Blog
Notes from the pricing floor.
Writing from MapProtector on MAP policy, Amazon seller monitoring, evidence and enforcement — for the people who run a brand’s pricing program.
Map policy
What Is a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policy?
A MAP policy sets the lowest price at which a reseller may advertise your product. Here is what one contains, what it does not control, and why "advertised" is the word that matters.
MapProtector Editorial Team · · 6 min read
Read the article- Map policyMAP vs MSRP: What's the Difference?MSRP is the price a manufacturer suggests; MAP is the lowest price a reseller may advertise. They are different numbers with different jobs, and a monitoring program that confuses them measures the wrong thing.MapProtector Editorial Team · 4 min read
- MonitoringHow Brands Monitor MAP Violations on AmazonWhat "monitoring Amazon for MAP violations" actually involves: reading every offer on a listing, recording the seller associated with each one, measuring against the right policy version, and knowing what a scan did not see.MapProtector Editorial Team · 6 min read
- SellersAuthorized vs Unauthorized Amazon SellersAuthorized, unauthorized and unknown are three different things, and the difference decides what a brand may say to a seller. Why "unknown" must never be read as "unauthorized", and why authorization and MAP compliance are separate facts.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- EvidenceWhat Evidence Should You Capture for a MAP Violation?A screenshot proves that a picture exists. A defensible record of a MAP violation proves what was observed, when, under which policy version, and that nobody changed it since. Here is what that record needs.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- EnforcementHow to Build a MAP Enforcement WorkflowAn enforcement workflow is the sequence of decisions between "this price is below our floor" and "this seller has heard from us" — and the controls that stop the sequence running on its own. Here is a workflow that holds up.MapProtector Editorial Team · 6 min read
- Map policyHow Promotions and Exceptions Affect MAP MonitoringA sale the brand approved should never reach its own review queue as a violation, and a distributor under negotiation should be measured but not enforced. Promotions and exceptions are how a monitoring program says so — and they are two different tools.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- SellersHow to Investigate an Unknown Amazon SellerA storefront you do not recognize is a question, not a finding. A repeatable way to work out who an unknown Amazon seller is — and to record what you decided — before anyone writes to them.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- EvidenceWhy Screenshot-Only MAP Evidence Is WeakA screenshot is persuasive and easy, and it answers almost none of the questions a challenged MAP finding has to answer. What it leaves out, how it can be obtained badly, and what to keep beside it.MapProtector Editorial Team · 4 min read
- EnforcementHow to Track Repeat MAP ViolationsA seller who drops below the floor, corrects, and drops again is the seller a MAP program most needs to recognize — and the one most tracking methods lose. How breach periods, cure rules and recurrence counts keep a seller's history honest.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- MonitoringAmazon MAP Monitoring for ManufacturersA manufacturer selling through distributors sees Amazon differently from a retailer: more sellers it has never met, a longer supply chain behind each one, and a partner network that is the real lever. What monitoring looks like from that seat.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read
- Buying guideMAP Monitoring Software: What Brands Should EvaluateTwelve questions to put to any MAP monitoring tool before buying it — about how it reads Amazon, what it records, how it treats sellers, what its evidence proves, and who can press send.MapProtector Editorial Team · 5 min read