MAP policy template: every section, with example language

A MAP policy is a short document doing four jobs: it says which products are covered and at what floor, it defines what advertising means so the rule is testable, it lists the consequences of advertising below the floor, and it makes clear that the brand is announcing terms rather than agreeing them. Everything below is the structure, section by section, with example language you can adapt and a checklist to run before you publish.

What a MAP policy template has to do

Most published MAP policies fail on the same three points. They do not define advertising, so every enforcement conversation turns into a definitional argument. They state consequences as discretion, so nobody believes them. And they invite acknowledgment, which quietly converts a unilateral announcement into something that reads like a mutual agreement about resale prices. The background to why that matters is in what MAP pricing is.

A good template forces you to make decisions before a violation happens rather than during one. Which channels count. Whether a coupon applied at checkout counts. What happens to discontinued stock. Who answers a reseller's question, and what they are allowed to say. Decide those in the document and enforcement becomes clerical. Leave them open and every case becomes a negotiation, which is exactly the thing the policy is supposed to avoid.

Keep it short. A two-page policy that is unambiguous outperforms an eight-page policy that hedges. Length invites reading it as a contract, and a contract is not what you want.

The twelve sections, and what each one must contain

Section by section, with example language

Every code block below is example language, written to be edited. Square brackets mark the values you replace. Defined terms are capitalized so that the definitions section carries the weight and the operative clauses stay short.

1. Header, version and effective date

Version control is not administrative fussiness. If you notify a reseller for advertising at $159.00 against a $199.00 floor, you need to be able to show that $199.00 was the published MAP on the date of the capture. Number every revision, date it, and state that it supersedes prior versions on that date rather than retroactively.

[BRAND] MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE POLICY
Version 3.0
Effective Date: [DATE]

This Policy supersedes all prior versions of the [BRAND] Minimum
Advertised Price Policy as of the Effective Date. Prior versions govern
conduct occurring before the Effective Date. The current version of this
Policy and the current MAP Price List are published at [URL].

2. Statement of policy

This is the most important paragraph in the document. It states that the brand is acting alone, wants no agreement, and requires no acknowledgment. Say it plainly and put it near the top, because it frames how every later clause is read.

[BRAND] has unilaterally adopted this Policy. [BRAND] is not seeking
and will not accept any agreement, assurance or commitment from any
Reseller regarding the prices at which Products are advertised or sold.
No signature, acknowledgment or acceptance of this Policy is requested
or required, and none will be recognized.

Resellers remain free at all times to determine the prices at which they
advertise and sell Products. This Policy states only the circumstances
in which [BRAND] will exercise its own independent right to decide with
whom it does business and on what terms.

3. Products and channels covered

Keep the prices out of the policy and in a separate, dated price list the policy incorporates. Prices change more often than policies do, and reissuing the whole document to change nine SKUs makes the version history unreadable. Name the channels explicitly, including marketplaces and comparison shopping feeds, because those are the surfaces most often argued over.

This Policy applies to the Products listed on the [BRAND] MAP Price
List, published at [URL] and updated from time to time. The MAP Price
List states, for each Product, the Minimum Advertised Price and the date
from which it applies.

This Policy applies to Advertising of Products in the United States on
any channel, including a Reseller website, a Reseller listing on any
online marketplace, comparison shopping and product feeds, paid search
and shopping ads, display advertising, email, social media, print,
catalogue, radio, television and in-store signage.

4. Definitions

The definitions section is where enforcement is won or lost. Advertised Price and Effective Price are the two that matter most, because the gap between them is where every workaround lives. Define Authorized Reseller here too, since the consequences ladder refers to authorized status and the term needs to mean something specific. If a meaningful share of your below-MAP listings come from sellers who are not on that list, the problem is upstream and is covered in finding unauthorized sellers.

Advertisement means any communication to the public, in any medium,
that identifies a Product and states or displays a price for it.

Advertised Price means the price for a Product stated or displayed in an
Advertisement, including any price displayed to a shopper at any point
before the order is submitted, and including the price after application
of any discount, code, credit or offer that is applied automatically or
that is promoted in connection with the Product.

Effective Price means the Advertised Price after deducting the stated
value of any coupon, gift card, rebate, shipping credit, bundled item or
other inducement offered in connection with the purchase of the Product.

Minimum Advertised Price or MAP means the price stated for a Product on
the MAP Price List in effect on the date of the Advertisement.

