Comments

# Donald Ethredge said on March 19, 2007 4:27 PM:

Is there a way of posting who has MAP pricing, I personally would perfer to purchase from lines that have it and enforce it.

# Ben said on March 20, 2007 7:30 AM:

Donald, you can download the excel sheet of our inventory and filter out the items that have MAP pricing.

# Kevin said on March 20, 2007 3:57 PM:

I think every product sold from Valor should have MAP pricing. If for example I was the manufacturer of zippos, and I found that Valor was allowing online dealers to sell at 10% or sometimes evan less than the stated price I would stop selling to Valor. This kind of business hurts everyone including manufacturers, since new potential dealers won't touch items that are whored online for no profit. Take a look for yourself, look around at current zippo pricing. Its nearly impossible to make a profit on them, also dosen't make much sense to stock them either. Imagine, every customer coming to your storefront stating they can get that for mucher cheaper online and expecting you to price match. I've seen great high quality products become worthless from greedy dealers that sell for little to no profit just because they can. Valor needs to take the first big step! Others will follow their lead! Right now everyone suffers. Customers expect to pay for quality and they will, with MAP pricing.

# Ben said on March 20, 2007 4:31 PM:

Kevin, in a perfect world that would be great.  But there are a couple of problems with that.

1. We can't tell people what to sell Zippo for when we have competiton too that does not tell them what to sell it for.  That is why the Manufacturer has to set and enforce MAP pricing.

2.  Who would enforce it for everything?  It's hard enough to enforce for the few products that require it.  We don't actively search the internet for low prices.  We usually hear about it from the factory or another dealer.

# Brian said on March 20, 2007 6:54 PM:

Let's see here, the manufacturer sets the MAP at a price equal to the MSRP, then we have to add in the cost of shipping and the dropship fee, how is anyone supposed to sell items with MAP pricing when they can be bought at MSRP at brick and motar stores?

# allingeneral said on March 24, 2007 6:10 PM:

Hi Ben, Thanks for pointing out that MAP pricing is in effect on some items. I really didn't realize that we had any MAP items since it hadn't been discussed before. One thing I did notice is that the MAP prices are in the main inventory spreadsheet, but not the OSCommerce inventory. Any chance we can get MAP prices added there? Thanks for everything you do. Rick

# Ben said on March 26, 2007 9:08 AM:

The OSCommerce file is laid out for use with an upload/conversion program for OSCommerce that I am not familiar with.  I received the format from a customer a few years back and have used it since.  I would be afraid to mess with it.

# Brian said on March 28, 2007 12:58 PM:

Reguardless of how it makes you feel, a manufacturer's requirement that a reseller not price the company's goods below a set minimum violates the Sherman antitrust act. It is against the law to not sell to a retailer because they are not selling at prices a the distributor sets forth.

# Ben said on March 28, 2007 1:06 PM:

Brian,  it's not the selling price, it's the advertised price.  So I don't think it violates any laws.  It's been a common practice for a long time.

# Brian said on March 28, 2007 5:27 PM:

"If it comes to our attention that a customer is selling below MAP pricing, we will ask the customer to change their price." That plainly states at the top of the page, that if a seller is 'selling' at below MAP... It may not be the "suggested selling price" MSRP, but you are still enforcing that retailers sell at a certain price "advertised" or "suggested" is just semantics. By forcing a retailer to sell at a "minimum price" violates the Sherman antitrust act. Common practice or no, the law allows for resellers to sell at what a price they choose, reguardless if they make little or no profit. I'm not suggesting retailers do that, but by threatening to stop selling to a retailer if they do not sell at a price threshold I feel violates such laws.

# Ben said on March 28, 2007 10:06 PM:

Brian, You're right.  Bad wording on my part. I was reffering to advertised price, not selling price.  I will update the post.

# Brian said on March 30, 2007 2:44 AM:

Thanks for clarifying, that alleviated all of my concerns. Thanks again.

