We explore recent ACCC enforcement action against ‘drip pricing’ practices

The ACCC recently penalised Dendy Cinema Pty Ltd (Dendy) with a $19,800 infringement notice for engaging in ‘drip pricing’ practices. Dendy’s conduct was alleged to fail to clearly show a total single price for movie tickets, including mandatory booking fees, early in the booking process. This move underscores the ACCC’s commitment to enforcing transparent pricing under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

What is ‘drip pricing’?

Drip pricing is when a business advertises a partial price, only to reveal the total price (including unavoidable fees) late in the purchasing process, instead of at the earliest opportunity. Here, Dendy only showed the full price, including the mandatory per-ticket booking fees, at the final stages of the check-out process.

Consumer impact and legal risks

The ACCC considers that drip-pricing can mislead consumers, reducing their ability to make informed choices and luring them into purchases they might not otherwise make.[1] Failure to prominently disclose mandatory fees upfront risks contravening several ACL provisions, including misleading or deceptive conduct, false or misleading representations, and failure to prominently advertise the total single price of a good or service (component pricing).

The ACCC’s track record on transparent pricing

The ACCC is more broadly investigating pricing practices and compliance across the cinema industry including the presentation of per-ticket booking fees. This dovetails with the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priority for 2025-26 concerning misleading surcharges and add-on costs.

The Dendy matter is the latest enforcement action taken by the ACCC against ‘drip pricing’, all involving businesses omitting mandatory fees from advertised prices. Outcomes have ranged from significant civil penalties, infringement notice (as in the case of Dendy), to court enforceable undertakings:

• Dendy: $19,800 infringement notice penalty for failing to display full ticket prices upfront, including an unavoidable per-ticket booking fee (June 2025)
• Webjet: $9 million penalty for advertising airfares without compulsory fees including the ‘Webjet servicing fee’ and ‘booking price guarantee’ fee (penalty agreed in February 2025 but pending court approval). While the ACCC’s concise statement and media release do not refer to drip pricing, undisclosed fees are a classic example of drip pricing.
• Bloomex: $1 million court-imposed penalty for undisclosed surcharges on orders made via its website (March 2024)
• Jetstar and Virgin: $545,000 and $200,000 court-imposed penalty respectively for failing to disclose mandatory booking and service fees charged on bookings paid using most credit cards or PayPal (March 2017)
• Airbnb Ireland and Vacaciones eDreams, SL: court enforceable undertaking to improve pricing practices (October 2015)

Unfair trading practices

Drip pricing was identified as a potential specific prohibition in Treasury’s consultation paper in relation to unfair trading practices, which we wrote about in December, noting that the ACL already contains provisions which require businesses to provide consumers with a ‘single price’ and general provisions around false or misleading representations and misleading and deceptive conduct. The ACCC’s successful track record in prosecuting drip pricing may suggest that the existing law is already capable of addressing the conduct.

Key takeaways for businesses

• Businesses must clearly display the total price of goods or services – including all mandatory fees – at the earliest opportunity in the booking or purchasing process.
• Hiding costs in fine print or late in the process risks complaints, investigation and hefty penalties. Now is the time to review and update online pricing practices to ensure compliance with the ACL.

Image Credit: Film by BrandFlair / Openverse / CC BY 2.0. / Remixed to B&W and resized