Member prices and loyalty discounts under Omnibus

Member prices, club discounts and loyalty tiers are popular after Black Friday, and agencies keep asking the same question: does the EU's 30-day prior price rule apply to them? The short answer is usually no, with an important exception for member offers that are in reality open to everyone. This guide explains where the line runs and how to set up member prices on Shopify so they stay outside the rule, or show the prior price when they do not. For the rule itself, start with the 30-day prior price rule.

What Article 6a covers

Article 6a of the Price Indication Directive (98/6/EC), added by the Omnibus Directive (EU) 2019/2161, says that any announcement of a price reduction must indicate the prior price: the lowest price the trader applied in a period of at least 30 days before the reduction. It is about announcements of reductions made to consumers. In the Commission's words, it does not cover long-term arrangements that let consumers benefit systematically from reduced prices, or specific individual price reductions.

Loyalty schemes and individual reductions

The European Commission's guidance on the interpretation and application of Article 6a, published in December 2021, treats two kinds of price advantage as generally outside the rule:

Loyalty schemes, such as discount cards or vouchers, that give members a discount during extended continuous periods (the Commission's examples are 6 months or 1 year) or let them collect points for future purchases.
Real personalised reductionsthat are not announced to consumers in general, such as a voucher given after a purchase, or a discount on a customer's birthday or on joining the loyalty programme.

That matches what our guide on successive and overlapping discounts says about codes: a code published to everyone counts, a code for one named customer does not.

Which offers need a prior price

Offer	Example	Prior price rule
Public sale for everyone	“Black Friday: 30% off all jackets” in a site banner	Price reduction under Article 6a: show the lowest price of the last 30 days
Loyalty scheme price	Logged-in club members pay EUR 45 instead of EUR 50, all year	Outside Article 6a according to the Commission’s guidance, unless in reality offered to consumers in general; unfair-practices rules still apply
Individual code	A one-off 15% code sent to one customer after a complaint	Individualised reduction, outside Article 6a
Free one-click “membership” advertised to all visitors	“Join free and get 20% off today” on every product page	In reality offered to consumers in general: treat as a price reduction and show the 30-day lowest price
Member-only sale advertised publicly as a reduction	“Members: extra 25% off this weekend” sent to the whole newsletter list	Price reduction announcement if the club is open to, or used by, many or most customers (the Commission’s own example): show the 30-day lowest price

Free one-click memberships

A loyalty scheme is outside the rule because members get a lasting advantage that other consumers do not. When joining is free, instant and offered to every visitor next to the price, that difference all but disappears: in practice the “member price” is a price for everyone who clicks. The Commission's guidance addresses this case: Article 6a applies to reductions that, even though presented as personalised, are in reality offered to consumers in general, for example a member-only offer where the loyalty programme is accessible to or used by many or the majority of customers. We know of no court decision applying this to one-click memberships, so we recommend the cautious route:

Treat a free one-click member price that you advertise to all visitors as a general price reduction.
Show the lowest price of the last 30 days next to it, as you would for any sale.
Keep genuine loyalty benefits, such as tiers earned by spending or a paid membership, separate from public promotions.

Example: a coffee shop with a club price

A Shopify store sells a 1 kg bag of coffee for EUR 24. Logged-in club members, who earn their status after three orders, pay EUR 21 all year. That club price is a loyalty benefit and needs no prior price. In November the store runs a public sale at EUR 19.50 for everyone. That is a price reduction: the banner shows the lowest publicly available price of the last 30 days, EUR 24 (assuming no earlier public sale in that period), not the club price of EUR 21.

Rules that still apply

Unfair commercial practices.A member saving must be real. Comparing a member price against a “regular price” that nobody ever paid can be misleading under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC).
Personalised prices. If a price is personalised on the basis of automated decision-making, Article 6(1)(ea) of the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) requires you to tell the consumer, before they are bound by a distance contract, that the price was personalised.
National rules. Some countries add their own price rules. Check the markets you sell into in our guide to price reduction rules.

Member prices on Shopify

Discounts limited to customer segments.Shopify discounts can be restricted to specific customers or segments, for example customers tagged as members. The product's variant price stays the same for everyone else.
Loyalty apps that apply member rewards at checkout work the same way: the public price on the product page does not change.
Public sales belong in the variant price and the compare-at price, with the prior price shown next to them.
Avoid mixing the two.Do not advertise a member discount as “% off” on every product page for all visitors unless you also show the prior price.

Complimus records the price of every variant every day and shows the lowest price of the last 30 days next to your sale price. A discount restricted to a customer segment does not change the variant price, so it does not enter that record.

Checklist

Is each member benefit tied to a real membership, not just a click next to the price?
Do public sales show the lowest price of the last 30 days that applied to everyone?
Is every member saving measured against a price you actually charged?
If you personalise prices automatically, do you tell the customer before the contract?
Have you checked the national rules of each market you sell into?

Frequently asked questions

Does a member price need a 30-day prior price?

Usually not. The European Commission’s 2021 guidance on Article 6a says Article 6a does not apply to customer loyalty programmes or to real personalised price reductions, unless the reduction is in reality offered to consumers in general. If you advertise the member price as a reduction to all consumers, for example “now 20% off” in a public banner, treat it as an ordinary price reduction and show the lowest price of the last 30 days.

If anyone can join my club for free at checkout, is the member price still a loyalty price?

Probably not. When joining takes one click and costs nothing, the “member price” works in practice like a price for everyone. The Commission’s guidance says Article 6a applies where a member-only reduction is in reality offered to consumers in general, for example because the loyalty programme is accessible to or used by many or the majority of customers. The cautious approach is to treat such an offer as a general price reduction and show the 30-day lowest price with it.

Do member-only discounts lower the prior price for my next public sale?

Generally no. For reductions announced to consumers in general, the Commission’s guidance says the prior price is the lowest publicly available price in the last 30 days. A genuine loyalty price or a discount that one named customer received is not a publicly available price, so it does not set that reference. A price every visitor could pay does, and so may a member price if the membership is open to, or used by, most of your customers.

Do other EU rules still apply to member prices?

Yes. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive still applies, so a member saving must be real and the price it compares against must be honest. If you personalise a price on the basis of automated decision-making, Article 6(1)(ea) of the Consumer Rights Directive requires you to tell the consumer, before they are bound by a distance contract, that the price was personalised on the basis of automated decision-making.

Sources

Updated 30 November 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.