Reseller means any person or entity that advertises or offers Products
for sale, whether or not it purchased those Products from [BRAND].

Authorized Reseller means a Reseller that appears on the [BRAND]
authorized reseller list published at [URL].

5. The MAP rule itself

Two sentences. One states the rule, the other states what the rule does not do. The second sentence is not a courtesy; it is the sentence that keeps the document an advertising policy rather than a resale price restraint.

A Reseller should not Advertise any Product at an Advertised Price or an
Effective Price below the MAP for that Product.

This Policy does not restrict the price at which any Reseller sells any
Product. A Reseller may sell any Product at any price it independently
determines, including a price below MAP, provided that price is not
Advertised.

6. What counts as advertising, and what does not

Section 3 named the channels. This section handles the edge cases inside them. Be explicit that a price disclosed in a cart is inside the definition if that is what you have decided, and be equally explicit about the things that sit outside it, because a policy that appears to reach private quotes and in-person negotiation reads as a restraint on selling.

The following are Advertisements for the purposes of this Policy: a
price shown on a Product detail page, category page, search results page
or landing page; a price submitted in a product data feed; a price shown
in a marketplace listing or offer; a price shown in a shopping cart, mini
cart or checkout page before the order is submitted; and a price shown in
any paid placement.

The following are not Advertisements for the purposes of this Policy: a
price quoted privately to an individual customer by telephone, email or
in person; a price shown only after an order has been submitted; and the
price at which a Product is in fact sold.

7. Prohibited promotional constructions

This is the section that stops the arms race. Without it, a compliant $199.00 listing pairs with a site-wide 15 percent code and the shopper sees an Effective Price of $169.15, which is 15.0 percent below the floor. Name the constructions you will treat as below-MAP advertising and value them arithmetically, so there is nothing to argue about.

Without limiting the definition of Advertised Price, a Reseller should
not: apply or promote any code, coupon or credit that results in an
Effective Price below MAP; offer a gift card, rebate or store credit in
connection with a Product where the face value brings the Effective Price
below MAP; bundle a Product with any other item where the value of the
bundle brings the Effective Price of the Product below MAP; state that a
lower price is available on request, in the cart, or by any similar
invitation; or Advertise a price-match or price-beat offer that states a
price below MAP for a Product.

8. Exceptions and excluded inventory

Every brand needs exceptions and every brand that has not written them down grants them informally instead. Put them in the document with a defined authorization route, and make clear that an exception is announced by the brand rather than requested by a reseller. Close-outs are the common case: at end of life you want the channel cleared, and a policy with no route for that will be broken by everybody at once.

This Policy does not apply to: Products designated by [BRAND] in writing
as discontinued or close-out, from the date of that designation; Products
sold as open-box, refurbished, damaged or otherwise not new, where the
Advertisement clearly states the condition; and Advertising during a
promotional period announced by [BRAND] in writing, at the promotional
MAP and for the dates stated in that announcement.

Exceptions are announced by [BRAND]. [BRAND] does not grant exceptions
on request and does not negotiate the terms of this Policy or the MAP
Price List with any Reseller.

9. Consequences

State a ladder, not a discretion. A reseller who can predict step three prices differently from one who reads that the brand may take such action as it deems appropriate. Note that the actions are all things the brand does on its own account: withdrawing its own money, holding its own shipments, removing its own designation.

[BRAND] will take the following actions in response to Advertising below
MAP. Each action is taken by [BRAND] independently.

First occurrence: written notice, with the Advertisement attached, and a
request that the Advertising be corrected within [48] hours.

Second occurrence within [180] days, or failure to correct within the
notice period: suspension of cooperative advertising funds and
promotional allowances for the current [quarter].

Third occurrence within [180] days: suspension of new product allocation
and preview programs, and [BRAND] will hold open orders.

Fourth occurrence within [180] days: [BRAND] will cease accepting orders
from the Reseller for a period of [90] days.

Continued Advertising below MAP after the above: [BRAND] will terminate
the Reseller's status as an Authorized Reseller and remove it from the
authorized reseller list and the dealer locator.

10. Notice, cure and verification

Say how notice is given, when the clock starts and how the cure is confirmed. Start the clock from the timestamp on the evidence rather than the date somebody noticed, and confirm the cure with a fresh check rather than the reseller's word. This is the clause that connects the document to the monitoring procedure that feeds it.

