Following the enactment of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its final guidance on price transparency obligations (CMA209).
For online retailers, e-commerce businesses, and consumer-facing traders, understanding the obligations is essential for ensuring compliance. Overall, the final guidance offers greater clarity – which will be of some comfort to many businesses. The guidance on fixed term contracts with periodic payments is now more flexible and gives businesses options on how to present pricing (see here for more about the draft guidelines).
New pricing terminology
The guidance introduces a fourth pricing term: "final price" – defined as the price an individual consumer will actually pay, including any optional add-ons. This addition to the existing "base price", "headline price", and "total price" definitions provides greater clarity about what consumers ultimately pay at checkout, particularly relevant for businesses offering customisable products or services.
Clearer accountability framework
One of the most significant additions is an entirely new section addressing who is responsible for invitations to purchase. The guidance explicitly confirms that responsibility lies with whoever makes the invitation to purchase – whether that's a brand owner, price comparison website, marketplace operator, or even an influencer. This clarification is crucial for multi-party e-commerce arrangements, ensuring each party understands their compliance obligations.
Enhanced guidance on indicative pricing
The guidance provides substantially more detail on "from" pricing and indicative prices. Notably, it includes specific examples about seasonal pricing – such as advertising a weekend break using cheaper midweek prices, or promoting summer holidays using winter pricing. Businesses must ensure advertised prices reflect realistic availability and typical consumer purchasing patterns, not exceptional circumstances. This is of particular relevance in the context of the wide-ranging CMA enforcement action which was announced alongside the updated guidance on 18 November 2025.
Payment flexibility clarified
An entirely new section confirms that price transparency requirements do not regulate how or when payment is taken. This welcome clarification means businesses can continue offering instalment payments, early payment discounts, and various payment options without these arrangements affecting their price transparency obligations. The focus remains on clear upfront disclosure, not payment mechanics.
Mandatory charges: no workarounds
The guidance tightens the definition of mandatory charges, clarifying that a charge remains mandatory even if consumers could theoretically avoid it by purchasing additional products or paying membership fees. For example, if a café charges for disposable cups but offers a discount for reusable cups, the disposable cup charge is the baseline – the reusable cup option is a discount, not a way to avoid a mandatory charge. This prevents businesses from disguising mandatory charges as optional ones.
Non-calculability exception: narrowed scope
The guidance provides crucial clarification about when total prices genuinely cannot be calculated in advance. Importantly, it states that additional charges like administration or service fees applied across multiple products are unlikely to depend on "the nature of the product" and therefore cannot justify omitting the total price (this has been the subject of the CMA's recent enforcement action under the DMCCA). This significantly narrows the non-calculability exception, meaning most businesses must display total prices upfront.
Similarly, the guidance confirms that per-transaction charges do not justify claiming the total price cannot be calculated in advance. If you charge a £2 booking fee per transaction, you can and must include it in the total price.
This has the effect of widening the net of businesses that will be caught by these new obligations.
It's important to note that if the non-calculability exception does apply, as soon as the total price can be ascertained it must be displayed in the next invitation to purchase on the user journey.
Delivery charges: comprehensive restructure
The delivery charges section has been completely reorganised with clearer subsections covering:
- mandatory delivery charges (must be included in total price)
- optional delivery charges (can be presented separately if genuinely optional)
- variable mandatory delivery charges (guidance on handling multiple delivery zones)
The guidance includes helpful visual examples showing compliant price tags and online displays. For e-commerce businesses with complex delivery structures – such as different charges for different geographical areas – the guidance provides practical approaches for compliance while acknowledging operational realities. It's important to remember that where there are variable delivery charges, but a minimum delivery charge will always apply (e.g. for standard postage) this must be included as part of the total price, notwithstanding that the consumer may opt for e.g. 'premium' postage at a higher cost.
Periodic pricing: two compliant pathways
For subscription and contract-based services, the CMA appears to have responded to industry concerns about how these prices are presented and the guidance significantly expands its treatment of periodic pricing. It distinguishes clearly between rolling contracts and minimum term contracts, offering businesses two compliant options for minimum term contracts:
- total cumulative price (eg, '£600 for 12 months')
This flexibility acknowledges different consumer preferences while ensuring transparency. The guidance also addresses interaction with subscription contract provisions under consumer protection law, helping businesses navigate overlapping regulatory requirements. Of interest to businesses will be the additional guidance on how initial joining or set-up fees should be presented, with options for either clearly setting out an additional joining/set-up fee is payable in addition to the first monthly payment (for periodic contracts) or clearly stating the higher price payable for the first month and what the regular monthly payments will be after that.
The guidance does note that some products may be subject to more specific transparency requirements on subscription contracts, once those come into force in Autumn 2026 – for which we also await further guidance.
Local charges and foreign currency
The final guidance provides substantially enhanced detail on handling local charges, taxes, and foreign currency transactions. Key points include:
- total prices must include charges payable locally, regardless of when or to whom payment is made
- for foreign currency transactions, businesses may display prices in foreign currency or sterling
This is particularly relevant for travel, accommodation, and international e-commerce businesses.
Visual learning tools
A new section sets out numerous illustrative figures showing compliant approaches for various scenarios – from in-store price tags to online marketplace displays, food delivery apps, and dynamic shopping baskets. These visual examples provide practical templates businesses can adapt to their specific circumstances.
What this means for your business
The evolution from draft to final guidance represents a maturation of the CMA's thinking and shows that consultation feedback has been considered, providing:
- greater certainty about who is responsible for compliance
- narrower exceptions regarding total price disclosure requirements
- more practical guidance for complex scenarios like variable delivery charges and periodic pricing
- Flexibility in how compliant pricing is presented, while maintaining transparency standards.
Action points for online retailers and e-commerce businesses:
- review your pricing displays against the narrowed non-calculability exception
- ensure per-transaction and administration fees are included in displayed total prices
- check that "from" pricing reflects realistic, typical availability
- for subscription services, choose your compliant periodic pricing approach from the two options
- update delivery charge presentations using the guidance's clear framework
- if operating marketplaces or comparison sites, clarify responsibility with trading partners.
The core message is clear: the law hasn't fundamentally changed, but the CMA's expectations for compliance are now more precisely defined. Businesses that embrace transparent pricing will not only now comply with legal obligations, but also build consumer trust in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace.
