Research · 9 min read
What Free and Included Mean on a GLP-1 Price Page
Anything a program gives you at no charge is a statement about a second price — the regular one. The federal guide on the word free defines that price precisely, and the definition is most of the test.
Key takeaways
- A free item is a claim about a second price: the regular price of whatever you must buy to get it.
- The Commission's guide defines a regular price as one openly and actively sold in the same quantity, quality and service for a reasonably substantial period, put at thirty days.
- Where prices fluctuate, the regular price is the lowest price at which substantial sales were made in that period.
- The guide's own example says terms carried in an asterisked footnote are not disclosed at the outset.
- An introductory free offer implies a good-faith expectation of later selling the promoted item alone at the same price.
- A bargain offer must not be paid for by raising the price, or cutting the quantity or quality, of the required article.
- Included is a description of what one charge covers, not a saving, and an unstated inclusion is not an inclusion.
Answer first: free describes the price of something else
Nothing in this category is given away. Shipping, an initial consultation, injection supplies, a coaching app and a first month all arrive attached to a purchase, and the purchase is where the charge sits.
The Federal Trade Commission's guide on the word free starts from exactly that. It says the public understands an offer of free merchandise or service to be based upon a regular price for the merchandise or service that must be purchased in order to get the free item.
So the claim being made is a double one. You are paying nothing for the free item, and no more than the regular price for the other. A buyer has a right to believe the seller will not directly and immediately recover the cost of the free item by marking up the article that has to be purchased, by substituting inferior merchandise or service, or otherwise.
That gives a shopper a single question to carry to any bundled offer. What would the required part cost on its own, and has that number moved.
The guide defines a regular price, and the definition is strict
The term is not left to intuition. The guide defines regular, used with price, as the price at which the seller has openly and actively sold the product or service in the market or trade area where the offer is made. It has to be the same quantity, the same quality and the same service, sold in the most recent and regular course of business, for a reasonably substantial period of time, which the guide puts at a thirty-day period.
It handles moving prices too. For products or services that fluctuate in price, the regular price is the lowest price at which any substantial sales were made during that thirty-day period.
Then it closes the loop. Except in the case of introductory offers, if no substantial sales were in fact made at the regular price, a free or similar offer would not be proper.
Read together, those three sentences say something useful about a program whose standard price is rarely the price anyone pays. Where a figure exists mainly to be discounted, it is not doing the work the guide expects a regular price to do.
Where the conditions have to appear
The guide is specific about placement. All the terms, conditions and obligations upon which receipt and retention of the free item depend should be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer, leaving no reasonable probability that the terms might be misunderstood.
It adds what that means physically. The terms should appear in close conjunction with the offer, and it gives an example of failure: disclosure of the terms in a footnote of an advertisement, reached by an asterisk or other symbol next to the offer, is not regarded as making disclosure at the outset.
That is a sharper rule than it first sounds, and it is easy to check on a page you are already looking at. If the qualifier lives behind a symbol, a tooltip or a link, the guide's own example says that is not disclosure at the outset.
The phrase clear and conspicuous has a detailed definition of its own in other federal rules, and this site covers that separately rather than repeating it here.
An introductory free offer contains a promise about later
The guide treats introductory offers as a category with its own condition. No free offer should be made in connection with the introduction of a new product or service offered at a specified price unless the offeror expects, in good faith, to discontinue the offer after a limited time and then to sell the promoted product or service separately at the same price at which it was promoted with the free offer.
It repeats the point for how the offer is described. No representation may be made that the price is for one item and the other is free unless that same good-faith expectation holds.
The reading tool that falls out of this is a forecast. An introductory bundle implies a future in which the required part sells alone at the price you are being charged now, which tells you what to expect the standing price to be.
It is also the reason a first-month bundle and an ongoing bundle are different offers. This site treats the first-month and ongoing figures as separate numbers everywhere for the same reason.
Bargain offers built on a required purchase
A second guide, in the deceptive-pricing part, covers the whole family of these offers. It lists the representative language directly: free, buy one and get one free, a two-for-one sale, a half-price sale, a one-cent sale, and fifty percent off.
