Displaying The Correct Advertised Price For Your Goods (2026 Updated)

Getting your pricing right sounds simple - until you’ve got in-store shelf labels, online listings, discount codes, “was/now” promos, marketplace fees, delivery charges, and staff updating prices across multiple systems.

And if you accidentally advertise the wrong price, it can quickly turn into an unhappy customer (or a complaint to the Commerce Commission).

This guide is updated for 2026 so you can feel confident you’re applying current, practical expectations around transparent pricing in New Zealand. We’ll walk through what the law expects, the common traps we see for small businesses, and what to do if a pricing mistake slips through.

What Does “Advertised Price” Mean In New Zealand?

An “advertised price” is any price you present to customers, in any format, that could influence their decision to buy. It isn’t limited to formal advertising campaigns - it includes day-to-day pricing communications too.

In practice, “advertised price” can include:

• Website product pages (including variants like size/colour)
• Shopping cart prices and checkout totals
• Social media posts and stories showing a price
• Email marketing promotions and discount offers
• Google Shopping listings and other comparison platforms
• Marketplace listings (e.g. Trade Me, Amazon) if you control the listing
• In-store shelf labels, hang tags, menu boards, window signs, posters
• Catalogues, flyers, and price lists
• “Was/now” pricing and percentage discounts

Why does this matter? Because customers don’t separate your “marketing” from your “system” - and legally, you’re responsible for the overall impression your pricing creates.

Which NZ Laws Apply To Pricing And Advertising?

When you sell goods in New Zealand, your pricing communications are mainly governed by consumer law - and the key piece of legislation is the Fair Trading Act 1986.

Put simply, the Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade, including in relation to price. That means you need to make sure the way you present your pricing is accurate, clear, and not likely to mislead an ordinary customer.

Other laws can also be relevant depending on your business model, including:

• Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (your obligations around product quality and remedies, which often becomes relevant in pricing disputes and refund requests)
• Contract and general consumer law principles (for example, how and when a contract is formed online)

If you sell online, it’s also important that your checkout and pricing logic matches what your written terms say. Having clear eCommerce Terms and Conditions can help set expectations about pricing, order acceptance, and what happens if there’s a genuine pricing error - but terms won’t “fix” a misleading price presentation if your overall conduct breaches the Fair Trading Act.

Why Pricing Issues Get Businesses Into Trouble

Pricing is one of the highest-risk areas for consumer complaints because it’s immediate and measurable. If a customer feels tricked (even unintentionally), they’ll often escalate quickly - to a chargeback, a public review, or a regulator complaint.

It’s also an area where “small” mistakes can scale. One incorrect price on a website can affect hundreds of customers within minutes.

How To Display Prices Correctly (And Avoid Misleading Customers)

There isn’t one “correct” format for displaying prices. The key is that your pricing must be clear, accurate, and not likely to mislead - considering what you’re selling, where you’re selling it, and how customers typically purchase it.

Here are the most common areas where we see businesses slip up (and how to handle them).

1) Show The Full Price Customers Will Pay (Watch “Hidden” Costs)

A classic pricing trap is advertising a base price prominently, while additional compulsory charges only appear later (or in small print). Even if you didn’t intend to mislead, this can create a misleading overall impression.

Common examples include:

• Mandatory booking fees, service fees, or administration charges
• Required delivery fees (where delivery is the only viable option)
• Compulsory add-ons for the product to function as advertised

If an extra cost is unavoidable, it should generally be disclosed clearly and early, not “surprising” the customer at the end.

If you charge optional extras (for example express shipping), that’s usually fine - but make sure it’s genuinely optional and clearly priced.

2) Make Discounts Real (Especially “Was/Now” Pricing)

Discount pricing is great for sales - but it’s also heavily scrutinised. If you advertise “Was $120, now $79”, the “was” price needs to be genuine, not inflated or made up.

Practical tips:

• Keep records showing the “was” price was actually offered for a reasonable period
• Be consistent across channels (website, in-store, social media)
• Avoid constantly “cycling” inflated reference prices that were never realistically available

Similarly, if you offer “Up to 50% off”, make sure there are meaningful items actually discounted by up to that amount - and that customers can find them without needing to hunt.

