Can my UK supplier set a minimum resale price?
Usually no: enforced minimum resale pricing is generally unlawful. An RRP is optional only if you remain free to choose your selling price. Preserve pricing demands and supply threats, decline to agree a price floor and seek advice. Coordinate alternative sourcing with Cambridge China Bridge.
Check whether the recommendation is genuinely optional
For stock bought from a UK supplier for resale, distinguish its wholesale selling price from the price it wants you to charge your customers. The CMA says suppliers should not directly or indirectly force retailers to sell at or above particular prices. A recommended resale price, or RRP, is different if you remain free to choose your selling price.
Ask for written confirmation that you can discount without pricing-related penalties. Read the actual policy and messages together, rather than relying on the word ‘recommended’. Record which products, sales channels and repeat orders the demand concerns.
Look for enforcement behind the label
A minimum advertised price policy can amount to resale price maintenance and is usually illegal. Treat a demand to raise your website price as a warning sign even if the supplier says you can privately sell for less. In its enforcement cases, the CMA has identified threats involving higher wholesale prices, withdrawn image permissions and withheld supplies.
Ask what happens if you reject the requested price. Preserve any connection between your discount and an account hold, changed buying terms or refusal of a repeat order. Keep unrelated explanations, such as unavailable stock, separately so your record shows what was actually said.
Preserve the pricing demand and your response
Create a pricing-dispute folder containing the original policy, product references, your listing as it appeared, the supplier’s demand and your response. Capture the surrounding conversation, sender and timestamps. Keep subsequent order refusals and changes to buying terms alongside the earlier pricing messages. Our message preservation guide explains how to retain originals and label translations.
After a call, send a factual note asking the supplier to confirm or correct your understanding of the requested price and threatened consequence. Mark unconfirmed notes clearly. Retain your own replies and any earlier acceptance of the policy; do not delete or rewrite an uncomfortable exchange.
Reply without agreeing to a price floor
Adapt this reply: ‘We set our resale prices independently and do not agree to a minimum resale or advertised price. Please confirm that your recommendation is optional and explain whether the threatened supply restriction relates to our pricing. Please also confirm the status of accepted orders and proposed repeat orders separately.’
Avoid promising compliance simply to secure stock. A reseller that cooperates with a minimum pricing policy can itself face investigation. If you have already agreed or changed prices in response to pressure, give the full history to a competition solicitor promptly. Use our UK supply terms guide to assemble the relevant order documents.
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Escalate and plan for a supply interruption
You can report concerns about anti-competitive activity to the CMA. Prepare a factual chronology and supporting originals, distinguishing the supplier’s words from your interpretation. Ask your solicitor to assess the pricing conduct and the position on existing orders and future supplies separately. Plan for an interruption while seeking advice.
List exposed customer commitments, usable stock, outstanding orders and possible replacement products. Compare alternatives against the approved specification and product evidence before committing. Our supplier replacement guide covers that decision. Cambridge China Bridge can coordinate alternative factory enquiries through its own staff in China.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to sell at my supplier’s RRP?
An RRP is optional if you remain free to choose your selling price. Ask for written confirmation and examine any pricing-related threats alongside the policy.
Can my supplier set a minimum advertised price?
Do not assume permission to discount privately resolves the concern.
What if my supplier threatens to stop supplying me?
Preserve the threat and its connection to your prices. Decline to agree a price floor, ask about existing and future orders separately, and seek competition advice while preparing alternative supply.
Can I get into trouble for agreeing to minimum prices?
Yes. A reseller that cooperates with a minimum pricing policy can face investigation. Keep your own replies and seek advice promptly if you have already agreed.