--- title: "What Is MAP Pricing?" url: https://www.uncap.com/glossary/map-pricing author: "Denis Dyli" published: 2026-10-11 updated: 2026-10-11 summary: "MAP pricing, short for minimum advertised price, is a supplier's floor on the price at which resellers may advertise its products. In FTC guidance it appears as a term of cooperative advertising programs: a reseller that advertises below the minimum advertised price cannot take part." --- # What Is MAP Pricing? > MAP pricing, short for minimum advertised price, is a supplier's floor on the price at which resellers may advertise its products. In FTC guidance it appears as a term of cooperative advertising programs: a reseller that advertises below the minimum advertised price cannot take part. **MAP pricing**: MAP pricing, short for minimum advertised price, is a supplier's floor on the price at which resellers may advertise its products. In FTC guidance it appears as a term of cooperative advertising programs: a reseller that advertises below the minimum advertised price cannot take part. ## How it works A manufacturer or distributor offers a cooperative advertising program and helps pay for its resellers' ads. The MAP term sets the condition: advertise at or above the minimum advertised price to qualify for the program. In the music case the FTC announced in May 2000, its complaints said the distributors required retailers to advertise CDs at or above the MAP they set, in exchange for substantial cooperative advertising payments. The FTC's guidance says there are limited situations when these programs can have an unreasonable effect on price levels. ## Where the FTC drew the line The FTC challenged the MAP policies of five large distributors of pre-recorded music because they were unreasonable in their reach: - They prohibited ads with discounted prices, even when the retailer paid for the ad with its own money. - They applied to in-store advertising. - A single violation required the retailer to forfeit funds for all of its stores for up to 90 days. Under the settlements as proposed, the companies would discontinue their MAP programs in their entirety for seven years and could not terminate a retailer based on its prices. ## MAP pricing vs. resale price maintenance The FTC's guidance covers the two in separate passages. On MAP, it says the law allows a manufacturer considerable leeway in setting the terms for advertising that it helps to pay for. On resale prices, it says that in 2007 the Supreme Court determined that all manufacturer-imposed vertical price programs should be evaluated under a rule of reason approach. It notes that this is the federal standard and that some state antitrust laws and international authorities view minimum price rules as illegal, per se. If a manufacturer adopts a policy on a desired level of prices on its own, it may deal only with retailers who agree to it and may stop dealing with one that does not follow it. For these restraints generally, the FTC's critical distinction is between a unilateral decision, which is lawful, and a collective agreement among competitors, which is not. This page describes FTC guidance; it is not legal advice. ## Example Illustrative figures: a pump manufacturer sells a model to dealers at $300 and sets a minimum advertised price of $499 in its cooperative advertising terms. A dealer that advertises the pump at $499 qualifies for the program. Its gross margin at that advertised price is $499 minus $300, or $199 a unit. The same dealer orders 25 pumps through the manufacturer's B2B store at its dealer price: 25 x $300 = $7,500. The dealer price and the public advertised price are separate numbers, kept for separate audiences. ## On Shopify Shopify B2B catalogs determine the products and pricing B2B customers can access, and you set prices for each customer by assigning catalogs to companies and company locations. If a company has several catalogs with prices for the same product, the lowest price displays. The Basic, Grow and Advanced plans allow up to 3 active catalogs across B2B markets; Shopify Plus offers an unlimited number. Discounts can be limited too. When you create an amount off product discount, you can apply it to specific products or specific collections rather than the whole store. ## How Uncap helps On Uncap's [sporting goods industry page](/industry/sporting-goods), MAP enforcement is handled where commerce can enforce it: advertised price rules applied in the consumer channel without affecting dealer cost visibility, with the monitoring and policy half named as what it is. ## Related terms - List price - Price list - Contract pricing - Tiered pricing - Dealer portal - Shopify B2B ## Sources - FTC: Manufacturer-imposed Requirements - FTC: Record Companies Settle FTC Charges of Restraining Competition in CD Music Market - Shopify Help Center: Catalogs and pricing in B2B ## Frequently asked questions ### Is MAP pricing legal in the US? The FTC says the law allows a manufacturer considerable leeway in setting terms for advertising it helps pay for, but it has challenged MAP policies it found unreasonable in their reach. This is general guidance, not legal advice. ### Is MAP pricing the same as MSRP? No. The FTC calls the key word in MSRP "suggested": a dealer is free to set its retail price, though the manufacturer can decide not to use distributors that do not adhere to it. MAP sets the floor on advertised prices. ### Is MAP pricing price fixing? The FTC's dividing line is between a unilateral decision to impose a restraint, which is lawful, and a collective agreement among competitors to do the same, which is unlawful. Competitors at each level of the supply chain must set prices independently.