How to Handle MAP Violations on Amazon as a Growing Brand

Picture this: You’ve built your brand on Amazon for years and priced your products strategically to reflect their value. Then one day, you realize an unauthorized reseller on Amazon is underpricing your products by 30%.

Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) violations on Amazon can quickly ruin your brand's reputation, cut profit margins, and trigger price wars, making it harder to position your products as premium offerings.

In this guide, we'll walk you through what MAP pricing actually means, the most common violations you'll encounter, and proven ways to resolve them, so that you don’t burn bridges or violate Amazon's terms.

What Is MAP Pricing and How Does It Relate to Amazon?

Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) is a policy you set as a brand or manufacturer that dictates the lowest price at which resellers can advertise your products publicly on Amazon. 

However, MAP does not dictate the final selling price of your products during private transactions. It only regulates what merchants and resellers selling your products on Amazon can display on public listings, ads, and promotional campaigns.

How MAP Relates to Amazon

Amazon is a marketplace built to reward price competitiveness. As a result, brands and resellers selling on the platform are incentivized to lower prices, which can trigger price wars. This is where MAP comes in.

MAP prevents price wars by setting a price floor below which resellers cannot list your products to win the Buy Box, especially when they use automated repricers.

 What Counts as a MAP Violation on Amazon?

 A MAP violation occurs when brands and resellers you have authorized to sell your products on Amazon advertise them at prices below the minimum prices stipulated in your policy. 

Such violations occur in various ways, including: 

• Listing below MAP: The most common and straightforward type of violation occurs when the advertised price on the Amazon Product Page falls below the MAP threshold stated in your policy.

• Promotional Discounts: Depending on the language of your MAP policy, promotions such as discount codes, coupons, lightning deals, and subscribe-and-save deals that reduce the advertised price below MAP can be considered a violation. 

• Bundling: This involves combining several products to bypass MAP while keeping prices technically compliant. The bundle price may be above the MAP threshold, but the average cost of the items may be below it, resulting in a violation. 

• Repricer-driven Undercutting: Authorized resellers using automated repricing software can accidentally drop prices below your MAP threshold. You may consider this a MAP violation if the resellers don’t adjust pricing immediately.

• Hidden Pricing: Amazon can hide product prices if a reseller's price is significantly below the manufacturer's suggested retail price. When this happens, shoppers must either “Click for Price” or “Add to Cart” to see the price. While Amazon does this to protect your brand, triggering the mechanism means a MAP violation has happened and needs your attention.

How MAP Violations Impact Your Brand

 MAP violations compound quickly and can impact you significantly, including watering down your brand and ceding your market share.

Some of the effects MAP violations can have on your brand include: 

• Erosion of Brand Perception: When your customers consistently see you discounting your products, it damages your brand's value. For example, they will stop considering your products to be premium, high-value items and start associating them with lower quality. They may also view your full-priced items as overpriced, which can harm your products if you position them as premium offerings.

• Reducing Margins: Once you start violating MAP consistently, your competitors will also begin to reduce prices to remain competitive. This will trigger a race to the bottom that reduces your profit margins or leads to losses. It will also force you to lower wholesale pricing, since it cannot match retail pricing. 

• Straining Relationships with Partners: Authorized brand and resellers who follow your MAP policy will be undermined by violators, resulting in lost sales. As a result, they may become frustrated by your inconsistent policy enforcement, causing resentment. Eventually, the authorized resellers may stop carrying your products altogether to avoid competing with violators.

• Increased Operational Workload: When unmonitored violations accumulate, they can lead to higher product returns and warranty claims from unauthorized brands and resellers. Consequently, this increases your team's workload, potentially affecting operational efficiency. 

How to Identify MAP Violations on Amazon

Most MAP violations occur quietly, and you only realize it when your brand has suffered significant reputational damage. As such, the first step to protecting your brand against MAP violations on Amazon and maximizing your profit margins is knowing where to look and what to track.

Here's how to catch violations before they tank your margins:

1. Monitor Manually

This process is ideal if your business has a small product catalog. You can search for your Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN), check the buy box pricing, and monitor offers from your authorized brands and resellers selling on Amazon.

However, this process can quickly become impractical when your SKU count grows substantially.

2. Use Automated MAP Monitoring Tools

Many businesses that authorize the sale of their products on Amazon are increasingly using third-party software to monitor MAP compliance. 

The software can help you track pricing in real time, identify repeat violators, log each reseller's violation history, and generate enforcement reports. Such tools are excellent if you want to save time and build a consistent paper trail for enforcement.

3. Monitor Reseller Account Health

Regularly review the Amazon account health of the brands and resellers you have authorized to sell your products on Amazon. You will need a performance dashboard to track compliance and risk indicators.

Although most violations may not be visible here, some might appear on the dashboard, helping you resolve issues before they escalate.

4. Conduct Test Purchases

If you suspect one or more of your authorized resellers are deliberately violating your MAP policy, you should buy your products from them. This will help you determine whether they are selling authorized products and at recommended prices.

You can also use this process to identify unauthorized resellers by examining their shipping practices, invoicing, and packaging.

5. Monitor High-Risk Periods

Many MAP violators take advantage of periods of high sales volume, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, to engage in undercutting.

During such periods, you should specifically check for promotional discounts that do not comply with your MAP policy, especially those involving unauthorized discounts or coupon use.

6. Check for Red Flags

Some of the red flags to watch out for include a sudden drop or disappearance of the Buy Box price. This is often an indicator of an ongoing price war or a MAP violation.

