Pricing strategy for U.S. market

Key findings and practical guidance (final answer): 1) Federal consumer-protection and pricing transparency - FTC rules and guidance emphasize truthful ad/pricing practices, up-front disclosure of total prices and mandatory fees, and expressly target bait-and-switch and hidden-fee tactics.

New FTC rulemaking and FAQs (effective May 12, 2025) require clearer fee disclosure for some industries (live-event tickets, short-term lodging) and signal broader enforcement interest in deceptive fee practices.

Practical action: disclose total prices and mandatory fees up front, keep clear pricing records, and review marketing/copy and checkout flows for any potential misrepresentation.

Key findings and practical guidance (final answer): 1) Federal consumer-protection and pricing transparency - FTC rules and guidance emphasize truthful ad/pricing practices, up-front disclosure of total prices and mandatory fees, and expressly target bait-and-switch and hidden-fee tactics.

New FTC rulemaking and FAQs (effective May 12, 2025) require clearer fee disclosure for some industries (live-event tickets, short-term lodging) and signal broader enforcement interest in deceptive fee practices.

Practical action: disclose total prices and mandatory fees up front, keep clear pricing records, and review marketing/copy and checkout flows for any potential misrepresentation.

Antitrust risk  price fixing, data-sharing, and algorithmic pricing - DOJ/FTC enforcement and recent state statutes raise antitrust risk around explicit price-fixing and new scrutiny of algorithmic pricing. Several states (e.g., California, New York, Connecticut) have adopted or proposed laws targeting algorithmic pricing or expanding pleading standards; law firms warn that use of common pricing algorithms or shared competitor datasets can create a hub-and-spoke or tacit-collusion risk. Practical action

avoid agreements or communications with competitors about pricing; document independent pricing decisions; limit the use of nonpublic competitor data in pricing algorithms; conduct legal review and vendor due diligence for any third-party pricing software or data feeds.

Sales and use tax complexity and economic nexus (state-by-state) - Every state with sales tax has its own economic nexus thresholds, sourcing rules, product-taxability differences, and marketplace-facilitator rules. Managing sales tax manually is difficult (12,000+ tax jurisdictions); automation (e.g., Avalara, other tax engines) is recommended to reduce compliance risk. Practical action

determine where you have nexus (physical presence, economic thresholds), register where required, configure your e-commerce/ERP checkout to collect correct tax based on destination rules, and use automated tax engines or tax advisors for complex product taxability.

Price gouging and emergency pricing - States have emergency price-gouging laws and enforcement by state AGs; scope and triggers vary by state. Founders should have policies for emergency pricing, and track applicable state statutes when selling into multiple states. Practical action

prepare emergency-pricing policy, monitor state AG advisories during declared emergencies, and avoid exploitative price increases that could trigger enforcement or reputational harm.

Practical pricing-strategy recommendations for LLC founders (implementation checklist) - Choose pricing model aligned with strategy

cost-plus for margin certainty; value-based for differentiated offerings; tiered/subscription for SaaS and recurring revenue; dynamic pricing where legal and with guardrails. - Compliance controls: (a) pricing disclosure standards across channels; (b) tax nexus register & automated tax calculation; (c) written vendor/vendoralgorithm due diligence and contractual indemnities; (d) internal approval/audit trail for price changes and promotions; (e) legal review for state-specific rules where you have significant sales. - Monitoring and governance: quarterly pricing reviews, compliance checklist across sales channels, maintain rollback plan for pricing errors, keep documentation for discounts/promotional policies for tax and accounting (and potential audits).

When and where to get state-specific help - Because rules (economic nexus thresholds, product taxability, emergency price-gouging triggers, state antitrust nuances) differ materially by state, perform a state-by-state review for each state where you

(a) have a warehouse/physical presence; (b) meet economic nexus thresholds; or (c) run targeted marketing campaigns. Use state DOR and AG pages, Sales Tax Institute economic-nexus charts, and automated tax engines for state-level detail. Consult local tax counsel or a tax compliance provider when in doubt. Recommended next actions for producing the blog & newsletter content - Draft blog sections using the above structure: (a) Intro to pricing strategies; (b) Federal compliance (FTC & antitrust); (c) Sales tax & nexus; (d) State price-gouging & algorithmic-pricing risks; (e) Implementation checklist for founders; (f) State-specific research process and links to authoritative resources. - Provide callouts and examples (e.g., how to update checkout display, sample pricing policy language, vendor duediligence checklist). - Include links to authoritative sources and a short list of recommended vendors (tax automation, pricing analytics) and a legal-disclaimer to consult counsel for state-specific obligations.