The question comes up in almost every first conversation, usually after twenty minutes and usually a little sheepishly: should we actually put our prices on the website? What sits behind it is rarely doubt about the company's own calculation. It is the worry of being pinned down, compared and losing jobs before anyone has even picked up the phone. This article sorts the question into three parts: what price information has to do with visitor behaviour, what the German Price Indication Ordinance requires, and which form of presentation suits which business.
Key takeaways
- Towards consumers the Price Indication Ordinance applies: anyone offering goods or services, or advertising with prices, has to state the total price including VAT (Section 3(1)).
- Towards recipients who are not consumers, the Service Information Obligations Ordinance applies. It asks for less: the price on request, the basis of calculation, or a cost estimate (Section 4(1) no. 2).
- Three forms of presentation cover most businesses: a starting price where scope varies, a price range where differences are explainable, a package price where the scope is cut to size. One form per page.
- In user tests by the Nielsen Norman Group on 179 business-to-business websites the task success rate was 58 percent; as a comparison the source names 66 percent for mainstream websites (Nielsen Norman Group 2006). Pricing ranks among the most sought-after information there.
- Where a price is broken down, the total price has to be highlighted (Section 3(3)). One line below the price card carrying the VAT note, the scope of work and the price date usually covers this.
- Give maintenance a fixed date: check the price date once a quarter, name one person in charge and carry changes into quote templates in the same pass.
Why the price question comes before the phone call
The sequence of an enquiry has shifted. Anyone looking for a trade business, a planning office or an agency today gathers information alone first: several websites one after another, then a shortlist. The phone call sits at the end of that stretch, not at the start. The Nielsen Norman Group has observed this behaviour in user testing for years and describes pricing as the piece of information business customers most need online (Nielsen Norman Group 2013). Where it is missing, the visitor fills the gap with an assumption, and assumptions rarely fall in the provider's favour.
The measured figures are uncomfortable. In a 2006 study in which participants tested 179 business-to-business websites, the task success rate stood at 58 percent; as a point of comparison the source names 66 percent for mainstream websites (Nielsen Norman Group 2006). The third edition of the associated report rests on a separate, more recent round of research and draws on 293 tested websites (Nielsen Norman Group). Price information is a recurring point in it, not a side note.
Prices do not work in isolation. They are one trust signal among several; how they interact with references, reachability and legal texts is covered in our article on trust signals on your website. For the price question this means: a figure without context builds less confidence than a figure with a reason. The amount on its own answers none of the questions a visitor actually has.
What a price statement achieves
What the Price Indication Ordinance requires
Before design comes the legal frame, because it shapes the form. Under Section 1(1), the German Price Indication Ordinance governs the indication of prices for goods or services by traders towards consumers (Price Indication Ordinance). The scope is therefore clearly drawn: it is about the relationship with private customers, not about every price conversation a business has.
Anyone who, as a trader, offers goods or services to consumers or advertises towards them stating prices has to indicate the total prices under Section 3(1) (Price Indication Ordinance). Total price means the price payable including value added tax and other price components (Section 2 no. 3). For a website that simply means: a net amount without a VAT note does not meet the requirement towards private customers.
- The total price is shown, not just a partial amount: including VAT and other price components (Section 2 no. 3).
- The statement is unambiguously assigned to the offer and is easy to identify and clearly legible or otherwise readily perceivable (Section 1(3) nos. 1 and 2).
- Where the price is broken down, for instance into setup and running costs, the total price is highlighted (Section 3(3)).
- Where the contract is concluded via the website, the note on VAT included and the statement on whether freight, delivery or shipping costs apply are added (Section 6(1)).
- Where such costs do apply, their amount is stated as far as it can reasonably be calculated in advance (Section 6(2)).
Angaben über Preise müssen der allgemeinen Verkehrsauffassung und den Grundsätzen von Preisklarheit und Preiswahrheit entsprechen.
The sentence sounds abstract but has a very practical consequence. A price that is only reachable via three clicks, a form or a download is hardly easy to identify. And a starting price to which items every job needs are regularly added touches on truthful pricing, even if the figure is correct in itself. Anyone building a pricing page therefore first checks which items occur in every job; those belong inside the stated price.
The ordinance also contains one relief: a willingness to negotiate the stated price may be indicated, as far as this corresponds to general commercial practice and no legal provisions conflict with it (Section 3(2) sentence 2, Price Indication Ordinance). An addition such as "we agree scope and price at the appointment" therefore does not contradict the price statement; it is expressly provided for.
