MAP monitoring
MAP and MRP Together: Who Sets Which Number
MAP concerns advertised prices. Minimum resale price concerns transaction prices. Review both designs with counsel, and check seller relationships before deciding which terms apply.
MAP sets the lowest price a reseller may advertise. MRP, minimum resale price, sets the lowest price it may actually sell at. They are different instruments carrying different legal weight, and the second one goes to counsel before it goes anywhere else.
What each one controls
A MAP policy concerns advertising. The exact treatment of quotes, emails and logged-in offers depends on its terms and applicable law. Review those terms before treating a discount format as permitted.
An MRP policy reaches the transaction. It tells the reseller what it may sell for. Since Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, 551 U.S. 877 (2007), US federal courts have judged such price maintenance under the rule of reason. That is a different and more demanding question than the one a MAP policy raises. Several states are stricter. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. Take the distinction to counsel before either document is drafted.
Review discount formats against the policy
Cart prices, store-wide promotions, quotes, bundles and logged-in offers need review against the actual policy. Do not treat any of these formats as an automatic exception.
Ask counsel to review the policy’s advertising definitions and applicable law before relying on them in a notice.
Incentives do the work that penalties cannot
A dealer weighing a discount is comparing what the discount earns against what breaking policy costs. Where the second number is a letter, the first one wins.
Things that change the second number: co-op advertising money, territory, wholesale terms, early allocation on a new release, first call on constrained stock. A dealer with something to lose is easier to keep compliant than one with only a warning to fear.
The penalty side still has to be written down and carried out in order. Warning, cancelled pending orders, restricted future orders, suspended account. State plainly in the policy that you decide what a violation is, or the argument starts there every time.
Investigate an unfamiliar seller before deciding the response
Seller status alone does not establish which terms apply. Check the supply relationship, policy delivery and any relevant agreements with counsel. Record what the evidence leaves unresolved.
A test purchase may provide a return address, packing slip or serial number. Compare those clues with supply records before naming a distributor. Have counsel review a proposed restriction and then measure its result. Existing stock and other sources can remain.
Seller identification and the supply route are the work.
Correction, 23 September 2026: seller status does not establish policy reach. A test purchase supplies evidence for an investigation, without guaranteeing identification or closure.