If you quote a price in an Instagram DM and then add a travel fee, a deposit surcharge or a booking charge before the customer pays, Canadian law has a name for that: drip pricing. It is not a grey area, and it applies to a one-person business the same way it applies to a cinema chain.
What the law actually says
Drip pricing is prohibited under the Competition Act and enforced by the Competition Bureau. The rule is simpler than it sounds: the price you advertise has to be a price the customer can actually obtain.
Amendments have tightened this further. The only amounts that may be left out of an advertised price are fixed, mandatory charges imposed by law directly on the purchaser, such as sales tax. Everything else you intend to collect has to be in the number you show first.
That last point is where most small vendors get caught. A travel fee is yours, not the government's. So is a setup fee, a card surcharge, a "deposit admin" charge, or a weekend rate you apply after the fact. None of those can appear only at the end.
What this looks like for a home-based vendor
Three common patterns are a problem:
The starting price that never applies. Advertising "lashes from $60" when nobody actually pays $60 because every set has a mandatory add-on. If the lowest real price is $80, that is your advertised price.
The fee revealed in the DM. A menu says $200. The customer asks to book and is told there is a $30 travel fee within the city. That fee was always going to apply, so it belonged in the $200.
The surcharge at payment. Adding a percentage when someone pays by card or e-transfer, after the price was agreed.
Optional extras are different. A genuinely optional add-on the customer can decline is not part of the mandatory price. The test is whether they can realistically obtain the service without paying it.
Why this is being enforced now
The Bureau has pursued drip pricing across ticketing, car rentals and cinema tickets, and the deceptive marketing provisions remain an enforcement priority. Remedies include orders to stop, published corrective notices, restitution to customers and administrative monetary penalties.
Realistically, a home-based lash tech is not the Bureau's next target. But the practical risk is not a federal investigation. It is a customer who feels the price changed on them, tells other people, and does not come back. The rule exists because the practice reliably makes people feel misled.
How to price so this is a non-issue
Put everything mandatory into the headline number. If travel inside your city always applies, build it in and say "travel included." If a service genuinely starts at a number, make sure someone can book at that number.
Where a real range exists, publish the range rather than the floor. "Volume sets $110-$160 depending on length" is honest and useful. "From $110" when almost nobody pays $110 is the pattern the law targets.
Tax is the exception. You may show your price before sales tax, as long as the rest of the number is complete.
How BuzzGram handles this
When a vendor sets a price on a service, the pay button shows the full amount the card will be charged, including our 5% service charge. There is no second number at checkout and nothing is added afterwards.
We built it that way deliberately. A button that says one number and a checkout that says another is precisely the pattern described above, and it would be our name on the page as much as the vendor's.
The same rule shapes what a customer sees when browsing. Prices on a vendor's page are the vendor's own published figures, so the number you compare is the number you pay. For the vendor, that is one fewer awkward conversation. For the customer, it is the reason the comparison is worth anything.
FAQ
Does this apply to me if I only take bookings through Instagram DMs?
Yes. The law is about advertising a price to the public, not about which platform you use. A price in a post, a story, a highlight or a menu screenshot is an advertised price.
Can I still charge a travel fee?
Yes, but it needs to be visible upfront rather than revealed once someone is committed. If it varies by distance, say so and give the range. If it always applies within your service area, include it in the price.
What about deposits?
Deposits are fine. A deposit is part of the total price, not an extra on top of it, so the customer should be able to see the full cost and what portion is due now.
Is sales tax included in the advertised price?
It does not have to be. Fixed charges imposed by law directly on the purchaser, such as sales tax, may be excluded. Fees you set yourself may not.
What if my price genuinely depends on the customer?
Then publish a range or a consultation price rather than a single figure. Nothing requires you to name one number for work that varies. What the rule targets is naming a low number that is not actually available.
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