MAP against MSRP, and what adherence actually measures

MSRP is a suggestion about what a product should sell for. MAP is a floor on what a reseller may advertise it for, published by the manufacturer. It is backed by the one consequence a manufacturer controls on its own: whether it carries on supplying that reseller. A reseller can sell below MAP. Advertising below it is what the policy covers.

That distinction is why the two documents exist separately. It is also why adherence to one can be measured and adherence to the other cannot.

Why the advertised price is the enforceable one

An agreement with a reseller about the price it sells at is resale price maintenance. US federal courts have judged such agreements under the rule of reason since Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, 551 U.S. 877 (2007). Several states are stricter than federal law. A unilateral policy about advertising, applied by deciding who you go on supplying, has been treated differently. That treatment dates from United States v. Colgate and Co., 250 U.S. 300 (1919).

We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. Your counsel writes the policy. The reason it is written as a policy you issue is worth understanding before you put your name on anything.

Adherence is a rate, not a count

“142 violations found this month” tells you how hard somebody looked. It cannot tell you whether the policy is holding, because it has no denominator.

The compliance rate can: listings at or above policy, divided by every listing found for your SKUs, across the whole catalogue. That means the monitoring has to record the compliant listings too, and a setup configured only to alert on violations never has them.

Two things have to be true before the rate means anything.

You need a starting rate, measured before the first notice goes out. Without it, a quiet quarter and a working programme look identical.

You need the whole SKU list. A rotating sample measures the sample. A reseller who discounts only the parts nobody audits stays invisible inside one, and your reported number improves while nothing changes on the shelf.

What adherence buys the resellers who comply

A dealer who invests in stock, photography, fitment advice and returns handling is carrying costs a drop shipper does not. If the advertised price is allowed to fall to the drop shipper’s number, the dealer has two options. Match it and stop doing that work, or stop carrying you. The floor is what pays for the work you want done.

Which makes the compliant sellers worth naming. Keep a current list of who they are with contact details, and use it when you plan dealer communications. That list is the part of the channel the programme exists to protect. It is also the part a rival with a tighter policy can take from you.