It states the obvious thing plainly. Literally the seller is not offering anything free, meaning an unconditional gift, when a purchase is required in order to receive the free item.
Its condition is the same one in different words. Where the seller increases its regular price for the article that must be bought, or decreases the quantity or quality of that article, or otherwise attaches strings beyond the basic condition of purchase, the consumer may be deceived.
Its closing instruction is about disclosure again. Whenever such an offer is made, all the terms and conditions of the offer should be made clear at the outset.
How often an offer may run, and why a shopper should care
The free guide sets limits on frequency so that an offer stays special and meaningful. A single size of a product or a single kind of service should not be advertised with a free offer in a trade area for more than six months in any twelve-month period.
It adds spacing and a cap. At least thirty days should elapse before another such offer is promoted in the same area, no more than three such offers should be made there in any twelve-month period, and sales of the promoted size under free offers should not exceed half the seller's total volume of that size in that area.
None of that binds a shopper, and none of it is a test you can run from outside a company. Its value is as a description of what a genuine promotion looks like from the inside.
The practical inference is the same one the pricing guides reach from the other direction. An offer that is permanently available is a description of the regular price, whatever the banner calls it.
Other words do not change the test
The guide anticipates relabeling. Offers that would be deceptive for failing its provisions cannot be corrected by substituting words such as gift, given without charge, or bonus, or other terms that convey the impression that something is free.
Included belongs in the same family in ordinary reading, even though the guide does not name it. A page saying that shipping, supplies or visits are included is describing what one charge covers rather than giving anything away.
That is not a criticism of the wording. A bundled figure is the easiest kind of price to compare, because there is only one number and it covers a stated list.
The failure mode is the opposite one. Reading included as a saving invites you to subtract something from a bundled price that was never charged separately in the first place.
Turning free and included into a comparison
Write down what each program charges and what that charge covers, as a list. Then compare the lists before comparing the numbers, because two figures covering different lists are not two prices for the same thing.
Where one program includes something and another itemizes it, price the itemized one and add it. Where a program says nothing either way, record that as unstated rather than as included, for the same reason an unpublished fee is never a fee of zero.
Treat a no-fee statement as the useful thing it is. A page that states in so many words that there is no membership fee has answered a question, and that is worth more than a page that leaves it open.
Then ask the one question the free guide is built around. What does the required part cost without the free item attached, and can the program show you that price.
Sources
- 16 CFR Part 251 — Guide Concerning Use of the Word Free and Similar RepresentationsThe general statement that offers of free merchandise or service are a promotional device and must be made with extreme care, together with the representative language the guide lists. The meaning of free, namely that except for introductory offers the public understands the offer to be based upon a regular price for the merchandise or service that must be purchased, that the word indicates the purchaser pays nothing for one article and no more than the regular price for the other, and that a purchaser has a right to believe the merchant will not directly and immediately recover the cost of the free item by marking up the price of the article which must be purchased, by the substitution of inferior merchandise or service, or otherwise. The definition of regular when used with price as the price, in the same quantity, quality and with the same service, at which the seller has openly and actively sold the product or service in the geographic market or trade area in which the offer is made, in the most recent and regular course of business, for a reasonably substantial period of time, stated as a thirty-day period; the rule that for products or services which fluctuate in price the regular price is the lowest price at which any substantial sales were made during that period; and the statement that except in the case of introductory offers, if no substantial sales were in fact made at the regular price, a free or similar offer would not be proper. The disclosure-of-conditions paragraph requiring all terms, conditions and obligations upon which receipt and retention of the free item are contingent to be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset and in close conjunction with the offer, and its example that disclosure of the terms in a footnote to which reference is made by an asterisk or other symbol placed next to the offer is not regarded as making disclosure at the outset. The introductory-offers paragraph requiring a good-faith expectation of discontinuing the offer after a limited time and thereafter selling the promoted product or service separately at the same price at which it was promoted with the free offer, and its parallel restriction on representing that the price is for one item and the other is free. The frequency paragraph limiting a free offer on a single size of a product or single kind of service in a trade area to no more than six months in any twelve-month period, requiring at least thirty days to elapse before another such offer in the same area, capping such offers at three in any twelve-month period, and providing that sales of the promoted size under such offers should not exceed half the seller's total volume of that size in the area. The similar-terms paragraph providing that offers deceptive for failure to meet the guide may not be corrected by substituting words such as gift, given without charge or bonus. The part was read in full and verified against a same-run control at the same path depth, which returned a not-found page containing none of the quoted text.