Consumers or companies: two sets of rules
Many businesses serve both sides: a property management company in the morning, a family in the afternoon. Legally these are two different sets of rules, and the difference explains why some sectors show prices and others do not. Drawing that line lets you tailor your own site deliberately instead of aligning with the strictest conceivable case.
Towards consumers the Price Indication Ordinance applies with its duty to state the total price. Towards recipients of services who are not consumers, the Service Information Obligations Ordinance applies. It asks for less: where the price has not been fixed in advance, it must be named on request, alternatively the details of the calculation or a cost estimate (Section 4(1) no. 2, Service Information Obligations Ordinance). And expressly: that paragraph does not apply to consumers (Section 4(2)).
| Aspect | Private customers | Business customers |
|---|---|---|
| Set of rules | Price Indication Ordinance | Service Information Obligations Ordinance |
| What is required | State the total price including VAT (Section 3(1)) | Price on request, basis of calculation or cost estimate (Section 4(1) no. 2) |
| When | When offering and when advertising with prices | Before conclusion of contract or before the service is provided |
| Presentation | Unambiguously assigned, easy to identify, clearly legible (Section 1(3)) | In a clear and comprehensible form (Section 4(1)) |
| Value added tax | Contained in the total price (Section 2 no. 3) | No corresponding requirement in the ordinance |
In practice this means: anyone working mainly for private customers can hardly avoid a complete price statement once they advertise with prices. Anyone serving mainly business customers has more room and often gives it away, because visitors look for an order of magnitude regardless. For an online shop run by local retailers the question does not arise at all: there the price is part of the product.
Small business rule
Three forms that work without a price list
The most common objection to prices on the website is: every job is different. That is often true and still not an argument against a statement. For exactly this case the Nielsen Norman Group recommends showing prices for typical scenarios, a price range or a manufacturer's suggested retail price where exact costs are unrealistic (Nielsen Norman Group 2013). For businesses with many combinations the same advice holds: sample prices for a set of typical orders help (Nielsen Norman Group 2006). The difference from a classic price list is that nobody has to itemise every position. If you are weighing up a builder tool against ongoing support, the comparison sits in our article on website builder or web agency.
Starting price
An entry amount with a clearly named scope. It suits work that is cleanly bounded at the lower end and grows upwards. Condition: what the starting price contains is stated next to it, otherwise the figure conflicts with truthful pricing.
Price range
Two ends with a reason in between. It suits work where the difference is explainable: scope, material, travel. Both ends should occur in reality; a range whose lower end is hardly ever awarded loses its purpose.
Package price
A fixed amount for a scope cut to size. It suits recurring work and makes quotes comparable. Where it is broken down into setup and running costs, the total price has to be highlighted (Section 3(3)).
Which form fits depends less on the sector than on the spread of your jobs. Where most jobs of the past months sit close together, a package price carries. Where they spread widely, a range is more honest. And where the scope is only settled after an on-site appointment, the starting price with a named scope is the most robust variant. Three forms side by side on one page, by contrast, are rarely helpful: they hand the decision back to the visitor.
The one line that counts
What belongs on the pricing page and what beside it
A pricing page is not a price list. It is the page on which a visitor checks whether a conversation is worth having. So alongside the figure it mainly carries what the figure means. How that translates into a page structure is shown in our article on what a website costs, using our own sector as the example. Shorter answers to recurring price questions belong next to it in the frequently asked questions.
- The price statement itself, in one of the three forms, visible on a phone without scrolling.
- The scope of work in bullet points: what is included and what is expressly not.
- The mandatory line with the VAT note, the price date and, where relevant, the note on freight, delivery or shipping costs (Section 6(1)).
- For ongoing services the minimum term directly next to the price, not in a footnote.
- One sentence on willingness to discuss or negotiate, where that applies (Section 3(2) sentence 2).
- A route into a conversation that works without price negotiation: a callback, a proposed appointment or a short form.
<article class="preiskarte">
<h3>Package: base setup</h3>
<p class="betrag">{{ gesamtpreis }} euros</p>
<ul class="umfang">
<li>{{ leistung_1 }}</li>
<li>{{ leistung_2 }}</li>
</ul>
<p class="pflichtzeile">
Total price including VAT.
Minimum term {{ laufzeit }}. Price date {{ stand }}.
