Australia's drip pricing rules, from 1 July 2027

What changes on 1 July 2027

The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026 received assent on 2 July 2026, and the whole of it commences on 1 July 2027. It adds section 48A to the Australian Consumer Law, which deals with what the law calls transaction based charges: amounts a customer has to pay on top of the price of the goods, at the same time as the goods.

Delivery is the obvious example for an online store. From that date, a charge of that kind has to be displayed up front rather than appearing at checkout.

There is no transition period after the date, and no exemption for small suppliers.

One date, no phase-in: 1 July 2027.

What you actually have to show

The Act asks for the amount of the charge if it can be calculated at the time the price is displayed, and the method of calculating it if it cannot. The Explanatory Memorandum goes further and describes four things a display should cover: the amount or the method, that the charge is per transaction, whether it is or may be payable, and whether the displayed price includes it.

How it appears matters as much as what it says. The requirement is that the information is legible, prominent and unambiguous, and in close proximity to the base price.

The part most online stores underestimate is that this applies each time a price is displayed. A product page shows a price. So does a collection page, a search results page, a quick view and a cart. A line at checkout alone does not meet a requirement that attaches to every price your shopper sees.

Every price display, not just the checkout.

What if your delivery charge varies?

Plenty of stores cannot know the exact figure until a shopper enters an address. The law anticipates that: where the amount cannot be calculated, what must be displayed is the method of calculating it. The Explanatory Memorandum adds that where part of a charge can be calculated, that part should show its amount.

In practice this is the difference between a line that says delivery is calculated at checkout, which tells a shopper nothing, and one that says delivery starts from $9.95 and varies by state, which tells them what they need to decide whether to keep reading.

Free-delivery thresholds are worth stating for the same reason. A line that reads "Delivery $11.00 per order, free on orders over $100.00" discloses the charge and the threshold in the same breath, and it is also a better sales line than silence.

What happens if you do not

For companies, the maximum penalty is the greater of A$100 million, three times the benefit obtained, or 30 per cent of adjusted turnover during the breach period. Infringement notices also apply to the unfair practices ban.

A note on the figure, because it is wrong in a lot of articles: the first limb was A$50 million until 28 March 2026, when it was doubled. Summaries written before that date, including some from well-known firms, still say A$50 million.

Maximum penalties are for the worst cases and a small store is not the ACCC's first target. The more realistic risk for most merchants is the ordinary one: a complaint, a letter, and having to prove what your store was showing.

A$100 million, not the A$50 million you will still see quoted.

The rest of the reforms, briefly

Drip pricing is the part that touches every online store, but the same Act bans conduct that manipulates a consumer or unreasonably distorts the environment in which they decide. The explanatory material gives examples: unnecessary countdown timers, low-stock notices used as pressure, confirm-shaming, pre-selected checkboxes, and making cancellation hard.

It is explicit that reasonable sales tactics and legitimate marketing are not the target. The question is whether a design element exists to pressure rather than to inform.

There are also new subscription rules. Before someone signs up you have to state that it is a subscription, what they will be liable for, the contract period, renewal terms and how to end it, close to where they agree. If they can sign up online, there must be at least one online way to cancel.

What to do now, in order

First, look at your own store the way a shopper does. Open a product page, a collection page and your cart, and ask whether a delivery charge appears near each price or only at checkout. Most Australian stores find it only appears at checkout.

Second, work out what your own shipping settings actually say. A surprising number of stores have rates that no longer match what the owner believes, which matters more once you are displaying them.

Third, decide how you will keep the display right when your rates change. A line typed into a theme is accurate the day it is written and wrong the first time someone edits a shipping zone.

Fourth, keep a record of what you showed and when. Nobody requires this, but if a question ever arrives, dates are the difference between a conversation and an argument.

There is time. The point of doing it in 2026 rather than June 2027 is that you can do it calmly, and that any mistake surfaces long before it costs anything.

What is still unknown

No regulations and no ACCC guidance had been published when this was last checked. Regulations can prescribe charges out of scope, and guidance may settle questions the Act leaves open, including exactly how prominent a disclosure has to be.

Anyone telling you precisely what the ACCC will accept is guessing. What is knowable now is the text of the Act and the explanatory material, which is what this page is drawn from.

This page is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. If the answer matters to your business, get advice from someone who can give it.

Guidance is expected before 1 July 2027. Nobody has it yet.