Freeze every price-bearing surface and the governing terms
Capture the headline, unit rate, crossed-out amount, percentage, free label, plan table, footnote, call to action, checkout, renewal message, calculator, ad, email, affiliate copy, and structured data. Record the offer version, audience, region, currency, tax treatment, date, owner, and governing terms. The audit evaluates the complete impression and actual commitment.
Use pass, revise, escalate, and stop. Stop when the promoted offer does not exist, required charges are unavailable, the reference basis is unsupported, or the transaction contradicts the display. Escalate legal, tax, accounting, financing, or consumer-rights issues. Do not describe planned checks as completed testing.
Evidence: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; UK Competition and Markets Authority; U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Points 1–4: offer, audience, unit, and cash timing
Point 1 identifies product, plan, version, region, channel, eligibility, and required configuration. Point 2 defines the user scenario and capability being compared. Point 3 states the billing unit, quantity, minimum, and rounding. Point 4 shows when money is charged, including prepayment, deposit, financing, and installment timing.
Keep the original unit beside any normalized monthly or daily equivalent. Do not compare plans that cannot perform the same required job. A low unit price available only at a high quantity or annual commitment needs that condition in the same decision context.
1. Exact offer and eligibility are bounded.
2. Reader scenario and required job are stated.
3. Billing unit, minimum, and rounding are defined.
4. Payment amount and timing are visible.
Evidence: UK Competition and Markets Authority; U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Points 5–8: reference basis, mandatory charges, usage, and taxes
Point 5 traces a former price, comparable value, competitor amount, percentage saving, or free component to dated evidence. Point 6 lists setup, delivery, service, equipment, add-ons, support, and compatible products required for the scenario. Point 7 models variable units, thresholds, allowances, overage, and a reasonable range. Point 8 states known tax, currency, and exchange assumptions.
If a charge cannot be known in advance, explain the calculation route and range rather than implying zero. Keep constructed usage scenarios labeled. The eCFR pricing guides provide U.S. context for several comparison representations; obtain jurisdiction-specific legal review before relying on them.
5. Reference price or value basis is documented.
6. Required components and charges are included.
7. Usage range and overage rules are modeled.
8. Tax, currency, and exchange assumptions are stated.
Evidence: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; UK Competition and Markets Authority
Points 9–12: renewal, horizon total, effort, and change cost
Point 9 records introductory period, renewal date, cadence, future amount, automatic conversion, and price-change exposure. Point 10 calculates total cash at a defined horizon and shows the arithmetic. Point 11 describes setup, migration, learning, administration, and maintenance effort separately from money. Point 12 examines scaling, upgrades, added users, storage, integration, and service changes.
Use more than one horizon when duration could alter the choice. Do not monetize labor without naming the person, time assumption, and value. Keep qualitative capacity and accessibility constraints outside a false-precision total. Identify who bears each change risk.
9. Introductory and renewal states are both visible.
10. Total by a named horizon is reproducible.
11. Human effort is recorded separately from cash.
12. Growth and change costs are bounded.
Evidence: UK Competition and Markets Authority; OECD
Points 13–15: exit, alternatives, and digital disclosure
Point 13 records notice, cancellation, refund, remaining commitment, data export, equipment return, termination fee, replacement, and switching work. Point 14 includes lower-cost, different-model, delay, and no-purchase alternatives when relevant. Point 15 verifies that all material qualifications remain clear and usable on small screens, assistive technology, video, audio, email, and partner pages.
An inexpensive entry can be unsuitable when exit is unavailable or the alternative requires excessive work. A disclosure cannot repair a fundamentally incomplete price impression. Ask a reviewer what is charged today, later, under ordinary use, and on cancellation; compare the answers with terms and checkout.
13. Cancellation and switching consequences are included.
14. Relevant alternatives and no-purchase path are visible.
15. Qualifications function across channels and devices.
Evidence: UK Competition and Markets Authority; U.S. Federal Trade Commission; OECD
Points 16 and 17: source freshness and correction reach
Point 16 attaches a primary source, access date, verification status, and uncertainty to every amount or rule. Point 17 inventories all derivatives and assigns a correction owner and trigger. Triggers include price, plan, tax, currency, meter, renewal, eligibility, cancellation, and product changes.
Expire stale calculators and comparison tables instead of allowing precise but obsolete totals to remain indexed. Reconcile partners and structured data after correction. Preserve superseded records so later reviewers can understand why the price changed without treating old terms as current.
16. Every amount and term has a dated source.
17. Recheck triggers, owner, and downstream inventory are assigned.
Evidence: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Interpret the audit as a bounded decision record
Pass only for the frozen offer, audience, scenario, horizon, and jurisdictions. Revise when current evidence supports a narrower or better-labeled presentation. Escalate when legal or financial expertise is required. Stop when a hard condition fails; never average hidden mandatory cost or missing exit into a favorable overall score.
Recheck by 2027-02-10 and sooner after any point-17 trigger. eCFR and FTC provide official U.S. materials, CMA provides UK regulator context, and OECD adds independent international research on price framing. None certifies financial suitability or legal compliance for a specific transaction.
- Pass the documented scope only.
- Revise unsupported precision or hierarchy.
- Escalate consequential expertise gaps.
- Stop when total commitment cannot be reconstructed.
Evidence: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; UK Competition and Markets Authority; U.S. Federal Trade Commission; OECD
Sources and further reading
These references informed this article. A source supports a claim; it does not imply endorsement of TenMultigure or any future product reference.
- 16 CFR Part 233 — Guides Against Deceptive PricingElectronic Code of Federal Regulations · Accessed August 10, 2026
Supports the U.S.-scope release checks for former prices, comparable values, free offers, and limited-price representations in the frozen commercial message.
- Online choice architectureUK Competition and Markets Authority · Accessed August 10, 2026
Provides UK regulator context for auditing hidden charges, subscription design, discount framing, pressure, and the practical availability of exit.
- .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital AdvertisingU.S. Federal Trade Commission · Accessed August 10, 2026
Informs the release gate for making renewal, eligibility, required fees, and other material price qualifications noticeable and usable online.
- Dark commercial patternsOECD · Accessed August 10, 2026
Adds independent international analysis of price framing and consumer-choice effects to the audit without functioning as legal or financial approval.
Reviewed by TenMultigure Editorial Team. See an error or a source that has changed? Tell the editorial team.
Review method: AI-assisted desk research with editorial checks. Reviewed ; next scheduled review . Rebuilt TM-275 as a seventeen-point price release audit covering scope, units, cash timing, reference value, required cost, usage, renewal, effort, exit, source freshness, and correction.