How adverts work

One flat rate. No bidding. Ranked by you.

You never pay to use LiveCheaper, and you never will. Local businesses can pay to be shown near you, but they all pay the same and none of them can buy a better spot. This page is the whole deal, in writing.

The rules every advertiser signs up to

Same price for everyone. Every business pays the same rate for the same type of advert, per thousand times it is shown. A national chain and a one-van plumber pay the same. A Spotlight costs twice a listing because it is bigger and only one shows per page, never because it ranks higher.
Position cannot be bought. Where a business appears is decided by its verified rating from households. Best first, ties shared at random. Budget never enters that calculation.
Local means local. An advertiser sets a centre postcode and a radius. If your postcode is outside it, you never see them. A plumber in Cheam does not reach a home in Dereham.
Off when it matters. When a household scans a letter about money owed, every advert switches off for that household. Nobody advertises to someone in trouble.
Marked as what it is. Every advert says “Advert” or “Offer”, shows the business’s rating, and links here.

How the rating works

A week or two after a household uses a business through LiveCheaper, they are asked three yes-or-no questions: was the price honest with no hidden fees, did it genuinely save money or solve the problem, and would they recommend it to a neighbour. One rating per job, only from people who actually used the business.

The score is the share of yes answers over the last 90 days. It needs five answered ratings before it counts, so one early opinion cannot make or break anyone. Above 95% earns the Household Hero badge and first place. Under 75% means probation, and staying there for a month means being delisted, paid or not.

The right to reply, and appeals

Businesses can reply to any rating in public, and you can read the reply before you choose. They can also appeal a rating they believe is not genuine. A person, not a machine, reads every appeal. If it is upheld, the rating stops counting and the business’s page tells you how many were removed that way. If it is rejected, the rating stands with a note you can read. While an appeal is open the rating keeps counting, so appeals cannot be used to hide a bad month.

Businesses cannot edit, delete or pay to remove a rating. Nobody at LiveCheaper can either, except through that appeal process, and every decision is logged.

The three advert types

Local listing
A compact card in the "rated by neighbours" list on every page that shows local businesses.
Spotlight
One larger card per page with a headline and a short message. Only one spotlight is shown at a time, so the best-rated business nearby gets it.
Offer
A coupon with a code and an end date. People tap to reveal the code, which counts as a click.

Listing is the base rate, Offer one and a half times it, Spotlight twice. That is the whole menu: no premium placements, sponsored articles or featured badges.

Where adverts never appear

Help with debt pages, and any page for a household in Shield Mode.
The benefits finder.
Helpful Tips articles. Nobody can buy a mention there.
Scan results for a debt letter.

Run a local business that plays straight? Here is how to list and advertise.

Questions people ask about adverts here

Why is a business with a lower rating shown at all?

Because you may still want to compare. Everyone between 75% and 95% is in the normal rotation, ordered by score. Under 75% a business is on probation and shown less; a month later still under 75% and it is gone. The rating and the count are on every card so you can judge for yourself.

Can a business pay to be first?

No. Payment only decides whether an advert is in the pool this month, never where it sits. Two businesses with the same rating share the top spot at random. This is written into the terms every advertiser accepts.

How do you know a rating is real?

Only households that used the business through LiveCheaper are asked, tied to the specific job, and only once. The same household rating the same business repeatedly, and bursts of perfect scores, are watched for, and a business can appeal any rating it believes is not genuine.

Do adverts track me?

No. An advert view is counted against the advert with the page it was on and your postcode district. No cookies, no pixels, no profile. Tapping a website link goes through a LiveCheaper address that counts the click and sends you on.