3) Be Clear About GST (And Whether Prices Include It)

If you’re selling to everyday consumers in New Zealand, prices are typically displayed including GST. If you use GST-exclusive pricing anywhere (more common in B2B), you should make that very clear.

Confusion tends to happen when:

• Your website shows GST-exclusive pricing on product pages, but your ads show GST-inclusive pricing (or vice versa)
• Trade accounts and consumer accounts see different pricing, but the site doesn’t make it obvious which pricing applies
• Invoices and checkout pages don’t match the “headline” pricing

The goal is consistency and clarity so your customer isn’t misled about what they’ll actually be charged.

4) Ensure Shelf Prices And Checkout Prices Match (Or Have A Clear Process)

In-store pricing errors commonly happen when:

• A promotion ends but shelf labels aren’t removed
• A product is placed in the wrong bay with a different label
• Staff print labels with the wrong SKU or barcode

From a practical risk perspective, you should have a clear internal process for:

• Updating shelf labels at the same time as point-of-sale changes
• Checking end dates for promotional signage
• Giving staff a simple escalation path if a customer disputes a price

If you’ve got a recurring issue (for example, customers frequently disputing prices), that pattern itself can become a bigger legal problem than a one-off mistake.

5) Online Pricing Must Match What Customers Experience At Checkout

For online stores, customers rely on the price shown on:

• the product page
• the cart
• checkout (including delivery and discounts)

Make sure your systems don’t create a mismatch, such as:

• discount codes applying inconsistently
• shipping costs appearing only after a customer enters personal details
• sale pricing showing on the product page, but reverting in the cart
• multi-currency display causing confusion about which currency applies

If you use written policies to manage these scenarios (for example, how promotions work, delivery pricing, or order acceptance), ensure they align with what your checkout does. Many businesses bundle this into their Business Terms so the “rules” are clear and consistent.

What If You Accidentally Advertise The Wrong Price?

Even well-run businesses make pricing mistakes sometimes. The key is how you respond.

There are two separate questions you’ll usually need to consider:

• Consumer law risk: was your pricing misleading (even if accidental)?
• Contract risk: has a binding sale contract formed at the wrong price?

These are very fact-specific. A price on a shelf, for example, can create a different expectation than a price shown at an online checkout where you also have an order acceptance step.

If you’re trying to set a clear process (especially for online sales), it’s worth getting legal advice so your approach is consistent with the Fair Trading Act and your sales flow.

Are You Legally Required To Sell At The Incorrect Advertised Price?

Many business owners ask this straight away - and it’s understandable. No one wants to lose money over a typo.

In New Zealand, the answer often depends on the circumstances, including:

• how the price was displayed and how prominent it was
• whether the customer had already paid
• whether you had confirmed the order (online) or completed the transaction (in-store)
• whether a reasonable customer would recognise it as an obvious error (for example $2 instead of $2,000)

Even where you might be able to cancel an order due to a genuine pricing error, you still need to handle it carefully. If your communications come across as unfair, inconsistent, or misleading, you can create a bigger consumer law issue.

If you want a deeper dive into what “advertised price” issues look like under consumer law, the principles are closely aligned with what we cover in consumer law advertised price.

How To Handle Pricing Mistakes Without Making Things Worse

If you’ve advertised the wrong price, your best move is usually to act quickly, fix the source of the error, and communicate clearly.

A sensible response plan might look like:

1. Confirm what happened: identify where the incorrect price appeared (website, shelf label, ad, email) and how long it was live.
2. Fix it everywhere: update the website, POS system, labels, and any scheduled ads.
3. Assess affected customers: how many orders were placed? how many people saw the sign? was anyone charged?
4. Decide your remedy: honour price, offer a partial discount, refund, store credit, or cancel orders (depending on the circumstances).
5. Communicate simply and respectfully: explain it was a genuine error, outline what you’ll do next, and provide a support channel.
6. Document the incident: keep screenshots, timestamps, staff notes, and the steps you took to rectify it.

Also make sure your team understands your standard refund and exchange approach. If you don’t already have a clear policy (and matching terms), it’s worth tightening this up through a consistent returns and refunds approach.

