Accounting or Marketing
Cost is an accounting term and price is a marketing term.Expenses or Transaction
Cost often includes a series of expenses while price refers to the one-time amount of a purchase transaction.Seller or Buyer
The cost of the seller is the cost of producing and marketing a good. The cost of the buyer is the price.Cost | Price | |
Applies To | Accounting | Marketing |
Type | Series of expenses | Transactional amount |
Seller | The money paid to produce and market a good. | The amount of money listed on an offer to customers or the amount of money received in a sale. These are list price and sale price respectively. |
Buyer | Another word for price paid. | The amount of money paid to purchase an item. |
Related Terms
List Price | The price listed on a marketing offer. |
Sale Price | The price actually paid after discounts. |
Unit Cost | The all-in cost of the producer to create a single product. This is essentially a more accurate term for cost from the perspective of the producer. |
Lifetime Cost | The all-in cost of the buyer to own a good. This includes the purchase cost and all costs related to operating, maintaining and disposing an item. For example, the lifetime cost of an air conditioner would include all electricity it consumes over its entire lifespan discounted to present value. |