</p>
</article>The mandatory line belongs inside the card itself, not in a tooltip on hover and not in a footnote at the foot of the page. It has to be unambiguously assigned to the offer and perceivable without a detour (Section 1(3), Price Indication Ordinance). Where several cards sit side by side, the line is repeated per card; one shared footnote below all three usually does not satisfy the assignment.
Visually the card carries less than one might think. More important than colour and border is that the amount stays legible on a phone without zooming and that the scope list does not disappear behind an accordion. What that means for page structure is described on our web design page.
What happens when the price is missing
Besides the conversion side, the question has a competition law side. For an offer that enables a purchase, the German Act against Unfair Competition counts certain items among the material information. That expressly includes the total price or, where it cannot be calculated in advance because of the nature of the service, the manner in which the price is calculated (Act against Unfair Competition).
der Gesamtpreis oder in Fällen, in denen ein solcher Preis auf Grund der Beschaffenheit der Ware oder Dienstleistung nicht im Voraus berechnet werden kann, die Art der Preisberechnung
The condition matters: the provision applies where goods or services are offered with reference to their characteristics and their price in such a way that an average consumer can conclude the transaction (Section 5b(1)). A service page that invites a conversation is therefore usually not such an offer. A page with a shopping basket is. The line does not run at the word price but at the possibility of concluding the deal.
For practice that means two things. First: not naming a price is not automatically unfair. Second: whoever names one, names it in full. The expensive mistake is rarely the missing statement but the half one – a net amount without a VAT note, a monthly price without a term, a starting price that practically does not occur without extra items. How visitors turn into enquiries is described in our article on turning visitors into enquiries.
Maintaining prices: date, ownership, rhythm
The most common reason for a wrong price statement is not a legal error but a forgotten page. Prices rarely sit in one place: on the pricing page, in two service texts, on a landing page from last year, in a PDF in the download area. Changes are made in the first place and overlooked in the rest. After two years, three different amounts sit on the same domain.
A short inventory before the first change helps: where does a figure appear, who may change it, when is it checked. Three lines in a document are enough. More important than the tool is that the check has a date. Three commands are enough to make the inventory visible.
The first line counts the places where an amount appears. The second shows which pages carry no price date. The third checks whether the pricing page is served at all; the case where it sits under a different address after a relaunch occurs more often than expected. Anyone reviewing contracts and data processing regularly anyway can hang the price check on the same date; how such a review runs is described in the article on checking data processing agreements.
A plan for four weeks
The rebuild is smaller than it feels. Four weeks are usually enough if you keep the order and do not skip the evaluation.
- Week 1: inventory. Collect every place where an amount appears and look at the spread of the last twenty jobs. The form of presentation follows from that.
- Week 2: settle the form and write the mandatory line. VAT, scope of work, price date, and for ongoing services the minimum term.
- Week 3: build the pricing page and link to it from two or three service pages. One form per page, not three side by side.
- Week 4: measure. Compare enquiries before and after the change and take the season out of the comparison.
The last point is where most evaluations tip over: measuring in September and comparing with August measures the season along with it. How to separate a seasonal effect from the effect of a page is described in the article on seasonal pages before the season starts. For the ongoing evaluation of enquiries, our page on conversion optimization is the entry point.
One change at a time
Common objections and what sits behind them
Reservations about price statements look similar across sectors. They are understandable but often lead to a decision that creates more work for the business than dealing openly with the figure.
Then everyone compares us
The comparison happens anyway, just without your figures. An amount with a named scope shifts the comparison from the number to the content; without a statement, only the other side's number is left.
We lose budget-conscious enquiries
Enquiries that fail on budget still cost time: appointment, measuring, quote, follow-up. Naming the order of magnitude beforehand loses the enquiry earlier and keeps the effort.
Our prices change too often
That is what the price date is for. A date next to the figure turns an outdated statement into a dated one. Together with a fixed quarterly review that is usually sufficient.
That leaves the question of how much effect the price statement itself has. It can only be judged together with the other levers; which ones matter for local businesses is collected in our article on more enquiries for local businesses. Anyone who would rather not handle maintenance themselves will find the ongoing frame in our website subscription; the overview of everything else sits in our services.
As a rule we recommend one form of presentation per page and one mandatory line per price statement. Both are done in an afternoon and save more follow-up questions over a year than any additional subpage.
Which form suits your own job profile can usually be settled in a short conversation: the spread of your jobs, the share of private customers, the number of places carrying amounts. For an assessment of your specific case, a message through the contact form is enough.
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