For some goods the unit of quantity is different, for example the unit of quantity for wine is 75cl.
The unit price is calculated using the total cost of the good including all taxes and charges. If the Re-Turn deposit return scheme applies, the deposit is not included when calculating the unit price.
Under the law you have to display both the selling price and the unit price on or near to the item. In practice this would be on the same shelf-edge label, with the selling price in the larger font and the unit price underneath.
Exemptions to unit pricing
There are certain exceptions to the unit pricing rule:
- Where the selling price is not related to the quantity of that product being offered for sale. Examples would be fruit such as melons or vegetables such as turnips which are often sold by item rather than by weight. Another example is products such as legs of lamb or cuts of meat, where the weight varies but a fixed price is charged.
- Pre-packaged products not greater than 50 grams or 50 millilitres, such as small packets of sweets, crisps and popcorn.
- Where the selling price has been reduced from the usual price on account of its damaged condition or the danger of its deterioration.
- A multi-pack of different products, such as a Christmas hamper.
- Food sold in restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, or other outlets where the food can be eaten on the premises. Note that where such businesses sell regular grocery items, these are subject to the unit price requirements.
If your shop doesn’t have equipment for printing shelf-edge labels or for point-of-sale scanning, you only have to display the selling price. If you sell from a stall or other mobile sales unit, you are also exempt from having to show unit prices, apart from products you sell in bulk (see below).
Do bulk products need unit pricing?
Yes, all bulk products must be unit priced. These are items not pre-packaged and weighed or measured in front of the customer.
Example: Loose vegetables or fresh meat selected and weighed by the customer or trader.
What are the rules for distance selling?
“Distance selling” is when you and your customer aren’t physically present together. For online, mail order, or phone sales, prices must be shown near the product description. It should not be confusing as to what product the price relates to.
Where the price of the product cannot reasonably be calculated in advance of purchase, you should inform the consumer of the manner in which the price is to be calculated.
You must also inform the consumer of any additional charges that may apply, for example postal or delivery charges, before they buy.
Example: On a website, the price should appear next to the product details or near to each other in a mail order catalogue.
What is price fixing and why is it illegal?
Businesses must set prices independently. Price fixing occurs when suppliers agree on pricing, which is illegal under Irish competition law. Price fixing agreements do not need to be in writing or even to have been carried out; they are still against the law, simply making a cartel agreement is illegal.
Watch the CCPC video on price fixing:
https://vimeo.com/572128099?fl=pl&fe=vl
