Should you put prices on your website?

Whether a custom tray and canopy shop should show prices online, how to use "from" prices and ranges, and what Australian pricing law expects.

The phone goes while you're halfway through tacking up a subframe. "Mate, roughly how much for a tray and canopy on a Ranger?" You can't give a number until you know the cab, the length, the doors and what's going in it. They can't tell you what they want until they know what it costs. Ten minutes later neither of you is much further along, and you're back to the question every custom shop argues about: should I put prices on my website, or keep every number for the quote?

For most tray and canopy shops, my answer is yes, with a catch. Don't try to price every build online. Publish enough for a customer to know whether the build fits their budget: "from" prices for your main products, the range most builds land in, and one or two example builds with real totals. Then make sure those numbers follow Australian pricing law, and the rules that matter here are short.

Should I put prices on my website if every build is different?

That's the main objection, and it's a fair one. A dual cab tray and canopy can be a modest job or a very big one, depending on the vehicle, the length, the door layout and the options. No single number on a web page covers that.

The other objections come up just as often:

• Competitors will see it. They will. They can also ring you and ask, or read the quote your customer shows them. Your prices are less secret than they feel.
• Customers will hold you to the low number. Some will, if the low number is all you show. That's a wording problem, and it's fixable.
• It'll put people off. It will put off some people who were never going to spend that much, which saves you a call that wasn't going to become a job.

Keeping prices off the site has a cost too. Every customer who wants a rough number has to ring or email, and you answer the same question between jobs. The ones who ring still want a number, so you end up giving a range over the phone anyway. Showing prices on your website means you give that range once, in writing, the same way every time. Some customers won't ring at all. They'll start with the shop down the road that showed them a number.

"From" prices, ranges and example builds

You don't need a full price list online. Three formats work for custom work, and they work best together.

Some builders already do this. At the time of writing, DW Customs lists trays from $10,350 and canopies from $6,500 including GST, and says most tray and canopy builds range from $20,000 to $35,000. Norweld publishes a Tradie Range price list with "from" prices marked inc. GST and fitted. In a neighbouring trade, Kokoda Caravans shows a "from" price for each range and says its sales team confirms pricing in a custom quote. Each one gives the customer a starting point online and keeps the firm number for the quote.

An example build works best as a short table with real lines and a real total. The table below is the demo build from the Fitout home page laid out that way, on a Ford Ranger (PY) dual cab cab-chassis. These are demo catalogue prices, not a real workshop's.

Two or three of these, on the vehicles you fit most, tell a customer more than a page of "from" prices. They show what the options cost, and that the total is the sum of the parts.

What the law says when you display prices

Australian law doesn't make you put prices on your website. Consumer Affairs Victoria says a business is generally not obliged to list or display its prices. Once you do show a price, though, the rules apply.

• One total price. The ACCC says businesses must display the total price as a single figure: the minimum total cost, including taxes, duties and any unavoidable or pre-selected fees. You can show a part price as well, such as the canopy on its own, as long as the total is at least as prominent. business.gov.au gives the same rule on its displaying prices page.
• GST in. Prices displayed only to other businesses can leave GST out. A public website isn't only for businesses, so display prices including GST and say so. Keep ex. GST figures for the fleet price lists you send to business buyers.
• "From" still means a price someone can pay. The ACCC's own example is a serviced apartment advertised "from $117 per night", which should include one $7 cleaning fee because every booking pays at least one. If every build you sell carries a fee, it belongs in the "from" price too.
• One price per product. If two different prices are shown for the same item, even by mistake, the ACCC says you must sell at the lower one or stop selling it until the price is fixed. When you update your prices, check for old price-list PDFs still linked from your site.

More is on the way. The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026 adds drip-pricing rules that start on 1 July 2027. For goods and services of a kind people buy for personal or household use, a business that displays a base price will have to show any compulsory fee charged with it, such as a booking or service fee, clearly and close to that price.

This is general information, not legal advice. If your pricing has fees, trade-only prices or anything unusual, read the ACCC page or ask a lawyer about your situation.

How to word prices so nobody feels baited

A customer feels baited when the number on the website has nothing to do with the number on the quote. Good wording closes that gap before they ring.

• Say what the number buys. "Alloy tray, 1,800 mm, single cab, fitted: from $X inc. GST" is better than "Trays from $X". If you also sell supply-only, say which one the price is.
• Say what moves it. Cab type, length, door layout, options and finish. One line under the price is enough.
• Say where most builds land, and keep it true. If most of your jobs come in above your typical range, change the range.
• Say what happens next. They send the vehicle and what they carry, you send a range, and the firm quote follows once you've seen the ute. It's the same range-first approach as in How to improve your quoting process.
• Date it. "Prices current October 2026" tells the customer the numbers are maintained, and reminds you to review them when material prices move.

A starting price on the site won't win the job for you. It means the first call can start with the ute instead of the budget, and the customer already knows roughly where they'll land.

Want customers to see a price range before they pick up the phone? Talk to Ben.