Effective Date: October 1, 2019
1. Introduction
As a manufacturer and wholesaler of superior quality gift and home décor products, Mark Roberts strives to provide only the best quality products to our consumers and collectors through our network of world-class resellers.
Our success is a direct result of the success of our resellers to carry and sell our products to the end user. We recognized the substantial commitments of time and resources made by our resellers to make this happen. To support our resellers’ efforts and to protect the Mark Roberts image and brand equity, we are adopting a MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE POLICY (“MAP Policy”). We are adopting this policy because of the growing concern from both local store owners and online retailers from other resellers who aggressively discount our products. Such action benefits no one and is harmful to the Mark Roberts brand, competitiveness, and our resellers fair business practice.
Resellers who will intentionally ignore or advertise any product below the stated MAP will be addressed accordingly as outlined in our enforcement policy.
THIS POLICY IS NOT INTENDED TO CONTROL, RESTRICT OR LIMIT IN ANY WAY A RESELLER’S SALES STRATEGY. THIS POLICY IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO RESTRICTIONS ON ADVERTISED PRICING. EACH RESELLER REMAINS ENTIRELY FREE TO DETERMINE ITS OWN SALES STRATEGY.
2. Guidelines
a. This policy will apply to all Mark Roberts Limited Edition Collectibles. MAP is not required for our General Decor products.
b. The policy will be enforced on all Collectibles on the current year and will extend to the previous calendar year.
1. Collectibles are all items whose SKU begins with 11, 51, 52, AI and the King Jewel Ornaments.
2. Bases, Rotating Bases, and Stands are considered current year collectible regardless of the year it was released. Bases, Rotating Bases, and Stands should always be within MAP
3. Our 12 Days of Christmas Collection are also considered current year collectibles regardless of the year it was released. This collection from the first collectible to the last collectible should always be within MAP.
c. A calendar year shall be understood as from January 1 to December 31.
d. Off-season collectibles that fall within the current and previous calendar year must also be within our stated MAP guidelines.
e. Limited Edition Collectibles offered at a discount by Mark Roberts to retailers from time to time as part of our promotional packages are not exempted from this policy and shall conform to the MAP guidelines stated herein.
f. The policy is applicable to local retail stores (brick-and-mortar), online marketplaces, and a resellers own ecommerce store.
g. The MAP Policy only applies to advertised prices, not the final price at which MAP products are actually sold or offered for sale.
• Advertised price covers all advertisements of MAP Products in any and all media, including but not limited to flyers, posters, coupons, mailers, inserts, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, television, radio, and public signage, as well as internet sites, social media sites, apps, or any other electronic media.
• Website features such as “click for price”, automated “bounce-back” pricing e-mails, pre-formatted e-mail responses, forms, and automatic price display for any items prior to being placed in a customer’s shopping cart, or other similar features that changed/reduce the advertised retail price prior to adding the product in the cart constitute an advertised price below MAP and therefore is not acceptable.
• It is acceptable to advertise that a customer may “call for special offers” or “email for special offers”, or “special discount/coupon may be applied”, or to use similar language, so long as the original advertised retail price is not discounted prior to adding the product in the cart, the original advertised retail price does not dynamically change when adding the product to the cart, or the original advertised retail price remains the same after adding the product in the cart.
• Special discount coupons or promo codes may be used to advertised and promote a collaborative event between retailers and Mark Roberts. Such advertisement or promos must be used only for a limited period. When advertising promo codes or coupons, the FINAL discounted price must never be advertised.
• For online retailing, It is acceptable for the final sale price to be below MAP (after discount) only during checkout or when a product is already in the cart. No price as advertised should show an item below MAP before adding it to the cart or when applying a coupon code prior to adding the product to the cart.
• If a product is advertised or promoted as part of a package that includes other products, it shall be a violation of this MAP Policy to advertise the package at a price that: (a) is lower than the total Minimum Advertised Price of the product or (b) violates the letter or spirit of the MAP Policy.
h. Resellers who wish to sell Mark Roberts products in any of the online marketplace such as, but not limited to Amazon or eBay should communicate this intention to us by sending an email to customerservice@mark-roberts.com and provide the following information (1) Online Store Name (2) Primary Contact Person, and (3) Name of the online Marketplace.
i. Resellers who fail to inform us of its intention to sell a Mark Roberts product in any of the above online marketplaces will be in violation of this policy. They will therefore not be considered as an authorized reseller and will be subjected to the restrictions available to us within those marketplaces.
j. Resellers may not sell any of the Mark Roberts products on the Walmart Marketplace or similar discount/low price sites. This include sites where the pricing/business model is “price bidding”.
k. This MAP Policy also applies to any activity which Mark Roberts determines, in its sole discretion, is designed or intended to circumvent the intent of this MAP Policy.
3. Policy Enforcement
a. If a reseller violates this MAP Policy at any one store location, or on any associated website, then Mark Roberts will consider this to be a violation.
b. Violations will be aggressively monitored and will result in the following graduated response level :
1. Notice of Violation advising nature of Violation, opportunity to cure, and consequence of failure to cure.
2. Account Suspension and opportunity to remedy
3. Termination of the Account.
Serial Violations: Repeated violations or evidence of attempts to circumvent this MAP will also be treated accordingly.
MAP Violation Policy
* 1st Violation
• Reseller will receive an initial violation warning, Violations must be corrected within 24 hours
*2nd Violation
• Violator will receive 2nd Violation Notice
• Violation must be corrected within 12 hours
• Mandatory 2 week suspension of all orders until the violation is remedied
*3rd Violation
• Violator will receive 3rd Violation Notice
• Mandatory 4 week suspension of account with the possibility of terminating the account permanently until the account owner can show cause as to why the account must be reinstated.
c. Mark Roberts reserves the right to cancel any pending orders, restrict future orders, suspend resellers’ account, or terminate the relationship if it reasonably believes:
• a dealer has violated the provisions of this policy; or
• a dealer has repeatedly violated this policy.
d. MAP Policy Administrator or its Retail Compliance Group is solely responsible for determining whether a violation of the MAP Policy has occurred, as well as determining appropriate sanctions.
e. Mark Roberts tries its best to monitor the advertised prices of all its resellers directly or via the use of online monitoring tools. Resellers are expected to provide reasonable cooperation in any investigations regarding possible MAP Policy violations.
This Policy will be enforced by Mark Roberts uniformly without exception to the best of our ability.
