100% Australian owned and operated
The short version
- What it is: prices marked ex GST, +GST or excludes taxes and fees, with the total only at the last step.
- Why it works: you compare and decide on the smaller number. By the time the total appears, you’ve put in the time and it feels too late to start again.
- How to beat it: multiply by 1.1 as you go, or click through to the last screen before you decide.
- At Chill Domains: every price we charge is shown including GST, from the first page to the checkout.
What does it look like?
The cart shows one price. The order summary, a step or two later, shows another.
- 1The cart price is before GST, and says so only in small type.
- 2A fee you didn’t see in the cart joins the GST in the order summary.
- 3The total is 18.6% more than the price you compared.
The cart said $24.99, before GST. The total was $29.63 inc GST. If you’d been comparing that $24.99 against another seller’s price with GST included, you were comparing the wrong numbers.
Why does it work on us?
We decide early and check late. By the time the order summary appears, you’ve searched, chosen, maybe made an account, and starting again somewhere else feels like a waste. A few dollars more doesn’t seem worth that. The trick relies on it.
Where else will I see it?
Booking and service fees on event tickets, airline fees for bags and seats, delivery and service fees on food apps, and “resort fees” on hotels. Software and hosting sold to businesses is often priced before GST too.
How do I work out the real price?
- Look for ex GST, +GST, excl. tax or taxes and fees calculated at checkout.
- Multiply a before-GST price by 1.1. $24.99 before GST is $27.49 inc GST.
- Click through to the order summary before you decide, and compare totals, not line prices.
- Look for fees: processing, service, admin, card. They often arrive at the same step as the GST.
What does the law say?
Under the Australian Consumer Law, if a business advertises part of a price to consumers, it must also show the single total price, as prominently. That total includes GST, other compulsory fees and anything pre-selected. The rule doesn’t cover offers made only to companies, and many domain buyers are businesses, so you’ll still see before-GST prices on sites aimed at them.
From 1 July 2027, a new law adds stricter rules on compulsory per-transaction fees, for things people usually buy for personal or household use: the fee has to be shown alongside the base price, not in fine print or on another page.
What does Chill Domains do instead?
At Chill Domains. Every price we charge is shown including GST, from the first page you see to the checkout, and our cart shows the total, inc GST, before you sign in or create anything. The price you see is the price you pay.
Questions people ask
Why do some domain sellers show prices before GST?
Is it legal to show prices without GST?
How do I add GST to a price?
Sources
- Deceptive Patterns: Hidden costs, Harry Brignull’s catalogue of deceptive design.
- ACCC: component pricing and WA Consumer Protection: price display, on showing a single total price.
- Australia’s new unfair trading practices laws (Ashurst, 2026) and the Parliamentary Library’s Bills Digest: the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026, passed in July 2026, with its new rules starting on 1 July 2027.
- Chill Domains pricing and our promises: our own prices and terms, as at 27 October 2026.
General information, not legal or financial advice. We sell domains, so read this as a seller’s view.
Keep reading
- Dark patterns in the domain business: every pattern we’ve written up, and the case files.
- Intro pricing: the cheap first year it usually comes with.
- Extras in the cart: the other things that turn up in the order summary.
- Case file 2: the $0.05 domain and its checkout: a subtotal that didn’t include taxes and fees.