“Price” has different meanings across different contexts. In general, it is defined as the monetary amount that is charged, or expected to be charged, for a product or service offered for sale. It is the amount of money or compensation paid by one party to another in return for goods or services. However, price is, at times, quoted and measured in non-monetary terms (in a barter setting), where something is exchanged for something in a direct way without involving money (as a medium of exchange). In this sense, the price is quoted as the amount of one item required to be “surrendered” in order to acquire a specific amount of another.

In a market setting, price is referred to as the market price, being the cost or countervalue of a product or service at a given point in time at a given marketplace. In a market economy, the market price of a product or service reflects the interaction of supply and demand in a free, active market.