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Is your first price your real price?
We check your online checkout like a customer would, from the first price they see to the total before payment. You see the fees that were not in the first price, with dated screenshots, reviewed by a person.
Built for small businesses that sell online
Why it matters now
- United States: the FTC fee rule (since May 2025) covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging. California and a growing list of states (Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon, Connecticut, DC) have all-in price laws of their own that also reach many other kinds of businesses.
- Canada: drip pricing can be a deceptive practice under the Competition Act, and Quebec requires the advertised price to include every fee.
- Booking systems can change their checkout pages without telling you, and one setting can move a fee out of the first price.
How it works
- You send the page where customers start booking or buying, and confirm it is your own checkout.
- Our scanner walks the checkout like a shopper. It never pays, never enters personal data and never gets around bot protection.
- It compares the first price shown with the total before payment, and sorts every line: fee, government tax, optional add-on, discount.
- A person reviews every result before you see it.
- You get a report: first price vs. total, the fees that were not in the first price, the rules they may relate to, and fingerprinted screenshots. With monitoring, we re-check on a schedule and email you when a new reviewed report is ready.
Checkout our scanner can't reach? Use capture mode: click through your own checkout in your own browser with our extension. Many listings? Connect Hostaway, Guesty or Lodgify and we check the fees each listing adds, without visiting your website.
What a finding looks like
Example from a public vacation-rental listing in Texas that we looked at during our research, on 17 Oct 2026 (business not named; prices change with dates):
| First price shown | $324 / night |
| Total before payment (2 nights, with taxes) | $846.83 |
| Mandatory fee not in the first price | Cleaning fee $150 |
| Nightly price with mandatory fees, before tax | $399.45 (+23%) |
Each finding shows the screenshots and the rules it may relate to. We report what we saw; whether it breaks a law is for you and your lawyer to decide.
Prices
| Plan | For | US price | Canadian price |
|---|---|---|---|
| First check | One checkout, one reviewed report. No card needed. | Free | Free |
| One-time audit | Anyone: one reviewed report per checkout. | US$290 per checkout, one-time | CA$395 per checkout, one-time |
| Quarterly check | 1 listing or venue, checked every 3 months. | US$99 per quarter | CA$135 per quarter |
| Monthly check | 1 to 5 listings, checked every month. | US$49 per month | CA$67 per month |
| Weekly monitoring | 6 or more listings, or venues with weekly events, checked every week. | US$12 per listing per month (minimum US$199 per month) | CA$16 per listing per month (minimum CA$270 per month) |
Prices are for businesses and exclude any applicable sales tax; there are no other fees. Quarterly and monthly plans renew at the end of each period until you cancel, which you can do at any time from your account.
What we don't do
- We don't give legal opinions or "compliant" stamps. Our reports are findings, not legal advice.
- We prepare reports only on a business's own checkout, at that business's request. We don't scan competitors for you, and we don't send "we found problems on your site" emails to anyone who didn't ask.
- For research (for example, how often checkouts change), we sometimes look at public booking pages the way a shopper would, within the sites' robots.txt rules, and publish results only in aggregate, without naming any business.
- We never complete a purchase or enter personal details. How our scanner behaves.
Guides
The FTC fee rule for live-event venues, ticket sellers and short-term rentals
Since 12 May 2025, US live-event tickets and short-term lodging must show the total price, with all mandatory fees, whenever a price is shown.
California SB 478 checklist: is your advertised price the full price?
Since 1 July 2024, prices shown to California customers must include every mandatory fee except government taxes and shipping, in almost every sector.
State all-in price laws: Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon, Connecticut and DC
Seven more places now require the advertised price to include mandatory fees, for almost every kind of business.
Canada drip pricing after the Ticketmaster ruling (and why Quebec is different)
A fee revealed only at checkout is still the risk case federally. In Quebec, the advertised price must already include every fee.
Prix tout inclus au Québec : ce que la loi exige des commerçants
Au Québec, le prix annoncé doit comprendre tous les frais, sauf la TPS, la TVQ et certains droits publics. Les afficher à part ne suffit pas.
Findings, not legal advice. · Terms (draft) · Privacy (draft)
UpfrontCheck is not affiliated with the booking, ticketing or ordering platforms named on this site.