MAP pricing explained
Minimum advertised price is the lowest price a brand allows you to advertise publicly. It is the single rule that protects dealer margin, and the one brands police hardest.
What it covers
The advertised price: your product page, category page, ads, marketplace listings, email and social posts. It does not usually restrict what a customer pays after a private conversation, such as a phone quote or a cart discount that is not publicly advertised. Each brand writes its own policy, so read it.
Why brands enforce it
Without a floor, dealers undercut each other until nobody makes money on the product and the brand looks discounted. Enforcement keeps margin in the channel, which is why the brands worth selling take it seriously.
What counts as a violation
- Listing below the floor price
- Showing a strikethrough price that lands below the floor
- Advertising a coupon that takes the public price below the floor
- A marketplace listing below the floor, even if your own site is compliant
How monitoring works
Dealer storefronts are checked automatically on a schedule. Listings are matched to the brand's catalog by product code, model reference, product name and price plausibility rather than a single field, then compared to the floor price. Violations are flagged with the listing address and the observed price so they can be resolved quickly, usually with a correction rather than a penalty.