How Pharmacy Bidding Works
Licensed pharmacies respond to your prescription with their own cash price. You pick the one that suits you and pay that pharmacy directly. We publish no savings figures; the quotes you receive are the only numbers that apply to you.
The Three Steps
Upload, compare quotes, then collect and pay at the pharmacy.
1Upload Your Prescription
One upload, shown only to verified pharmacies.
Upload a photo or a PDF from your phone or computer. JPG, PNG, HEIC and PDF files up to 10 MB are accepted.
After you choose a pharmacy, it gets the prescription the usual way: an e-prescription from your prescriber, a transfer, or the original paper prescription.
Uploads are encrypted in transit and at rest, and your prescription is shown only to verified pharmacies so they can quote.
2Pharmacies Quote Their Own Price
Licensed pharmacies that serve you reply with the cash price they will charge.
Requests stay open for quotes for a limited window. We do not publish response times; you can accept a quote as soon as one suits you.
Independent and compounding pharmacies, each checked by a person against its NPI record and state board license before it can quote.
The prescription details they need to price it. Your name, contact details and the prescription image are shown only to the pharmacy whose quote you accept.
3Choose a Pharmacy and Collect
You decide what matters: price, location, or both.
Each quote shows the pharmacy's name and location. Whether a closer pharmacy is worth a slightly higher price is your call.
When you accept a quote, your order page shows a pickup code, and we email you when the pharmacy marks the order ready.
Show your pickup code, collect your prescription and pay the pharmacy at the counter. Script Unlock never handles your payment. If the prescription the pharmacy receives differs from your upload and that changes the price, the pharmacy should tell you before filling it.
Why Pharmacies Actually Compete For You
Pharmacies are paid for insured prescriptions on terms their PBM contracts set, and independent owners have described being paid below cost on some fills. A cash sale is different: there is no PBM in the middle and no clawback on the sale. The pharmacy sets the price and you pay it.
The economics for the pharmacy
A pharmacy buys a generic at a wholesale acquisition cost, and the reimbursement a PBM dictates for an insured fill can sit at or below that cost once fees are clawed back.
On a cash-pay Script Unlock quote, the same pharmacy sets its own price above its cost, keeps the margin it chose after Script Unlock's order fee, and faces no clawback afterwards.
For generics, acquisition costs differ a great deal by supplier, which is why a pharmacy with good purchasing can quote well below a list price and still earn a fair margin.
The economics for you
The patient pays the quoted price directly, the pharmacy keeps a margin it chose, and no PBM sits between them.
There are no coupons to apply and no processor between you and the pharmacy: you see its price before you choose.
How much a quote differs from a retail shelf price depends on the drug, the pharmacy and the quantity. For inexpensive generics the spread between pharmacies is often wide; for brand-only drugs it is narrower.
Is It Safe?
What protects your prescription on Script Unlock, in plain terms.
Built to protect prescription data
Uploads are encrypted in transit and at rest, and prescription data is handled under our privacy policy. Your name, contact details and the prescription image are shown only to the pharmacy whose quote you accept.
Licensed Pharmacies Only
Every pharmacy that can quote holds a state board license, which a person checks before its account can see requests.
NPI Registry Validation
Every pharmacy is matched to its NPI (National Provider Identifier) record in the CMS registry, the same identifier insurers use, so each quote comes from a real US pharmacy.
We Don't Sell Your Data
Unlike GoodRx (fined $1.5M by the FTC in 2023 for sharing health data with advertisers), Script Unlock never sells or rents your prescription data, and does not share it with marketers, PBMs or data brokers.
How your health information is handled is set out in our privacy policy and HIPAA notice; see also our pharmacy verification process.
Script Unlock vs a discount card
A discount card gives you a set price to present at the counter. On Script Unlock, pharmacies quote their own price for your prescription.
| Feature | Script Unlock | Discount card |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets the price | Each pharmacy quotes its own cash price for your prescription | The card's processor sets a price, which the pharmacy runs through it at the counter |
| Who you pay | The pharmacy, when you collect | The pharmacy, at the counter |
| Compounded medications | Compounding pharmacies can quote on compounded prescriptions | Depends on the card |
| Data | Never sold | GoodRx was fined $1.5M by the FTC in 2023 for sharing health data |
| Cost to patient | Free | Usually free to use |
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? See the full FAQ or ask us anything.
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Get quotes on your prescription
Upload one prescription, compare the cash prices verified pharmacies quote, and pay the one you choose at the counter.
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