Follow the advertised price through to the buyer’s total
Compare the exact price statement with the same product, variation, quantity, currency and eligible offer at checkout. Record the conditions the visitor was shown and separate item price, discount, shipping, tax and other charges. A higher total alone does not establish a misleading offer: accurately disclosed shipping, tax or eligibility conditions may explain it. Correct or remove the statement when it promises a price or discount the matching offer does not deliver, omits a material condition or continues after the promotion has ended. Only an existing payment record establishes what was actually charged.
For: A research-only merchant checking whether its public prices and promotions accurately describe the offer available at checkout.
Begin with one real price statement, keeping its URL, placement, exact words and observation date. Include a collection card, sale banner, popup or announcement bar if it is part of that offer. Preserve its visible qualifications and the terms reached through its link. A cropped price without the nearby condition is an incomplete record, just as a later policy cannot establish what a buyer saw earlier.
Identify what the number describes: one item, a particular variation, a starting price, a discounted item subtotal or the entire order. Record quantity and currency before comparing amounts. Where the offer is conditional, keep the actual product exclusions, minimum, code requirement, buyer eligibility and start or end time found in its terms. Do not invent a condition to explain a result after checkout has already contradicted the advertisement.
For a past order, use the promotion or page version retained from that time where one exists. Today’s page and an older charge are not evidence of the same offer unless you can connect their terms. If the historical wording is unavailable, mark that part of the comparison unknown rather than declaring the current wording to have been present.
Trace each component without changing the comparison
Follow the selected item from the advertisement to its product page, cart and checkout summary. Keep the selection constant and record any real choice that changes the total, including quantity, eligible discount and selected shipping service. Use observations of the live offer and existing authorized order records; a review of copy does not require submitting an order or creating a charge.
Write the displayed item amount, discount, shipping, tax and other fee lines separately. Then compare the resulting total with the claim the advertisement actually makes. An item-price statement and an all-in order-price statement create different expectations. For each additional amount, record where and when its existence or calculation basis became visible. A reconciliation can explain the arithmetic while still exposing a condition absent from the earlier offer.
Keep a checkout amount distinct from money collected. If you are reviewing a completed purchase, compare the order total with the actual payment amount inside the authorized store and provider records. Record only the necessary amounts, currency and dates in this worksheet. If the captured payment and order total disagree, retain that as a separate payment issue; do not edit advertising copy to hide an unexplained charge.
Decide whether the wording or the offer needs correction
The FTC’s truth-in-advertising guidance says advertising must be truthful, not misleading and appropriately substantiated, including on websites. It does not decide that a particular price difference is unlawful. This comparison identifies the statement, the disclosed condition and the result so the business can act on an actual conflict rather than treating every added amount as deception.
Keep a statement whose scope and visible conditions accurately describe the offer you can substantiate. Correct a statement that describes only some variations as if it covers all of them, promises an unavailable discount or describes an item subtotal as the final total. Remove expired promotional wording from every placement still showing it. Where the public offer is correct but checkout does not implement it, assign the configuration problem to the responsible owner and decide whether the promotion should remain visible while unresolved.
Do not resolve a conflict by adding a new restriction to records of what an earlier buyer was promised. Preserve the earlier offer and order evidence separately from the corrected wording. If you cannot establish why the checkout total changed, the checkout-total guide linked below addresses that technical question. This page’s decision is whether the public price claim can remain as written.
Close the correction across the advertised surfaces
For each changed statement, name the person who owns the placement and retain the replacement wording with its date. Check the affected collection card, banner, popup and destination together after the authorized change. A corrected product price does not complete the work if an announcement bar still offers the old promotion.
Stripe’s activation FAQ describes alignment between the website and the application and lists promotion terms among content a site can be asked to show. That is Stripe-specific guidance, not proof of eligibility and not a universal price-display rule. Use the actual provider’s written request when responding to an account review.
Prism’s published review scope includes marketing claims and their relationship to product pages and policies. Bring the affected URLs, exact offer and component comparison to a scoped website-review consultation. Keep tax treatment and legal questions with qualified advisers; this worksheet records what the store says and charges without deciding tax liability or certifying a phrase as lawful.
Advertised-price-to-checkout comparison
Use one actual offer and matching selection per pass. In the blank column enter the observed wording, amount, condition, date and correction needed. Distinguish a current checkout observation from an existing completed payment; unknown historical wording cannot be reconstructed from today’s page.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Advertised-price-to-checkout comparison. The last column is for temporary notes.
Point in the offer
Evidence to retain
How to interpret it
Your comparison
Collection-page price
Evidence to retainURL, selected product or variation, quantity basis, currency and any starting-price qualification.
How to interpret itCompare the same selection; do not compare the cheapest variation’s price with a different option’s total.
Sale or promotion banner
Evidence to retainExact promise, visible qualifications and the destination terms for that campaign.
How to interpret itDetermine whether it promises an item amount, a discount or a final order total.
Popup or announcement bar
Evidence to retainThe displayed wording and visitor condition, or the configured wording if it was not directly observed.
How to interpret itA separately managed placement can still offer a price that the destination has stopped offering.
Discount and eligibility
Evidence to retainThe stated code, product scope, minimum, exclusions and dates, compared with the qualifying selection.
How to interpret itMissing disclosure and failed implementation are different findings; do not invent an eligibility rule.
Shipping, tax and later fees
Evidence to retainSeparate checkout lines and the place each charge or its calculation basis was disclosed.
How to interpret itA disclosed addition can explain the difference; arithmetic alone does not settle whether the public statement is accurate.
Expired promotion still visible
Evidence to retainPublished end time and any surface still displaying the offer after that time.
How to interpret itRemove or correct the stale placement using the real campaign decision; preserve past wording for existing orders.
Checkout and actual charge
Evidence to retainDisplayed total and currency, plus an existing completed payment amount if available.
How to interpret itA checkout observation establishes an offered total. A payment record establishes the collected amount; investigate a mismatch separately.
Correction owner and publication
Evidence to retainExact statement to retain, correct or remove, its owner and date observed after correction.
How to interpret itClose the affected placements together; mark unsupported or unobserved outcomes as unresolved.
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.
Limits
A price difference alone is not a legal finding. Tax, shipping and valid offer conditions can change the total; this page does not give tax advice.
Stripe’s website expectations apply to Stripe. A consistent price presentation does not establish account eligibility or provider approval.
Do not place orders to fill this worksheet or include customer details, card data, credentials or private payment links in it or in a public inquiry.
FTC truth in advertising — checked 2026-09-28. Web advertising must be truthful, not misleading and appropriately substantiated. This principle does not determine whether a particular price phrase or difference is lawful.
Prism features — checked 2026-09-21. The informational review covers marketing claims in banners, images and linked content alongside product descriptions and policies; it does not certify compliance or guarantee approval.
Stripe business website for account activation — checked 2026-09-21. Stripe reviews the website against the business information supplied and lists promotion terms among the content a site can be asked to show.