FTC Seeks Comment on Whether to Crack Down on Food and Grocery Delivery Pricing Practices

CART

Published on 04/14/2026 at 04:31 pm EDT

By Elias Schisgall

The Federal Trade Commission is soliciting input on whether to impose a rule addressing unfair or deceptive fee practices on online food and grocery delivery platforms.

The FTC on Tuesday highlighted unauthorized billing, personalized pricing, transparency around fees, charges, and total prices, as well as price differentials between online and in-store or in-restaurant orders as areas a rule could cover. It is seeking public comment as part of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

"Online grocery fees that are unclear, inconsistently disclosed, or revealed only at the last moment before consumers make a purchase distort competition and harm consumers," said Christopher Mufarrige, who directs the agency's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

"Clear and truthful pricing is essential to competitive markets," Mufarrige said. "The Commission's enforcement track record suggests that consumers continue to face a suite of fees that prevent them from making informed comparisons."

The FTC has cracked down on what it says are deceptive or unfair practices from delivery companies in recent years.

In December, the agency reached a $60 million settlement with Instacart, also known as Maplebear, over allegations that the company used deceptive practices to raise prices for their users. Instacart said at the time that it denied the FTC's allegations of wrongdoing and that its pricing practices complied with the law.

And in late 2024, the FTC and the Illinois attorney general reached a $25 million settlement with Grubhub over allegations that it misled customers about the costs of their deliveries. Grubhub categorically denied the FTC's allegations.

Delivery companies have also faced scrutiny about their pricing practices from state authorities. The New York attorney general in January demanded that Instacart share information about price-testing experiments following a report that users were charged different prices for identical products.

The company ended its price-testing experiment in December, and has said it did not engage in dynamic pricing or surveillance pricing.

Write to Elias Schisgall at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-14-26 1630ET