Common Pricing Traps For Small Businesses (Online And In-Store)

Most pricing issues aren’t deliberate - they happen because pricing is spread across tools, people, and platforms. Here are the traps we see most often for growing NZ businesses.

Promo Codes And “Stacking” Discounts

If your website allows multiple promotions to stack (for example, a sale price + a discount code + free shipping), you can end up advertising a price that’s not commercially workable.

You can manage this by:

• setting code rules (e.g. “not valid with other offers”) and ensuring the site enforces them
• clearly explaining eligibility conditions before checkout
• testing promotions before they go live

Where you charge fees for cancellations (for example, for custom orders or last-minute cancellations), make sure that pricing and the basis for it is transparent. This is where clear terms and a legally sensible approach to cancellation fees becomes important.

Comparative Pricing Claims Against Competitors

Statements like “cheaper than Brand X” or “best price in NZ” can be risky unless you can back them up. If your comparison is inaccurate, out of date, or based on selective products, it may be misleading.

If you want to run comparison-style marketing, it’s smart to keep evidence and apply consistent criteria (same product, same time, same conditions).

“From $X” Or “Starting At $X” Pricing

“From” pricing can be legitimate, but it can also mislead if it’s not realistically available.

To reduce risk:

• ensure the “from” price is available for a meaningful portion of customers
• make it easy to see what changes the price (size, add-ons, options)
• avoid hiding unavoidable extras that push the price far above the headline

Subscription Or Ongoing Charges

If you sell goods through subscriptions (for example, monthly boxes), your advertising should clearly show:

• the ongoing price and billing frequency
• minimum terms (if any)
• how customers cancel
• any price changes or renewal terms

Subscriptions are an area where consumers can feel “caught out” if key pricing information is not clear upfront.

Practical Compliance Checklist (And How To Set Your Business Up Properly)

The easiest way to avoid pricing disputes is to treat pricing as part of your legal foundations - not just a marketing task.

Here’s a practical checklist you can apply across your business.

Pricing Compliance Checklist

• Price visibility: is the price easy to find before the customer commits to buying?
• Total cost clarity: are compulsory fees and charges disclosed upfront (or at least early and clearly)?
• GST clarity: is it clear whether pricing includes GST, and is it consistent across platforms?
• Promo accuracy: can you substantiate “was/now” and percentage discount claims?
• System alignment: do shelf labels, POS, and online checkout match?
• Error handling process: do staff know what to do if a customer disputes price?
• Record keeping: do you keep evidence for promotions and price changes?
• Contract terms: do your terms clearly explain order acceptance, pricing, refunds, and cancellations?

Documents That Help Support Transparent Pricing

Having the right legal documents won’t replace compliance, but it can reduce confusion, align customer expectations, and support consistent handling of issues.

Depending on how you sell, you might consider:

• eCommerce Terms and Conditions (especially if you sell goods online)
• Business Terms (useful for standardising sales rules, payment, delivery, and disputes)
• A warranty approach aligned with NZ consumer law (many product businesses use a warranty compliance framework to avoid overpromising or contradicting the CGA)

If you’re growing quickly, selling across multiple channels, or running frequent promotions, it’s worth getting a lawyer to sanity-check your end-to-end customer journey - from ad, to product page, to checkout, to post-sale support.

Key Takeaways

• In New Zealand, your advertised price includes prices shown on websites, ads, social media, shelf labels, signage, and marketplaces - not just “formal” advertising.
• The Fair Trading Act 1986 is the key law governing pricing communications, and it requires you to avoid misleading or deceptive pricing impressions.
• Make sure compulsory charges, GST treatment, discounts, and “was/now” promotions are clear and accurate, and can be substantiated if challenged.
• If you accidentally advertise the wrong price, act quickly: fix the error across all channels, communicate clearly with affected customers, and keep records of what happened.
• Strong, consistent terms (and a clear refunds process) help reduce disputes, but they won’t protect you if your pricing presentation is misleading.
• Having a documented internal process for price updates and disputes can prevent small mistakes becoming recurring compliance problems.

If you’d like help getting your pricing disclosures and sales terms set up properly (online or in-store), you can reach us at 0800 002 184 or team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.