Notice is given to the email address on file for the Reseller and is
effective when sent. Each notice will identify the Product, the URL or
placement, the Advertised Price observed, the applicable MAP, and the
date and time of the observation.

The correction period runs from the date and time of the observation
stated in the notice. [BRAND] will confirm correction by its own
observation of the Advertisement. A statement by the Reseller that the
Advertising has been corrected does not by itself close the matter.

[BRAND] counts occurrences over a rolling [180] day period, by Reseller
and not by Product. Advertising below MAP on multiple Products at the
same time is a single occurrence.

11. Administration

One inbox, one owner, one script. The single most common way a MAP program collapses is a well-meaning account manager saying something helpful on a call. Give employees an answer they are allowed to give, and route everything else to the administrator.

This Policy is administered by [TITLE] at [EMAIL]. Questions about this
Policy should be directed there.

No employee, representative, distributor or agent of [BRAND] is
authorized to modify, waive, negotiate or grant an exception to this
Policy, or to solicit or accept any agreement or assurance from a
Reseller regarding advertised or resale prices. Any such statement is
unauthorized and of no effect.

[BRAND] will not discuss the pricing or advertising of one Reseller with
any other Reseller, and will not confirm to any person whether a report
about another Reseller has resulted in any action.

12. General terms

Short and standard. The clause that earns its place is the no-waiver clause, because the most common defence a reseller raises is that the brand did not act last time.

[BRAND] may modify, suspend or discontinue this Policy or the MAP Price
List at any time, with effect from the date of publication.

The failure of [BRAND] to act in any instance is not a waiver of this
Policy and does not limit [BRAND] in any other instance.

This Policy creates no rights in favour of any Reseller or any other
person, and is not a contract or an offer to contract.

The pre-publication checklist

Run this before the document leaves your building. Each item corresponds to a failure that shows up months later, usually in the middle of a case you care about.

1. 1No signature line, no acknowledgment request, no acceptance language anywhere in the document.
2. 2The words unilateral and independently appear in the statement of policy, and no clause elsewhere contradicts them.
3. 3The document says explicitly that resale prices are not restricted. If it does not, you have drafted something other than a MAP policy.
4. 4Advertised Price and Effective Price are both defined, and the definitions match how your detection is configured.
5. 5Every channel you intend to enforce on is named, including marketplaces and product feeds.
6. 6Coupons, gift cards, bundles and cart-price disclosure are each addressed by name.
7. 7The consequences section is a ladder with stated occurrences and periods, and contains no phrase resembling as [BRAND] deems appropriate.
8. 8The lookback period is stated as a number of days, and occurrences are counted by reseller rather than by SKU.
9. 9One named administrator, one inbox, and a clause saying no employee may vary the policy.
10. 10A version number and an effective date, with a statement that prior versions govern earlier conduct.
11. 11The MAP Price List is a separate dated document with its own effective dates, and it is reachable at a stable URL.
12. 12An authorized reseller list exists, is current, and is published or otherwise maintained in a form you can point at.
13. 13Exceptions for close-out, discontinued and non-new goods are written down, with an announcement route.
14. 14Every price on the list has been sanity checked against the market. A MAP set above where the category clears will be broken by everyone, and a policy nobody can follow is worse than no policy.
15. 15Antitrust counsel has reviewed the final text, including the consequences ladder and the definition of Advertised Price.
16. 16You have a distribution plan that produces a delivery record for every reseller, and a plan for how new resellers receive it at onboarding.

After you publish: the operating layer

A published policy with no monitoring behind it is a document, not a program. The evidence requirements you wrote into section 10 have to be produced on every case, which means a dated capture of the offending page, the URL, the observed price and the MAP in force that day. Reconstructing that after the fact is not possible, because the page will have changed.

• Distribute on a schedule, not once. Reissue the policy with every version change and at onboarding for every new account, through a channel that logs delivery.
• Keep the MAP price list versioned separately. Effective dates on the price list are what let you enforce a price that has since changed.
• Count occurrences by seller. A seller below MAP on nine SKUs is one offender with nine listings, and the ladder should treat it that way.
• Review the ladder quarterly against the data. If median time to cure is rising, the notices are being filed rather than actioned, and step two needs to arrive sooner.
• Watch the unauthorized share. If most violating listings come from sellers who never bought from you, the fix is supply-side, not a better letter. See MAP monitoring software for how the two lists drive detection.

Where MAP policy templates usually go wrong