Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
If postage and packaging fees apply, these must be made clear in the ad.
If set delivery charges apply per product and consumers have no option but to pay these charges to receive the product, the cost should be included in the stated product price (rule 3.18). See Groupon, 30 May 2018.
If the delivery charges apply per order, then it is likely to be acceptable to state that these charges apply close to any stated prices, and to state the associated cost in a prominent qualification.
If the delivery charges cannot be calculated in advance, the ad must make it clear that the fee is chargeable (rule 3.20), that the charge is excluded from the advertised price, and how those charges will be calculated (rule 3.19).
An ad for event tickets on the Get Me In website stated "Prices may vary from face value and exclude order & delivery fees [hyperlink] (applicable per transaction)”. The ASA considered that the UK delivery fee could have been calculated in advance, and therefore the ad should have stated the applicable UK delivery charge alongside the ticket price. Because it did not, the ASA found the ad to be misleading (GETMEIN! Ltd, 07 March 2018). See also Deliveroo, 04 December 2019.
See Compulsory costs and charges: Delivery Charges for more information.
To legitimately describe a product as “free”, promoters may charge only for the minimum, unavoidable cost of responding and collecting or paying for delivery of the item. In other words, promoters can charge for the actual, uninflated cost of postage, but must not charge the consumer for any packing, packaging, handling or administration in relation to the “free” item, as per rule3.24.1 (see PUA Training Ltd, 04 September 2013). This applies to direct or indirect forms of payment, and will apply even if the promoter requires consumers to provide the packaging (e.g. by sending the promoter a Jiffy bag or envelope).Advertisers should not state that any fee is postage only, if it also includes packaging. The ASA ruled against and ad which quoted an amount as “postage” which included packing (Woods Supplements, 27 June 2007).
The ASA upheld complaints about an app for a photo printing company which stated “FREE PHOTO PRINTS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR”. In some cases, consumers were paying more than the minimum cost of postage to obtain the “free” prints, therefore the prints should not have been described as “free”. In addition, the ad breached the Code because it did not make clear that consumers had to pay for postage to obtain the free prints (PlanetArt UK Ltd, 03 August 2022).
See Sharnam Art, 06 March 2013 for another example of an advertiser inflating the delivery charge for a product costing £0.01.
For detailed advice and further examples of relevant rulings, including in respect of “free delivery” and “free item” claims, see Compulsory costs and charges: Delivery Charges.
Use of free may also be of assistance.