MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) monitoring in Cobalt lets you track how many sellers are advertising your products below your pricing policy. Once you upload your MAP price list, Cobalt automatically flags violations in both Seller Compliance and the Buy Box Performance tab in Product Catalog — giving you a catalog-wide view and a product-level view in the same place where you already monitor seller activity.
In this article
1. What is MAP and what does Cobalt do with it
2. Good to know
What is MAP and what does Cobalt do with it
A Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) is a pricing floor set by a brand — the lowest price a seller is permitted to publicly advertise a product for. MAP is a policy you define and enforce yourself. Amazon does not enforce MAP on your behalf, and sellers can technically list your products below MAP at any time. Monitoring for violations is your responsibility as a brand.
MAP violations are closely connected to Buy Box loss. Amazon's algorithm tends to favor lower prices when selecting the Buy Box winner, so sellers undercutting your MAP are frequently the same sellers winning the Buy Box away from you. This makes MAP monitoring a natural companion to the seller and Buy Box data already in Cobalt.
Cobalt's role is to surface violations — comparing active offer prices against the MAP prices you upload and flagging where sellers are advertising below your threshold. Once you know who is violating, what to do next is up to you: a direct conversation with a distributor, a cease and desist, or an enforcement handoff through Sigil.
Upload your MAP price list
MAP prices are uploaded from Product Catalog, not from Seller Compliance. The upload applies across both tools — once your prices are set in Product Catalog, the Offers Below MAP data will populate in Seller Compliance automatically.
Where to find it
Go to Brand Management → Product Catalog in the left-hand navigation. The + Add MAP via CSV button is in the top right corner of the product table, next to the download button.
Upload steps
Clicking + Add MAP via CSV opens a three-step modal:
1 |
Download the template Optionally filter by country before downloading. Click Download .csv template to get a pre-populated file that already contains your ASINs and related data. This is the recommended starting point rather than building a file from scratch. |
2 |
Edit your CSV Open the downloaded file in a spreadsheet. The template includes columns for ASIN, country (marketplace), and MAP price. Enter your MAP price for each ASIN you want to monitor. Leave the MAP price blank for any ASINs you don't have a MAP policy for — those products will not be flagged. |
3 |
Upload your CSV Back in the modal, click Upload .csv and select your edited file. Once processed, your MAP prices will be active and Cobalt will begin flagging violations. |
💡 You don't need to have MAP prices for every product to benefit from uploading a partial list. Upload the ASINs where you do have a MAP policy and Cobalt will monitor those — products without a MAP price in the file simply won't be flagged.
Where MAP data appears in Cobalt
Once your MAP prices are uploaded, violation data surfaces in two places: Seller Compliance for a catalog-wide view, and Product Catalog for a product-level view.
Seller Compliance — Overview tab
The Risk Factors section of the Overview tab includes an Offers Below MAP card showing the total count of offers across your catalog that are currently priced below your MAP policy, with a count of recent violations alongside the total. Use this as your routine health check — if the number is climbing, it's a signal to investigate which products and sellers are involved.
The Offers Below MAP card sits alongside Unauthorized Sellers and Suppressed Buy Box in the same Risk Factors row, making it easy to see all three risk dimensions at once.
Product Catalog — Buy Box Performance tab
Click into any product in Product Catalog and open the Buy Box Performance tab. The Offers Below MAP metric appears in the top metrics row alongside Sellers, Lost Revenue, Buy Box Win Share, and Buy Box Win Count. This scopes the violation count to a single ASIN, so you can see exactly how many sellers on that specific product are advertising below your MAP.
The All Offers table at the bottom of the Buy Box Performance tab shows each individual seller's listing price, which you can compare against your MAP to identify the specific sellers involved. A seller whose Average Listing Price falls below your MAP for that product is the source of the violation.
ℹ️ The Offers Below MAP metric shows zero in both locations until MAP prices are uploaded. A zero count before uploading your price list does not mean there are no violations.
Acting on violations
Cobalt identifies which sellers are advertising below your MAP and on which products. What you do next depends on your brand's enforcement approach.
Direct outreach. Use the seller contact information in the seller detail panel (available in both Seller Compliance and the Buy Box Performance tab) to reach out directly. Physical address and seller name are available when provided by Amazon.
Export for your compliance team. Use the download button in the All Offers table on the Buy Box Performance tab, or the Seller List export in Seller Compliance, to pull seller data into a CSV for your legal or compliance team.
Engage Sigil. For unauthorized sellers you want to act on, Cobalt partners with Sigil — an enforcement service that investigates sellers, builds a case, and follows through until they're removed from your listings. A Take Action with Sigil prompt is available in Seller Compliance and the Buy Box Performance tab whenever you're looking at an unauthorized seller.
Important: MAP violations and unauthorized seller status are related but separate issues. A seller can be authorized in your distribution network while still violating your MAP policy. Conversely, an unauthorized seller may be priced above your MAP. Cobalt tracks both dimensions independently — use seller classification to manage authorization status, and MAP prices to monitor pricing compliance.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cobalt enforce my MAP policy?
No. Cobalt monitors for MAP violations by comparing active offer prices against the prices you upload. It does not contact sellers, issue takedowns, or prevent listings below MAP. Enforcement is a separate step you take outside Cobalt, through your own processes, or via a partner like Sigil.
Does Amazon enforce MAP?
No. Amazon does not enforce MAP pricing for any brand. MAP is a policy between you and your sellers or distributors. Monitoring and enforcement are the brand's responsibility.
Why is Offers Below MAP showing zero?
The most common reason is that no MAP prices have been uploaded yet. The Offers Below MAP card and metric are always visible in the UI, but they require your price list to calculate violations. If you've already uploaded prices and still see zero, it may mean no active offers are currently priced below your MAP thresholds — which is a good outcome.
Can I set different MAP prices for different marketplaces?
Yes. MAP prices are set per ASIN and per marketplace (country). When you download the template, you can specify a different MAP price for the same ASIN in different countries, and Cobalt will monitor each marketplace independently against the relevant price.
What happens if I update my MAP prices?
Upload a new CSV with your updated prices. The new prices replace the previous ones once the file is processed. You can update as often as your MAP policy changes.
Can a seller be violating MAP without being unauthorized?
Yes. Authorization status and MAP compliance are tracked separately in Cobalt. An authorized distributor can violate your MAP policy, and an unauthorized seller may actually be priced above your MAP. Both situations can occur independently — check both the Unauthorized Sellers count and the Offers Below MAP count when assessing your brand risk.
Does MAP monitoring apply to all my products automatically?
No. Cobalt only monitors for MAP violations on ASINs where you have uploaded a MAP price. Products without a price in your uploaded file will not be flagged, even if sellers are advertising them below a policy you have elsewhere. Start with your highest-priority products and add more over time.
Where is the + Add MAP via CSV button?
It is in the top right corner of the product table in Product Catalog (Brand Management → Product Catalog), next to the download button. It is not located in Seller Compliance — MAP prices are always uploaded via Product Catalog, and the data flows into Seller Compliance automatically.
How do I know which sellers are violating my MAP?
The Offers Below MAP card and metric give you a count, but not a named list of violating sellers directly. To find the specific sellers, go to the Buy Box Performance tab for any product with violations and review the All Offers table — compare each seller's Average Listing Price against your MAP for that product. Sellers priced below your threshold are the source of the violation.
Related articles
- Seller Compliance: Feature Overview
- Product Catalog: Feature Overview
- Product Catalog: Product Detail Page
Have questions? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or email cobaltsupport@junglescout.com.