Pricing and charges

Helpful information on the advertising rules for the pricing of products and services and additional charges, not including legally required costs such as taxes or VAT.

Our rules state that price statements must relate to the product featured in the ad and not a variation of the make or model, and should not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. We also advise advertisers to refer to the BIS Pricing Practices Guide when preparing their ads.

Another area of complaint we often see is the recommended retail price (RRP) of a product or service. Ordinarily, even if advertisers can provide documentary evidence that the quoted RRP in the ad was recommended by the manufacturer of the product this might not be enough, and any complaints received may get upheld. We require advertisers to be able to demonstrate the product has actually been sold at the advertised price. If an advertiser is the only seller of a product, and so has set the price themselves, it is unlikely to be acceptable to refer to the price as an RRP.

The advertising rules for the pricing of products also state that advertisers shouldn’t use “from” and “up to” claims to exaggerate the availability of a product at a given price. We apply a rule of thumb that 10% of products or services advertised should be available at the “from” or “up to” price stated in the ad, and we have upheld complaints about companies who were unable to sufficiently prove this.

We have also upheld complaints about ads that don’t make additional charges prominent and clear, such as the price of delivery or processing. If a consumer is able to collect the product themselves, delivery charges are not required in the headline price. Any statements that imply delivery is free including those that say “free delivery on orders over £50” or similar, should be avoided if this offer is not attainable for everyone, i.e. additional charges apply to certain postcodes.

+ Read more - Show less

Latest rulings

Abellio Greater Anglia Ltd t/a Greater Anglia
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 24 December 2025
A website page for Greater Anglia misleadingly claimed that they offered the cheapest ticket prices.
My Train Ticket Limited t/a mytrainticket.co.uk
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 24 December 2025
A website page for MyTrainTicket misleadingly claimed that they offered the cheapest ticket prices.
ScotRail Trains Ltd t/a ScotRail
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 24 December 2025
A website for ScotRail misleadingly claimed that they offered the cheapest ticket prices.
OTTY Sleep Ltd
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 17 December 2025
A website page for a mattress company made misleading savings claims.

View all rulings

Pricing and charges

Helpful information on the advertising rules for the pricing of products and services and additional charges, not including legally required costs such as taxes or VAT.

Latest news

VAT’s the Way to Do It: Get your pricing ads right

The great outdoors: keeping posters in line with the Code - come rain or shine

A picture says a thousand words. Avoiding misleading imagery in ads

What’s the story when advertising ticket sales?

Off with your heads! Keeping within the rules in ads that reference the royals

Designed to Persuade - Dark Patterns and the Code

Latest rulings

Abellio Greater Anglia Ltd t/a Greater Anglia

My Train Ticket Limited t/a mytrainticket.co.uk

ScotRail Trains Ltd t/a ScotRail

OTTY Sleep Ltd

Help getting it right

Popular advice

Promotional savings claims

Ticket pricing

Prices: Recommended retail prices (RRPs)

Relevant codes