Most manufacturers consider this program confidential and prohibit us from advising consumers that we are participating in a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) program and which products the program is in place on. So we cannot tell you online which manufacturers have this program in place and which products this program affects. We do welcome your phone calls and will be glad to answer any questions you may have. We can be reached toll free 1-888-872-7397.

Many products in our industry are governed by the manufacturer's Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy. This policy does not permit authorized dealers of the manufacturer to display a selling price lower than their set minimum advertised price. Below are some articles of interest that we have gathered from various sources on the web. We thought we would share them with you as it may assist you in all your online shopping efforts. We feel that there is nothing better today than an educated consumer. As we too are consumers (just on a larger scale) and we appreciate the information and knowledge that we have found below. Today's consumers are more educated than ever before in the history of retail sales and the "sales pitches" and "sales tactics" of yesteryears are not as valuable as they were in the "old days". We have done extensive research and found the best sales tool for today's consumers is honesty and education. With this said we have gone away from the practice of staffing "sales people" and the practice of "selling" altogether. We have spent allot of time and effort in retraining our staff to become "educators". They are not here to just "sell" you something. They are here to "educate" you and let you know what's available and how to get the most for your hard earned money, so you can make an educated purchase that you feel comfortable with. We heavily encourage you to read the information below in it's entirety as we feel it will make you a much more savvy online shopper and will change the way you shop online. Again, our "educators" will be glad to answer any questions you may have regarding any of our products or policies that we participate in. We welcome your call at 1-888-872-7397.

 

Articles Of Interest Regarding Online Shopping and MAP Pricing

Have you ever wondered why online consumer electronics retailers--from Amazon to Crutchfield to Circuit City--sometimes seem to go out of their way to hide their prices? You may have to load items into a virtual shopping cart or send an e-mail query to learn a purchase price. Even when you don't play the shopping-cart game, you'll often see the same price everywhere you look.

The reason is a little-known practice called minimum advertised price, or MAP. Just about every consumer electronics maker has a MAP program. Vendors subsidize retailers' ad budgets in exchange for the retailers' agreeing not to advertise the manufacturers' products below a set price.

So what's in it for the vendors? Control. They control the retail channel (price wars can force retailers out of business and damage companies' distribution channels). They control the perceived value of their products. And they control prices without violating antitrust laws. "Restricting advertising prices can be as effective as restricting the sales price of a product," says Federal Trade Commission attorney William Lanning.

Playing by the Rules
None of the manufacturers or big consumer electronics chains I contacted would comment on MAP--or on anything else having to do with pricing. Smaller Internet retailers, on the other hand, weren't quite so tight-lipped.

"Everyone plays by the same rules," explains Mike Abt, president of AbtElectronics.com. Through regular correspondence, manufacturers inform Abt (and his competitors) when they're about to lower the MAP on products. Computer products typically go off MAP about four months after they've been introduced, he says. TVs, however, may be constrained by MAP programs for as long as a year.

For Abt, MAP is just one of the rules he lives by in order to maintain a healthy relationship with his vendors. Retailers who violate MAP programs not only run the risk of losing their co-op funds, they also risk getting new products later than other vendors and, ultimately, jeopardizing the store's "authorized dealer" status.

Other companies take a less philosophical view of these programs. Digital Pro Audio, for instance, is among a number of Web retailers waging a war on MAP. The company devotes an entire page on its site to a discussion of how MAP programs affect its pricing. "We want to go on record as being opposed to MAP in general," the company writes. "We feel that it is only benefiting the large chain stores or online superstores while hurting the smaller service and price-oriented retailers (like us) and prohibiting customers from getting the best deal they can."

Shopping Cart Hassle
Do MAP programs interfere with a Web retailer's ability to set its own prices, or do they just make comparison-shopping inconvenient? The FTC has yet to answer that question, but it's one that Tim Johnson, an attorney with the Minneapolis firm of Fredrikson & Byron, hopes will be clarified sooner rather than later.

"It's hard to say that consumers are being seriously harmed by these programs," says Johnson. "It's probably more of an inconvenience." But if the shopping cart hassle were the only issue, the practice wouldn't be getting so much attention.

FTC attorneys say they're monitoring MAP programs. "We're aware of manufacturers' MAP policies, and we're following the issue," explains the FTC's Lanning.

While retailers and manufacturers play cat-and-mouse games with pricing and the FTC watches, consumers have little choice but to go along. Nothing I've uncovered proves that MAP programs increase the price you pay for goods--but they may prevent items from being sold for too little. One thing's for sure: Prices aren't always what they seem.

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If you're the type of consumer who pores over print ads and scours the Internet looking for the best price on what you need, you may be frustrated to find certain products advertised at exactly the same price everywhere you look. How can it be that every electronics store in the country is selling the plasma television set you've had your eye on for $3,999? What ever happened to competition?

The fact is retailers still are vying for your business, though they can't always be as up front about it as they'd like. A manufacturer-imposed policy called "minimum advertised pricing" (MAP) can tie retailers' hands when it comes to promoting lower prices on some products. But shoppers who understand how MAP works know that the advertised price isn't always the bottom line, and they often walk away with the deal they were looking for all along.

