How to Write an Amazon MAP Policy That Actually Holds Up

A minimum advertised price (MAP) policy sets the lowest price a reseller can advertise your product for. On Amazon, it’s the foundation of holding your price, because Amazon won’t do it for you (see does Amazon enforce MAP, /blog/does-amazon-enforce-map).

Most brands that tell us their MAP policy “doesn’t work” have one of two problems. The policy is vague, or nobody follows through when it’s violated. Both are fixable.

What a MAP policy needs to include

1. Which products it covers. List them by SKU or UPC, with the MAP for each. Keep it current when prices change.
2. What counts as advertising. Product listings, marketplace offers, emails, search ads, and “add to cart to see price” tricks. Be specific, because resellers look for gaps.
3. What it doesn’t restrict. MAP limits advertised price, not the final sale price. Saying so clearly keeps the policy on the right side of the law.
4. The consequence of violating it. Usually a warning, then suspension of supply, then termination. Decide it in advance and apply it the same way to everyone.
5. Who decides, and that it’s unilateral. The brand sets the policy on its own. It isn’t negotiated with resellers, and resellers aren’t asked to agree to it.
6. Promotional windows. If you run approved promotions, say how they’re announced and when they end.
7. Effective date and the right to change it.

The mistakes that sink most MAP policies

• Negotiating it. Once you start agreeing on prices with individual resellers, you move away from a unilateral policy and into territory your attorney will not like. See is MAP pricing legal.
• Enforcing it on some accounts and not others. Your biggest distributor gets a pass, so everyone else learns the policy is optional.
• No monitoring. If nobody checks prices, violations run for months before anyone notices.
• No link to supply. The only consequence that works is losing access to product. If your policy threatens nothing real, it changes nothing.

How to roll it out

1. Have your attorney review the policy before it goes anywhere.
2. Send it to every reseller and distributor at the same time, with an effective date a few weeks out.
3. Start monitoring on the effective date. Screenshot and date every violation.
4. Apply the consequences exactly as written, starting with the first violation you find.
5. Pair the policy with reseller agreements that limit where dealers can sell online. See authorized reseller agreements for Amazon.

MAP won’t stop sellers you never authorized

A seller who got your product from a third party never received your policy and has no reason to follow it. For them, the fix is finding and closing the source. See how to trace diverted inventory.

Frequently asked questions

Written by

Troy Marchand, CEO

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