- 16 CFR 233.4 — Bargain offers based upon the purchase of other merchandise (Guides Against Deceptive Pricing)The list of representative language for bargain offers conditioned on a purchase, including free, buy one and get one free, a two-for-one sale, a half-price sale, a one-cent sale and fifty percent off; the observation that literally the seller is not offering anything free, meaning an unconditional gift, since the purchaser is required to purchase an article in order to receive the free item; the condition that a consumer may be deceived where the seller increases the regular price of the article required to be bought, decreases the quantity or quality of that article, or otherwise attaches strings beyond the basic condition that the article be purchased; and the closing instruction that whenever such an offer is made, all the terms and conditions of the offer should be made clear at the outset. Read in the same fetch of Part 233 verified above against a same-run control.
- 16 CFR 1.5 — Purpose (industry guides)The definition of industry guides as administrative interpretations of laws administered by the Commission for the guidance of the public, and the statement that failure to comply with the guides may result in corrective action by the Commission under applicable statutory provisions — the basis for this article describing the free and bargain-offer guides as interpretations rather than as an independent statute or a private right of action. Cited at the effective URL returned by the host, which repairs a bare section path into a generated subject-group path. Verified against a same-run control, which returned the host's not-found page.
Frequently asked questions
Is free shipping actually free?
It is free of a separate charge, which is not the same claim. The Commission's guide on the word free treats such an offer as resting on a regular price for the thing you must buy, and says a purchaser has a right to believe the seller will not directly and immediately recover the cost by marking up that article, by substituting inferior merchandise or service, or otherwise. From outside a company you cannot audit that. What you can do is compare total charges across programs over the same period, which makes the question moot.
What does the guide mean by a regular price?
It defines it: the price, in the same quantity, quality and with the same service, at which the seller has openly and actively sold the product or service in the trade area where the offer is made, in the most recent and regular course of business, for a reasonably substantial period of time, which the guide puts at thirty days. For items whose price fluctuates, the regular price is the lowest price at which any substantial sales were made in that period. Except for introductory offers, the guide says that if no substantial sales were actually made at the regular price, a free offer would not be proper.
The conditions are in an asterisked footnote. Is that enough?
The guide gives that exact scenario as its example of failure. It says all terms, conditions and obligations should be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset and appear in close conjunction with the offer, and that disclosure of the terms in a footnote reached by an asterisk or other symbol next to the offer is not regarded as making disclosure at the outset. As a shopper you can check that in seconds on any page, and the phrase clear and conspicuous has a detailed federal definition covered elsewhere on this site.
What does an introductory free offer tell me about later prices?
More than most people read out of it. The guide says no free offer should be made with the introduction of a product or service at a specified price unless the offeror expects, in good faith, to discontinue the offer after a limited time and then sell the promoted item separately at the same price at which it was promoted with the free offer. So an introductory bundle carries an implied forecast of what the standing price of the required part will be, and it is fair to ask a program to confirm that figure before you enroll.
Does included mean I am saving money?
Not by itself. Included describes what one charge covers; it is not a discount and there is nothing to subtract. A bundled figure is usually the easiest kind of price to compare because there is a single number attached to a stated list. The comparison that works is list against list first, then number against number over the same period, adding an itemized charge on whichever side itemizes it.
A page says no hidden fees. Is that a guarantee?
It is a statement the company made, which is more than silence and less than a schedule. The useful follow-up is to ask what is required to obtain the advertised medication price and to get the answer in writing before paying. This site keeps a stated absence of a membership fee and an unstated one as two different facts for exactly this reason, and never records an unstated fee as zero.