MAP benefits manufacturers and retailers
On everything from appliances and computers to electronics and sporting goods, manufacturers are setting minimum prices at which authorized dealers can advertise their products. And retailers, for the most part, appear to comply with MAP guidelines. What are producers and sellers gaining from the arrangement?

One benefit for smaller, independent retailers is a more level playing field that allows them to compete with national chains and big "discounters." If major retailers were able to lure droves of consumers by constantly positioning popular products as "loss leaders," the mom-and-pop shops would fold.

Jay Knick, co-owner of Sonoma Outfitters, an outdoor equipment and clothing specialty store in Santa Rosa, Calif., acknowledges that by imposing a minimum advertised price, manufacturers help the little guys compete. Knick explains that, especially for businesses like his, where employees often spend hours educating and fitting a single customer, it's important to have some protection against prospective buyers being able to leave the shop and find a better price at a local mega-store or through a quick Internet search.

In this case, what's good for the retailer is also good for the manufacturer. Losing smaller outlets because they couldn't compete may not be a big blow for the company that makes a product as simple as, say, hammocks. But manufacturers producing higher-end products that require a more intensive one-on-one selling process--like kayaks and gourmet stoves--can't afford to lose the specialty shops, which often are the most direct and effective link to their consumer market. By imposing a minimum advertised price, producers protect these crucial outlets and their representation in the market.

Does the consumer benefit from MAP? If you like to patronize independent retailers, if you appreciate the expert product information and one-on-one customer service that small specialty shops typically provide, and if you sometimes return to the store for product support after you've made your purchase, then you probably would benefit from MAP. According to Knick, smaller stores have to make a certain margin (the difference between product cost and selling price) to cover their higher overhead (the cost of maintaining the store). MAP allows them to do that without pricing themselves out of the market.

Not everyone thinks MAP is a good idea. Some retailers--including Internet sellers, which have much lower overhead than brick-and-mortar stores--would prefer to compete without any pricing constraints. Why do these retailers still comply with MAP?

Some MAP policies are tied directly to advertising subsidies that the manufacturer offers its retailers. If the retailers want those funds, they must play by the manufacturer's rules.

Other retailers believe that undercutting the manufacturer's minimum advertised price would risk losing the store's "authorized dealer" status. As Patrick Roach, a deputy assistant director in the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, Washington, D.C., explains, while manufacturers cannot legally dictate resale prices, they can choose whom to do business with--and a retailer discounting its product may not be part of the manufacturer's overall distribution plan.

Consumers can find their way around the MAP
Though some stores will charge you the full advertised price, others have found ways to comply with MAP guidelines while winning customers over with better deals. Here are five ways savvy shoppers can pay less than the minimum advertised price:

 

Get a rebate: Many retailers are offering rebates--instant or mail-in--reducing the final cost of the product. Mail-in rebates require you to be organized enough to keep track of your original receipt, the UPC (universal product code) symbol from the package, and the offer deadline. But considering that some rebates are for as much as 25% of the total sales price, the process is probably worth the effort.

Receive a gift with purchase: Another way that retailers provide better value for consumers, even when they sell at the minimum advertised price, is by offering a related product free when the first item is purchased at full price. For instance, a computer retailer may offer a free printer with purchase of a laptop. Or an electronics store might throw in a DVD player with any regularly priced plasma TV set. If you were going to buy a printer or a DVD player of similar quality anyway, you could be getting a good deal.

Fill your online shopping cart: If you're a frequent online shopper, you've likely noticed that prices for some products on the Web are hidden. Often, all you see is a message that reads something like "Price too low to display." That's because manufacturers often stipulate at exactly what point in the buying/selling process an online vendor can reveal a price lower than the MAP. In many cases, that point is after the consumer places the item in the virtual shopping cart.

For instance, consumers shopping for the best price on a popular configuration of the Apple PowerBook 15.2" notebook computer during the first part of 2005 found out only after placing the item in their Amazon.com shopping cart that they were eligible for a rebate of $150. That's a significant savings on the laptop, which was being advertised for $1,999 just about everywhere you looked. Of course, you easily can delete the product from your shopping cart if you decide not to buy it.

Other online vendors operate within MAP guidelines by instructing shoppers to click a button that triggers an automated price quote by e-mail.

Call the store: If you're shopping calling around or sending e-mail for the best price and special offers on the product you're looking for is the most efficient method.

Roach points out that, in cases where a typical MAP policy is in effect, you shouldn't necessarily take the advertised price at face value. Make an offer.

Though MAP does make comparison shopping more time-consuming, tenacious shoppers who invest some effort may be rewarded--with a lower price, a rebate, or a gift with purchase.

 

Information For This Article Was Gathered From Several Creditable Sources
(Including But Not Limited To):

Monica Steinisch - University Credit Union
"Savvy Shoppers Know Minimum Advertised Price Isn't Always the Bottom Line"

Roberta Furger - Online Shopper and Writer
From the October 2004 issue of Digital World magazine
"The Price Is Right--or Fixed?"