Over the years, governments have put laws on the books
for the most heinous of fraudulent pricing strategies,
but even then some tactics are considered quite
unethical, and you may be committing these missteps
without even knowing. There is a general consensus that
marketing strategies must not infringe on values like
honesty, transparency, and autonomy. As such, the main
crux of pricing ethics concerns the establishment of a
balance of power (through information) between the
producer and the consumer. In a completely free market,
producers often have the upper hand because they are in
control of their products and processes. This
potentially lead to unethical practices (using cheap or
harmful materials, lying about benefits, etc.), which
are deemed harmful for society as a whole. Pricing
ethics and legality sit in a grey area, constantly
ebbing and flowing between right and wrong. To better
protect you and your business, here are some of the most
common pricing practices that sit on a razor’s edge of
ethics and legality.
