hidden cost
Buried financial burden
Hidden cost refers to an expense not immediately apparent when making a purchase or decision.
The sticker price may be clear, but hidden costs emerge later—maintenance fees, required accessories, time investments, or opportunity costs.
The phrase often carries a warning tone: What are the hidden costs of home ownership?
The hidden costs of cheap clothing include environmental damage and exploited labor.
- feePayment for service
- junk feeUnnecessary added charge
- surchargeExtra fee added
- resort feeCompulsory hotel add-on charge
- processing feeCost for handling transactions
fine print · expense · trap · bait and switch · sneaky · unexpected · sticker shock · charge · burden · toll · gotcha · nickel and dime · markup · overhead · price · catch · strings attached · pay to play
- expensesexpenses, expense, expenditure, rent, bill
- trade-offstrade-off, pros and cons, double-edged sword, mixed blessing, give and take
- costsoverhead
- consequencesconsequence, consequences, result, results, effect
- pitfallspitfall, trap, snare, catch, snag
hidden coststicker price
Manufacturer's suggested retail amount
transparent pricing · posted price · face value · quoted price
hidden, cost, hide, hides, hiding, hid, costs, costing, costly