Publish your prices, or not?

This is argued about more than almost anything else on a business website, usually in general terms. The honest answer depends on what you sell, and there is only one option that is wrong for everybody.

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Publish when what you sell is standard and comparable, because buyers will compare anyway and helping them wins the ones you suit. Publish a range with its drivers when scope varies. Explain scope and invite a conversation when every job is genuinely different. Saying nothing at all is the only choice that reliably loses money.

The case for publishing

Published prices remove work for the buyer and filter your enquiries for free. People who cannot afford you do not call, people who can arrive already comfortable, and the first conversation starts further along.

It also signals confidence. A business willing to state its price in public is one that believes the price is defensible, and buyers read that even when they do not articulate it.

The case against

Some objections are real. Where scope genuinely varies by an order of magnitude, a single figure misleads. Where a price is meaningless without understanding what is included, it invites comparison against something quite different.

Competitors seeing your prices is the objection most often raised and the weakest one. They can find out with one phone call, and in most trades they already know the going rate better than your customers do.

Which situation are you in?

The question is not philosophical. It is about the shape of what you sell.

  • Standard, repeatable, comparable: publish the price.
  • Predictable shape but variable scale: publish a range with its drivers.
  • Genuinely different every time: explain scope and what happens on a first call.
  • Regulated or bespoke advice: describe the process and the basis of charging.

What silence actually produces

It does not create curiosity. It creates a filter that works in the wrong direction: people with no budget enquire hopefully, while serious buyers who dislike being kept in the dark go to the competitor who told them something.

It also guarantees that a share of your conversations are wasted on both sides, which is expensive in a business where your time is the product.

The middle path most businesses need

Very few businesses have to choose between a price list and silence. The useful middle is describing what drives cost, what a typical engagement includes, and what happens on a first call.

That gives a reader enough to place themselves, which is what they were actually trying to do. Precision was never the requirement; orientation was.

Whatever you publish must stay true

An out-of-date price is worse than none, because you must either honour a figure that no longer works or begin the relationship by explaining that your own website is wrong.

If your prices move often, prefer descriptions that survive movement over numbers that will not. That is a practical argument, not a philosophical one, and it decides the question for a lot of businesses.

What Licheo does, and why

We do not publish a figure for our own work. Scope genuinely varies with the business, and a number on a page would anchor a conversation that has not happened yet, usually to the disadvantage of the buyer as well as us.

What we do publish is what the work includes, what shapes it, and exactly what happens on a first call, which is the information somebody needs in order to decide whether to raise their hand.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of The pricing page. The other parts:

Questions people ask

Should I put prices on my website?
Publish if what you sell is standard and comparable. Publish a range with its drivers if scope varies predictably. Explain scope and the first call if every job differs. Saying nothing at all is the only option that reliably costs you money.
Will competitors use my prices against me?
They can find your prices with one phone call, and in most trades they already know the going rate. The people genuinely affected by silence are your customers, not your competitors.
What if my prices vary enormously?
Then publish the drivers rather than a figure: size, complexity, urgency, condition, finish. A reader who understands what moves the price can place themselves, which is all they were trying to do.
Does publishing prices attract cheaper customers?
It attracts people for whom your price makes sense, which is the point. If it is attracting bargain hunters, the issue is usually that the page shows a number without the evidence and scope that justify it.
Why does Licheo not publish its own price?
Because scope genuinely depends on the business, and a number on a page anchors a conversation before it happens. We publish what the work involves and what happens on a first call, and give the figure there.

Say the right amount about money

Whether you publish figures, ranges, or invite a conversation, the agents build a page that lets a buyer place themselves.

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