SyncShelf guide · for business owners
Short answer: Deliveroo's terms say your app prices should match your in-store menu, but most operators mark up and the contract attaches no penalty to that on delivery orders. Deliveroo enforces price through ranking instead: its Value Programme scores restaurants every month on how far their top 20 items are marked up, and buries the high scorers. The refund clause applies to Pickup orders only. Shops and grocery partners currently sit outside the programme. For what the platforms charge in the first place, see the delivery app fees page.
SyncShelf: Your Square prices on Deliveroo, in step every day, with optional rules that help you stay inside Deliveroo's Good tier. Claim one of the first test spots, free while testing.
Deliveroo's published Partner Terms and Conditions (UK) set out what partners agree to for each service. The Delivery, Marketplace+ and Pickup sections all contain the same sentence:
"To ensure a great customer experience, the prices for the menu items you provide for display on the Platform should be the same as the prices for menu items published in your dine-in or in-store menu."
Note the word: should, not must. In the Delivery and Marketplace+ sections no sanction is attached to that sentence.
The Pickup section, and only that section, adds a consequence when a customer finds a lower price in your shop:
"You agree that if a customer provides us with evidence that, without reference to promotional offers, the price in-restaurant/store is lower than the price of the menu item on the Platform, we will refund the difference to the customer and deduct an amount equal to the refund from the payment we make to you."
Pickup is the service where the customer orders on the app and collects in person, so they are standing in front of your counter prices. Deliveroo's own Pickup help article says many merchants "align closely" with their in-store prices, and that if you don't set separate Pickup prices in Menu Manager your delivery prices are used by default. If you mark up for delivery and also offer Pickup, set Pickup prices to your counter prices, or the refund clause can apply.
Source: Deliveroo Partners Terms and Conditions (UK). Parity sentence: Delivery Service, Marketplace+ and Pickup sections. Refund clause: Pickup section only. Deliveroo help: Pickup. Both checked 22 October 2026.
Some partners have their own signed agreement, and that document is what binds you. If yours differs from the published terms, it wins. This guide explains the standard terms and is not legal advice.
Whatever the terms say, a higher app price is the norm, and the gap has grown since 2020.
Nobody has published a figure for UK independents specifically. The chain and grocery data bracket it: restaurants commonly 10–30%, grocery and convenience 20–45%.
Owners and staff say the same thing, and almost always give commission as the reason:
"Uber Eats and Deliveroo (UK based) would take around 20% of every order. So our prices for those services had a +20% mark up." Former UK restaurant worker, Reddit, 21 August 2021.
"I work at a takeaway and I can confirm this… Our prices are inflated on UberEats and Deliveroo. Our own menu is cheaper." UK takeaway staff, Reddit, 2 May 2021.
"Roughly a 20% markup on shelf price and some in-store/website promo offers aren't on Deliveroo." Grocery customer, Reddit, 9 November 2025.
Reddit comments retrieved via the Pullpush archive, 22 October 2026. Quotes are individual accounts, not a survey.
Two things stand out. First, "+20% because they take 20%" does not actually cover the commission (section 4 shows why). Second, none of these accounts mentions an operator being removed for marking up. What owners run into is ranking.
Since November 2023 Deliveroo has scored every restaurant each month on Price, Service and Quality. The price measure is the percentage gap between the summed prices of your top 20 items by sales on Deliveroo and the prices of the same items in your physical site. Deliveroo's partner page only says "your physical site", but The Grocer (22 August 2024, checked 22 October 2026) reports the policy compares against whichever of your dine-in, collection or own-delivery price is lower. So a cheaper collection menu sets the bar. Your score appears in Hub around the 5th of the following month.
| Tier | Markup on your top 20 items | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Great | 0% | Deliveroo's Choice badge and pop-ups; featured in a "great value" carousel shown on high-markup competitors' menus; value tags; priority in value and offers carousels; Midweek Special offer funded by Deliveroo every week. |
| Good | 0–10% | Value tags; priority in value and offers carousels; Midweek Special funded by Deliveroo for the first two weeks you sign up each month. |
| Okay | 10–25%, or 25–34.99% if the average gap is under £1.75 | No benefits, no penalties. |
| Improve | 25–35% | Penalties build month by month: bottom-ranked in carousels, Marketer Offers and Ads switched off, then bottom-ranked everywhere including list position. |
| Action | 35% or more | The same penalties, plus a risk of suspension. To reactivate you must cut markups below 35% and send photos of your in-store menu. |
Great and Good also need a 4.5+ rating and every service metric at Okay or better. How markup is measured: Deliveroo's partner page compares your top 20 items by sales with the same items at "your physical site". The Grocer (22 Aug 2024) reports the policy uses whichever of your dine-in, collection or own-delivery price is lower. Sources, checked 22 October 2026: Deliveroo Value Programme partner page · Deliveroo help: Value Programme · Deliveroo help: Value Programme FAQs.
