A price gun is a handheld tool that prints a price onto a self-adhesive label and applies it to your stock in one squeeze of the trigger. You set the price on a row of numbered bands, pull the trigger, and the gun prints, peels and sticks the label in a single motion. Independent shops, market traders, warehouses and charity shops across the UK still use them daily because nothing else prices stock as fast for as little money.
This guide covers how they work, the different types, which one suits your shop, and the consumables you will need to keep buying. If you already know you need one and just want a shortlist, skip to the best price guns for UK shops.
How a price gun works
Every manual price gun does the same four things in one trigger pull. Understanding the sequence makes every fault you will ever have easier to diagnose.
1. The label roll feeds. A roll of self-adhesive labels sits inside the body of the gun on a spindle, with the labels facing a particular way. The backing paper threads under a guide and out through the base. Threading the roll the wrong way round is the single most common reason a new gun will not work.
2. The bands set the price. Inside the gun is a row of rotating bands, each carrying the digits 0-9 plus blanks and symbols. You turn them with your thumb or a small dial to set the price you want. An "8 digit" gun has eight of these bands, so it can print up to eight characters.
3. The print head strikes. Pulling the trigger presses the bands against an ink roller, then against the label. This is a direct impression — there is no heat, no electricity and no cartridge. The quality of the print depends entirely on how much ink is left in the roller.
4. The applicator applies. As you release, the printed label is pushed forward and peeled off its backing. You press the rubber applicator foot against the product and the label transfers.
That is the whole machine. There is very little to go wrong, which is why a decent price gun lasts years, and why the faults that do occur are nearly always the label roll or the ink roller rather than the gun itself.
The main types of price gun
One-line guns
One row of bands, printing a single line of characters — almost always just a price. These are what most independent shops need. They are lighter, cheaper, simpler to load and have fewer parts to jam.
Two-line guns
Two rows of bands printing two stacked lines. The usual reason to want one is printing a price and something else: a date, a batch code, a "was" price above a "now" price, or a department code. They cost more, both to buy and in consumables, because they need taller labels.
If you are not certain you need two lines, you almost certainly do not. There is a fuller comparison in one-line vs two-line price guns.
Alphanumeric guns
Bands carrying letters as well as numbers, so you can print short words, initials, sizes or batch codes. A niche tool, but if you need it nothing else will do — see alphanumeric price guns.
Date guns
Mechanically the same tool, but the bands carry dates rather than prices. Food businesses use them for use-by and best-before marking. If you run a deli, butcher, bakery or café, this is probably the version you actually want: see date guns and date coding.
Digit bands: 6, 8, 9 and 10
Guns are sold by the number of bands they carry, and the number you need is simply the longest string of characters you will ever print.
- 6 digits — fine for prices under £999.99 with no extras.
- 8 digits — the most common choice, and the safest default. Room for a pound sign, a price
and a little slack.
- 9 and 10 digits — for longer prices, department codes, or two-line guns printing a price
plus a code.
Remember the currency symbol and the decimal point occupy bands too. A gun that prints £1234.56 has used seven of its eight bands. If you sell high-ticket stock, count the characters before you buy.
Who actually uses price guns
- Independent retail — corner shops, hardware stores, off-licences, newsagents. Fast pricing
of shelf stock without a computer in the aisle.
- Market traders — no power needed, works in the rain, costs almost nothing to run.
- Charity shops — pricing donated goods that have no barcode and never will. Often paired
with a tagging gun for clothing.
- Warehouses and stockrooms — marking bin locations, batch numbers and pick codes.
- Food businesses — date coding, which is a legal as well as a practical matter.
- Garden centres and nurseries — pricing plants where a thermal label would not survive
watering.
Labels: the part that decides everything
A price gun is only compatible with labels of the right dimensions, and this is where most buying mistakes happen. The two sizes that dominate the UK market are:
- 22mm × 12mm — the standard for most one-line guns, including the Motex MX-5500 family.
- 26mm × 12mm — the other common one-line size.
Two-line guns need taller labels, commonly 26mm × 16mm.
