design ethics
Drip pricing
What is drip pricing?
Drip pricing shows a low headline price, then adds fees one by one during checkout - booking charges, service fees - so the final total only appears at the end, when you’re least likely to back out.
Also known as: partitioned pricing, hidden fees
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The demo
A £20 gig ticket, through a three-step checkout. Step through it in drip mode and watch the total climb with fees you can't refuse - then switch to all-in and see the honest price from the start.
Total so far: £20.00
Step through checkout and watch the total.
What this demo shows (text version)
A checkout for a ticket with a £20 headline price, in three steps. In drip pricing mode, each step adds a mandatory fee - a booking fee, then a service fee, then a "facility charge" - so the running total climbs to almost £30, and the real cost is only clear on the final step.
In all-in pricing mode, the same total is shown from the first step with the fees included, so there are no surprises. The product and the final price are identical; the only difference is whether the true cost is revealed up front or dripped out once you are committed. The honest approach is to show the all-in price as early as possible.
Hiding the real total by revealing fees step by step makes people less likely to abandon the checkout. Show the full price from the start - people prefer to know the truth upfront, even if it’s higher.
The £20 you came for crept to nearly £30 as each step added a fee you couldn't opt out of. By the final screen you were too far in to start again. Switch to all-in pricing and the honest total was there from the first step. Same product, same total - the trick is purely in when you're told.
The harm is the timing, not the fees themselves. Charges can be legitimate; the deception is dripping them out so the headline looks competitive and the true cost only lands after you've sunk time and intent into the purchase. Regulators increasingly require the all-in price up front for exactly this reason.
My rule: show the price someone will actually pay, as early as you can, fees included. If a fee is unavoidable it isn't really separate from the price - it is the price, and hiding it just trades a moment's better-looking number for a customer who feels tricked at the till. See [bait and switch](/entries/bait-and-switch/) for its close cousin.
Drip pricing manipulates perception by starting with a low price and revealing fees incrementally, making the final cost feel like a surprise - try it in our live demo. This tactic exploits user inertia, so showing the all-in price upfront is far more ethical and transparent - test how it changes behavior in our interactive example.