What Counts as an Advertised Price, and Where It Stops

Start with the MAP policy and the jurisdiction before calling a displayed price a violation. The location of the price alone does not settle the answer. A shelf tag or cart price needs the same documented review as a campaign offer.

A local definition has a local purpose

New York City’s item-pricing law defines advertised prices for its own retail pricing rules. It includes promotional methods such as in-store signs. That is useful context, but it is not a general test for every manufacturer’s MAP policy.

The FTC’s guidance on manufacturer requirements explains the US federal framework and warns that state and foreign rules differ. Have counsel review your policy for the places where your resellers operate. Policy wording alone cannot make a restriction lawful.

Record the offer before deciding

In-store flyer. Keep the whole flyer. A cropped price can omit the dates or products covered by a promotion.

Storewide markdown. Capture the signs, the product and the terms. Check for an approved exception in the current policy.

One rack or department. Record where the sign appears and whether the promotion also appears elsewhere. Avoid deciding from the sign’s size alone.

PA announcement. Record what was offered and when. Decide in advance how your team can retain evidence of spoken offers.

Price tag or shelf label. Read the policy’s treatment of in-store prices. Do not assume a tag is exempt just because it reaches fewer shoppers.

Online cart. Save the listing and the price revealed after the required click. Record whether a login, coupon or membership changes the offer.

Online ad or email. Preserve the destination page and the campaign terms alongside the advertised figure.

Questions to settle before enforcement

Your policy review should answer these questions before the first notice goes out.

• Which advertising surfaces does it cover?
• How does it treat prices revealed after a click or login?
• Which promotions and exceptions are approved?
• Who decides ambiguous cases, and what evidence do they need?

Date each policy version and record which version governed the offer you captured. That gives the reviewer a specific document and a specific event to compare. It does not remove the need for legal review.

Our MAP monitoring service records the visible offer, including the coupon or gate that changes it.

Correction, 23 September 2026: the earlier version treated shelf labels as exempt and policy wording as decisive. Those statements exceeded the local law cited. The policy and applicable law both need review.