Natural Factors Nutritional Products Inc.
MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE POLICY FOR THE UNITED STATES
Effective Date: December 11, 2024
- Purpose
There are certain advertising practices that undermine the reputation, brand, goodwill, and premium image of Natural Factors Nutritional Products Inc. (“Natural Factors”) products with our target customer population and discourage sellers from investing in our product lines and providing the best possible service and support to customers. To protect the integrity of our brand, we are implementing this unilateral Minimum Advertised Price Policy for the United States (“Policy”), which applies to all authorized sellers (“Sellers”) of our products advertising to end user consumers in the United States. This Policy is effective December 11, 2024 and supersedes all of our prior policies or representations regarding minimum advertised prices or minimum resale prices for the Covered Products (defined below) applicable to Sellers.
- Covered Products
This Policy applies to advertisements of our products listed on the Natural Factors MAP Price List (“Covered Products”). The MAP Price List will be made available to all Sellers and may be changed by us at any time in our discretion. Sellers are responsible for reviewing the current MAP Price List, available at https://naturalfactors.com/pages/retailer-resources, but we will work to notify Sellers promptly when updates are made to it.
- The Minimum Advertised Price
The “minimum advertised price” (“MAP”) is the lowest price at which the Covered Product may be advertised. We are solely responsible for (1) establishing the MAP for each Covered Product and (2) communicating the Policy to all Sellers (including via directing any distributors to pass down the Policy to their resellers). While Sellers remain free to advertise and sell all of our products (including Covered Products) at any price, it is a violation of this Policy for a Seller to advertise any Covered Product at a price lower than the MAP unless otherwise set forth herein.
- Advertising and Advertisements
The terms “advertising” and “advertisement” include all promotional or pricing information related to Covered Products displayed in any type of media, including, but not limited to:
- newspapers
- websites
- mobile/smart phone
- applications
- sponsored links
- catalogs
- blogs
- ads in any other media in a digital format that is conveyed via the Internet
- magazines
- social media
- banner ads
- flyers
- affiliate marketing
- networks/comparison
- shopping engines
- online product ads
- brochures
- paid search ads
- any other marketing or promotional materials, whether displayed online, through broadcast, or other media
- television
- pay-per-click ads
- radio ads
- seller-initiated text
- messages or emails to customers or prospective customers
- display ads
- billboards
- mobile ads
- outdoor signage
- product listing ad
- Signage and other pricing or promotional information displayed within a physical store / brick-and-mortar selling location; and
- Pricing information displayed at the Final Online Checkout Stage (which is when the Covered Product is put into an online shopping cart that contains the customer’s name, shipping address, email address, and payment information for a transaction). Please note that pricing information in the Final Online Checkout Stage must be obscured technically so that it is not retrievable by shopping and pricing engines and not displayed on search page results within the Seller’s own website.
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Policy Violations and Permissible Promotions
Direct or indirect attempts to circumvent this Policy violate this Policy. Other advertisements that violate this Policy include, but are not limited to:
- Displaying the advertised price of the Covered Product below the MAP.
- Offering coupons, discounts, rebates, or other inducements that, when applied, result in an advertised price lower than the MAP, including through use of a storewide sale, category-wide sale, website-wide sale, promotional code, or other similar provision that can be applied to the Covered Products;
- Bundling Covered Products with other products or services (whether made by or provided by Natural Factors or another entity) in a manner that implies below-MAP pricing for the bundled Covered Product(s);
- Strikeouts or strikethroughs of advertised pricing information, “see price in cart,” or other statements that suggest a lower price for a Covered Product may be found at the Final Online Checkout Stage;
- Permitting any third-party to alter the advertised price for any Covered Product; and
Notwithstanding the prior advertisements that constitute violations, it is not a violation to advertise the following:
- That a customer may “call for price,” “text for price,” or “email for price,” as long as no price is listed and no automated call, text message, or “bounce-back” email is used in response.
- Free or reduced-price shipping advertisement as long as such offer applies to all or almost all other products offered by the Seller in the same product category.
- “Subscribe and Save,” “Auto-ship and Save,” “Repeat Delivery,” or other subscription or auto-replenishment loyalty discount programs which result in a Covered Product being advertised at a price lower than the MAP, provided that (1) such programs do not advertise a discount of more than 10% below the Covered Product’s MAP; and (2) such discounts are only advertised on the Seller’s selling platform and not through paid search advertisements or third-party advertising platforms.
- MAP Holidays
We may announce MAP holidays or other authorized promotions that are applicable to all Sellers, during which periods a Seller that advertises a Covered Product in compliance with the terms of the MAP holiday or other authorized promotion will not be considered to have violated this Policy.
- This Policy Is Not an Agreement and Is Non-Negotiable
This Policy is not an agreement between Natural Factors and any other entity. We do not seek and will not accept any promise of compliance with this Policy from any Seller or other party, and each Seller must independently choose whether to comply with this Policy. This Policy is not negotiable and will not be altered for any individual Seller.
- Noncompliance
We will take the following actions against any Seller that does not comply with this Policy:
First Violation: Written notice.
Second Violation: Written notice and a 10-business day shipping hold. This means that we will revoke our acceptance of any pending orders, cancel any pending shipments to you, and not accept any new orders from you during this 10-business day period. All Distributors will be made aware of the shipping hold.
Third Violation: Written notice and a 30-business day shipping hold. This means that we will revoke our acceptance of any pending orders, cancel any pending shipments to you, and not accept any new orders from you during this 30-business day period. All Distributors will be made aware of the shipping hold.
Fourth Violation: Termination of business relationship and revocation of “authorized” status. We will revoke our acceptance of any pending orders and cancel any pending shipments to you. You will no longer be an “authorized” Seller of our products. All Distributors will be made aware that Seller’s authorized status has been revoked.
We will enforce this Policy in our sole discretion. Sellers have no right to enforce this Policy.
- Policy Administration
We may update, revise, suspend, or otherwise modify this Policy at any time in our discretion, and any modifications will be made available to all Sellers.
Please note that our employees or agents cannot modify, interpret, or grant any exceptions to this Policy; cannot solicit or obtain the agreement of any person or entity to comply with this Policy; and cannot otherwise discuss any aspect of this Policy with any Seller, including any Seller’s compliance with the terms.
Any questions about this Policy should be sent in writing to our MAP Policy Administrator at compliance@naturalfactors.com. We will not accept any other form of communication from Sellers regarding this Policy.