From 1 July 2027, a price shown for blinds or shutters must carry any compulsory fee beside it. A price said aloud is outside the rule

What the drip pricing rule requires

The new section 48A of the Australian Consumer Law covers goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption. When a business offering them displays a base price, meaning an amount that includes a payment for the goods or services themselves, it must also display four things about any transaction based charge: its amount, or the method for working it out if the amount cannot yet be calculated; that it is a per transaction charge; whether it is or may be payable; and whether the price shown already includes it.

That information has to appear while the price is displayed, close to it, and in a legible, prominent and unambiguous way. The explanatory memorandum says the point is that the information is not hidden in fine print or obscured, including behind another web page or a pop-up. A note in the Act says the rule applies each time a base price is displayed, so it follows a price through every stage of a checkout.

A transaction based charge is one that is payable at the same time as the goods or services, but is not a payment for the goods or services themselves. The Act then takes several kinds of charge out of the definition.

Inside the rule

from 1 July 2027

• A price on a website or in an appexplanatory memorandum, para 1.58
• A price in a television advertisement or on a posterpara 1.58
• The price at each stage of a checkout, which can differ from stage to stages 48A(2), note 2
• The compulsory part of a charge that is only partly optionalpara 1.67

Outside the rule

exclusions in the Act and memorandum

• A price said aloud, because no price is displayedpara 1.58
• A charge the buyer can choose not to pays 48A(8)(a)
• A surcharge for paying by card or another payment methods 48A(8)(b)
• A tax, duty, fee or levy imposed on the suppliers 48A(8)(c)
• An offer made only to companiess 48A(4)
• Any charge a regulation excludes. None was among Treasury’s listed consultations on 28 October 2026s 48A(8)(e)

Where window coverings fit

The Act does not mention blinds, curtains or shutters, or any trade. What follows is our reading of its wording and the memorandum against three places a window-covering price can appear.

• Online. A price for a blind on a website is an amount that includes the goods, so it is a base price. If a checkout adds a compulsory fee on each order, the rule wants that fee shown beside the price at every step, not first revealed at the end.
• In a showroom. A price on a tag or a sample board is displayed. The same applies.
• At home. A figure spoken during a measure is outside the rule: the memorandum says the requirements are not enlivened through a verbal offer to supply. A written or emailed quote does display a price. The memorandum does not mention quotes, but every example it gives of a display is written or shown, and the only exclusion it names is the spoken one.

What the law leaves open for this trade

Everything turns on whether a fee is a payment for the goods or services themselves. Delivery, a measure-and-quote visit and installation are the extras this page is about, and neither the Act nor the memorandum says which side of that line any of them sits on. A measure-and-quote fee paid when the visit is booked may also fall outside for a second reason: the definition covers a charge payable at the same time as the goods or services, and a fee paid to book the visit is paid before anything has been ordered. Installation sold as part of the job may be part of what is being bought rather than a charge on top of it. These are questions for the regulators and, in the end, the courts.

What already applies

The new section does not replace the existing single price rule in section 48, and says so (s 48A(10)). Under section 48, a business that states part of the price of household goods or services must also state, prominently and as a single figure, the single price: the minimum total that can be worked out at the time, including compulsory charges payable to that business. Delivery is the one exception. A delivery charge may be left out of the single price, but if the business knows the minimum delivery charge, it must state that amount (s 48(2) and (3)).

The ban on unfair trading practices

From the same date, section 28B says a business must not engage in unfair trading practices: conduct that manipulates a consumer, or unreasonably distorts the setting in which they decide, and causes or is likely to cause them detriment. The Act’s own examples include failing to disclose material information and creating an environment that puts the consumer under unreasonable pressure. The memorandum’s examples of manipulation include false urgency, or the use of confusing, frustrating or high-pressure tactics, and it says the ban reaches offline sales such as in-store as well as apps and websites. It also says the ban is not meant to catch legitimate, reasonable or generally accepted marketing or sales practices. Nothing in section 28B depends on a price being displayed, so the exclusion for a spoken offer in the drip pricing rule does not carry over to it. Neither section is in force yet, so no court has applied either.

Our view

Our view, labelled as such. The practical step for a buyer is the same now as it will be in 2027: ask for the price in writing, with every fee listed. Writing is what the single price rule already reads and what the drip pricing rule will reach; a figure said across a kitchen table is reached by neither. For made-to-measure blinds and shutters the new rule will mean less than its headline until someone says where delivery, measuring and installation fall, and the Act leaves that to regulations and guidance that do not yet exist. We will report any regulation that excludes a charge, and any regulator’s guidance on the rule, when either is published.