[LABELLAND: insert your own full size-to-model chart here, or link to it.] This is the single
most valuable reference page in this cluster and it must be accurate against the stock you
actually sell. Do not publish sizes you have not physically measured against the guns in your
range.
Labels also differ by adhesive:
- Permanent — the default. Stays put, tears if removed.
- Removable — peels off cleanly. Worth the extra for glassware, books, gifts, or anything a
customer will be annoyed to find glue on.
- Freezer grade — adhesive formulated to grip below zero. Standard adhesive fails on frozen
stock.
There is a fuller breakdown in price gun labels: sizes and compatibility.
Ink rollers and running cost
The ink roller is a small felt or foam cylinder that inks the bands before each strike. It is a consumable and it is the reason most people think their gun has broken.
Print going faint is the first symptom, and it appears long before the roller is genuinely spent. Rollers also dry out in a drawer whether you use them or not, so a gun stored for a season will often need a fresh one before it prints cleanly.
[LABELLAND: insert real running cost here.] Buyers want pence per label and nobody in this
niche publishes it. Work it out from your own roll and roller prices — labels per roll, labels
per roller — and state it plainly. It is the most persuasive number on this page.
Replacement is a 30-second job: see ink rollers for price guns.
Price gun or label printer?
A price gun prints one fixed thing very fast and very cheaply. A thermal label printer prints anything you can send it — barcodes, product names, variable data, logos — but needs a computer or phone, power, and costlier consumables.
Choose a price gun if you are marking prices on stock that has no barcode, you change prices rarely, and speed per item matters more than what is on the label.
Choose a thermal label printer if you need barcodes, product descriptions, or data that changes with every item.
Many shops run both, and there is no contradiction in that. There is a fuller comparison in digital vs manual price guns.
One legal point worth knowing
How you display prices in a UK shop is not entirely up to you. The Price Marking Order 2004 sets out requirements for showing selling prices and, for goods sold by weight or volume, unit prices. It is enforced by Trading Standards.
A price gun is a perfectly legitimate way to meet those requirements, but the rules govern what has to be shown and where. We have written it up in plain English in the Price Marking Order 2004 explained.
[LABELLAND: that article needs verification against current legislation before publishing. Do not let this paragraph go live pointing at a page that is not yet checked.]
Frequently asked questions
What is a price gun used for?
Printing and applying price labels to stock, quickly and without power. It is also used for date coding in food businesses, and for batch or location codes in warehouses. There is a fuller answer in what is a price gun used for.
What is another name for a price gun?
Several, and they all mean the same tool: pricing gun, label gun, labelling gun, price labeller, price tag gun, price sticker gun, and price label machine. "Label gun" is the most common alternative — see label guns explained.
What are common problems with pricing guns?
Labels not feeding, faint or blank print, smudged print, repeated jamming, and labels that will not stick. Almost all of them come down to one of three things: the roll is threaded wrongly, the ink roller is dry, or the label size is wrong for the gun. Each is covered with fixes in price gun troubleshooting.
How do you load a price gun?
Open the cover, seat the roll on the spindle, thread the backing paper under the guide and out through the base, close the cover and test on a spare surface. The step people get wrong is threading over the guide instead of under it. Brand-by-brand instructions are in how to load a price gun.
Can you refill a price gun ink roller?
You can, with a re-inking fluid, but it is rarely worth it. Rollers are inexpensive, re-inking is messy, and an over-inked roller smudges every label until it settles. Replace rather than refill unless you are stuck.
Do price guns work on all surfaces?
No. Standard adhesive struggles on textured, dusty, oily, very cold or very smooth surfaces. Freezer-grade labels solve the cold problem. For awkward surfaces a swing tag applied with a tagging gun is often the better answer.
Where to start
If you are buying your first gun: an 8-digit, one-line gun on a standard 22mm × 12mm label covers the overwhelming majority of UK shop use, costs little, and has consumables you can source anywhere. Buy a spare ink roller at the same time — you will need it sooner than you expect.