You should also look out for frequent Buy Box rotation among brands and resellers, new resellers listing below MAP, and price fluctuations during odd hours.

Best Practices for Enforcing MAP Pricing on Amazon

 Many businesses struggle with enforcing MAP pricing on Amazon. This is not because they lack the authority to prevent violations, but because most lack appropriate processes that can track and identify breaches before they become problematic. 

Some of the best practices you can use to enforce MAP pricing for your brand include:

Stipulate Your Policies Clearly

 Create a clear and legally sound MAP policy that establishes your business’s position on matters that may result in a violation.

The policy should clearly state your pricing threshold, explicitly define your advertising price, and outline the consequences of non-compliance. The policy should apply equally across all applicable sales channels. 

Use a Strict Enforcement Policy

Notify brands or resellers selling products on Amazon immediately if they violate your policy. The notification should be in writing and should clearly outline the specific policy they have violated.

If violations persist, use a progressively stringent enforcement process. For example, the second violation should be a formal reprimand. For the third violation, consider suspending their account or terminating the agreement.

Enforce Your MAP Policy Consistently

Apply your policy consistently across large and small brands, new and long-term partners, and domestic and international resellers. The selective application of your policy will weaken your position with your partners.

On the other hand, consistent enforcement boosts your credibility and deters partners from committing future violations.

Clamp Down on Unauthorized Brands and Resellers

Many MAP violations stem from brands and resellers that are not authorized to sell on Amazon.

Some strategies to consider when addressing unauthorized brands include:

• Implementing stringent distribution controls.

• Identifying and sealing supply leaks.

• Utilizing brand registry tools.

• Using product serialisation to support tracking.

• Addressing Amazon IP complaints where necessary.

Coordinate with Amazon Brand Registry

Register your brand with Amazon's Brand Registry. Although Amazon does not enforce MAP directly, it provides tools to help you implement it.

For example, you will have access to tools that control product listings, protect your IP, remove inaccurate content, and help identify unauthorized brands and resellers.

Work with Professionals to Prevent Future MAP Violations

 As your brand grows, your MAP enforcement process will become increasingly complex, leading to a reactive, chaotic approach. To prevent this, you should work with professionals to ensure compliance with MAP. They will help you convert enforcement into a proactive, strategic process.

Seller Candy helps Amazon brands with limited expertise in handling MAP enforcement, or those currently spending hours fixing MAP violations instead of focusing on growth. 

Our hands-free operations management allows you to delegate all MAP enforcement-related tasks to our dedicated Amazon experts, who then undertake the following measures to ensure compliance:

• Policy Creation and Enforcement: Our team helps you develop policies that hold your authorized resellers accountable and build and maintain trust with your partners.

• Automated Monitoring: We set up a system to monitor MAP compliance, enabling you to detect violations quickly and act before the situation escalates. 

• Communications: Our Amazon experts will handle the communications between you and your authorized resellers. This will help you maintain impartiality in your interactions with your partners and ensure you convey a consistent message.

• Developing Escalation Strategies: We will help you create escalation strategies to address stubborn authorized brands and resellers who consistently flout your MAP policies.

As an official Amazon service provider, we leverage our verified expertise to help brands and resellers selling on Amazon handle MAP violations. Each case is handled by dedicated Amazon experts, whom you can send unlimited requests for ongoing support.

Schedule a no-obligation consultation today to discover how we can help you reduce Amazon MAP violations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 Below are answers to common questions we receive about handling MAP violations on Amazon:

Does Amazon Enforce MAP Directly?

 No. Amazon does not directly enforce MAP on behalf of brands. MAP enforcement is the sole responsibility of the brand or manufacturer. Amazon's role in the marketplace is to ensure a smooth customer experience and to offer competitive pricing. 

However, Amazon may take action if your pricing behaviour violates other policies, such as those related to IP infringement.

Do Repricers Cause Accidental MAP Violations?

Yes. Repricers can cause accidental MAP violations. Automated repricing tools dynamically adjust prices to position products in the Buy Box on Amazon. 

However, if your authorized brands and resellers do not set a price floor, the repricers can accidentally drop prices below MAP.

Does MAP Violation Amazon Apply to Private Label Products?

 Yes. MAP violations apply to private-label products. However, there are nuances to the process. 

If you are the manufacturer of private-label products, you can implement and enforce a MAP policy for your authorized resellers. However, if you sell directly to your customers, a MAP policy is not necessary, since pricing is already centralized.

Can Brands Change MAP Policies without Notice?

Yes. Brands can change MAP policies without notice because they are unilateral, not negotiated contracts. 

However, it is advisable to provide prior notice to resellers, communicate changes clearly, and implement them uniformly to avoid straining your relationship with them.

Conclusion

MAP violations can significantly impact your brand's image, profitability, and business sustainability. As a growing brand, it is essential that you rigorously enforce your MAP policies to maintain the momentum and growth you have sustained over the years.

Taking a proactive approach requires seeking professional help to develop and enforce your MAP policy.

At Seller Candy, we have proven expertise in Amazon Seller Central operations and can help you enforce MAP policies to reduce violations and prevent profit leaks. We offer a seamless, done-for-you operations solution that handles your MAP violations and communicates with resellers selling your products on Amazon to prevent repeat non-compliance. 

Additionally, our process is transparent and offers complete visibility into how we handle MAP violations, helping you gain the experience of an in-house Amazon operations team without the overhead.

Book a quick consultation call to learn how our experts handle MAP violations on Amazon.