The rating and service conditions under the table matter: a 0% site with a 4.3 rating is still scored Okay. The penalties are cumulative: Deliveroo's own example is that after three consecutive months at Improve a site is bottom-ranked in carousels and loses Offers and Ads, and a fourth month adds bottom ranking everywhere. Funded offers stop the moment your score drops, and you pay for any offer you are still opted into. If your markup figure looks wrong, for example because you raised your counter prices, you can appeal in Hub with a photo of your in-store menu.
The refund clause is separate. It sits in the Pickup section of the terms (section 1 above) and applies only when a Pickup customer shows that your in-store price is lower. It does not apply to delivery orders.
Shops and grocery are currently outside the programme. Every page Deliveroo has published about it describes the Value Programme as a restaurant programme, and it measures markup against "dine-in" prices where available. Nothing Deliveroo has published says it now covers grocery or convenience partners (checked 22 October 2026). That is one reason grocery markups on the apps are the highest of any category.
Other platforms. Uber Eats and Just Eat have their own pricing rules, covered separately on the delivery app fees page.
Sources: Deliveroo Value Programme partner page (tiers and benefits); Deliveroo help: Value Programme, a recipe for future success (markup calculation, limitations); Deliveroo help: Value Programme FAQs (appeals, suspension, reactivation); Deliveroo policies: Value Programme policy. All checked 22 October 2026. Deliveroo changes the benefits from time to time, so check Hub for your current score.
The most common mistake is adding the commission rate as a markup. To keep the same cash margin on an item after commission c, the app price has to be in-store price ÷ (1 − c), not in-store price × (1 + c). On a 30% commission, a £3.20 flat white needs to be £4.57 on the app to leave you the same £3.20; at £3.84 (+20%) you keep £2.69.
| Commission | Markup needed: shop price ÷ (1 − commission) | Deliveroo tier if used on your top 20 |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 11.1% | Okay |
| 15% | 17.6% | Okay |
| 20% | 25.0% | Improve (Okay if the average gap is under £1.75) |
| 25% | 33.3% | Improve (Okay if the average gap is under £1.75) |
| 30% | 42.9% | Action |
Zero-rated items, before VAT on commission. Under 10% markup (Good) only fully covers a commission of 9.1% or less. Work out your own items with the Deliveroo margin calculator or the Uber Eats margin calculator, which include VAT.
As the note under the table shows, on any real Deliveroo commission you can't recover the whole fee on your best sellers and stay in Good. You have to decide where to take the margin: on the top 20, on the long tail, or in the counter price itself. The table ignores VAT on commission and on the sale. The Deliveroo margin calculator and Uber Eats margin calculator include both, and show the "same £ profit" and "same % margin" prices for your own items.
What Deliveroo publishes about fees and prices. Other platforms are covered one by one on the delivery app fees page:
Sources, checked 22 October 2026: Deliveroo Partner Terms · Deliveroo partner site · Deliveroo Value Programme. Your own agreement wins.
Cafés, coffee shops and takeaways (inside the Value Programme):
Convenience stores, off-licences and grocery (currently outside the programme):
Whichever you are, your margin depends on the app price staying linked to the till price. Most damage comes from prices that are stale, not from the markup you chose.
SyncShelf (in testing) reads your Square prices and keeps your Deliveroo prices in step, so a change at the till reaches the app the same day and anything that disagrees is flagged.
Its markup rules are there to help you stay in the Good tier, not to push prices up. Rules apply by category, so you can put a low rule (under 10%) on the categories your best sellers sit in, or none at all, and a margin-based rule on the long tail. A shop can price each category by margin. You preview every price before anything is published, and nothing goes to Deliveroo until you turn the rules on. SyncShelf does not read your Value Score; check that in Hub each month.
Deliveroo's standard Partner Terms say app prices should be the same as your dine-in or in-store menu. That sentence appears in the Delivery, Marketplace+ and Pickup sections, and it says should, not must. Most operators mark up anyway. Deliveroo enforces price through its Value Programme ranking rather than the contract, and a signed agreement of your own takes precedence over the published terms.
If you are a restaurant, Deliveroo scores the markup on your top 20 items by sales each month. 0% is Great and under 10% is Good, and both earn badges, carousel priority and Deliveroo-funded offers. 10 to 25% is Okay, with no benefits and no penalty. 25 to 35% is Improve and 35% or more is Action: these sites are progressively bottom-ranked and lose Offers and Ads, and Action sites risk suspension. Grocery and convenience partners are currently outside the programme.
No. The refund-and-deduct clause is in the Pickup section of Deliveroo's Partner Terms only. It applies when a customer who collects in person shows that your in-store price is lower than the app price. Deliveroo then refunds the difference and deducts it from your payout. If you offer Pickup, set Pickup prices to your counter prices in Menu Manager, because otherwise your delivery prices are used.
SyncShelf is in a free first test with a small batch of shops on Square and Deliveroo. Leave your email and we'll contact you when it's your turn. No cost, no commitment.