# Michael said on April 7, 2007 7:36 AM:

I think map pricing is a great way to do business, one problem is ebay people lose money on products to funnel them into the websites. THe hammer them with either ridiculous shipping charges or overpriced junk. Then there are the honest retailers who just want traffic going to their site. Either way map pricing will just have to stay out of the auction sites

# Walter said on April 18, 2007 12:41 PM:

Brian is right. This is price fixing at it's finest (worst)

# Ben said on April 18, 2007 1:06 PM:

Walter - Did you continue reading the comments?  I clarified it was advertised, not selling price.  It's not price fixing.  I knew this was common, but I have come to find it is a very standard practice.  And remember, it's not Valor setting the MAP prices, it's the manufacturer of the product.

# Henrik Popowski said on April 21, 2007 8:53 AM:

Got nothing against MAP but did anybody checked if it is constitutional?

# kevin said on April 23, 2007 9:04 PM:

map doesnt that fall under price fixing?

# Walter said on April 23, 2007 10:09 PM:

Yes, I read it all and I understand it is the advertised price. "And remember, it's not Valor setting the MAP prices, it's the manufacturer of the product." But Valor IS participating in the scheme. And I realize is it a somewhat common practice. So is selling crack. Neither are legal. Check this out: "Price-fixing can also involve any agreement to fix, peg, discount or stabilize prices. The principal feature is any agreement on price, whether express or implied" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_fixing It appears crystal clear to me. But this is only my opinion. Don't kill the messenger.

# Ben said on April 24, 2007 7:25 AM:

Again, for it to be price fixing, I am pretty sure the manufacturer would have to tell you what you can sell it for, and that is not what they are doing.  If this was illegal, I am pretty sure places like Wal-Mart and Bass Pro would have put an end to it long ago instead of following the rules.

# Walter said on April 24, 2007 10:58 PM:

Wal-Mart breaks labor laws often. From hiring illegals to forced overtime, with no pay. I wish there was a lawyer on the forum who could clear this up...

# Ben said on April 25, 2007 10:07 AM:

If Wal-Mart breaks laws often, I'm sure they break ones that benefit them.  Following MAP pricing doesn't benefit them, it benefits everybody that sells the product.  Maybe calling it MAP pricing is the problem.  It has nothing to so with the price, it's just the price that is advertised.

# Harold said on April 27, 2007 9:58 AM:

I have filtered the inventory list to just the items with MAP pricing. Believe it or not there are only about 360 items that have MAP pricing out of over 20,000. If anyone would like the xls file please let me know. (info@suncoastoutdoorsupply.com) The list includes item number, description, manufacturer, category, price, retail, & MAP.

# Ben said on April 27, 2007 10:05 AM:

Harold - This Blog is open to the public and I would appreciate if you did not send our prices to anybody because you have no way of verifying of they are a customer of ours or not.  Thanks

# Harold said on April 27, 2007 10:10 AM:

Sorry Ben, I will not send it out to anyone. If you would like a copy please let me know. I will only use it for my own use.

# Ben said on April 27, 2007 10:14 AM:

No problem - Thanks.

# Bill said on May 7, 2007 7:06 PM:

As long as EBAY exists MAPing is virtually (pardon the pun) useless

# Tom said on June 16, 2007 8:42 PM:

Do a Google search on "minimum advertised pricing" and you'll find that the MAP issue isn't straightforward. At http://www.fredlaw.com/articles/marketing/mark_0401_qtj.html an attorney explains how complex and murky the law is, and says "There are no court decisions or FTC pronouncements to date that directly address any of these internet issues. " However, I also found this: "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." [http://hffo.cuna.org/12433/article/1059/html] As for advertised vs. selling price, I've been on many websites, including Amazon.com and Best Buy, where they show you only the MSRP and you have to add the item to your shopping cart to see the real selling price.

Leave a Comment

Name (required) 

Your URL (optional)

Comments (required) 

Remember Me?