- MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) suppliers are the most important supplier type for protecting your brand and your profit margins.
- MAP suppliers are more selective about who they approve — which means less market saturation and higher profit potential.
- Finding MAP suppliers is easier than most beginners assume once you know what to look for.
- MAP policy laws vary by country — in the USA, thousands of legitimate MAP suppliers are available.
- Use open door suppliers for upsells and back-end offers; use MAP suppliers for your core, profit-driving products.
In step one of this dropship supplier training series, we covered “Open Door” dropship suppliers — who they are, and when it makes the most sense to use them.
Today, in step two, we’re covering the most important dropship supplier type you can work with — why it matters, and how to actually work with them.
So which supplier type is the best to work with, and why?
The answer: what we call
“MAP Suppliers”
Why are they the best? Working with MAP suppliers helps you protect your brand and your pricing, so you can earn a higher profit — as long as you choose the right products and the right market to sell into.
How is that possible? MAP suppliers care deeply about their brand, so they pay close attention to your character and integrity before approving you. They care about establishing solid, long-term relationships, which means it can be a bit more challenging to get approved as a retailer of their products. It’s worth the effort, though — because fewer people are selling their products online compared to “open door” suppliers, the markets tend to be far less saturated. That’s exactly why it’s easier to make a higher profit selling MAP supplier products online.
Make sense so far? Good. But how do you actually find MAP suppliers?
It’s most effective to research and find MAP suppliers yourself, since you can identify the ones actively working with and approving retailers like you much faster. You’ll know for certain the suppliers you work with are genuine MAP suppliers, legitimate, and built to last long-term. Researching MAP suppliers is easier than most beginners assume — once you know exactly what to look for, it’s not nearly as difficult as it first seems.
One important note: many countries have laws that make it illegal for suppliers to fix a minimum advertised price on their products. If you live somewhere those laws are in effect, it may be considerably harder to find MAP suppliers based in your country. In the USA, however, there are thousands of MAP suppliers available to work with.
Inside the DropshipXL Supplier membership, we built a mastery training course that walks you step by step through how to easily and quickly find MAP suppliers. It still takes real effort, but we’ve simplified the entire process — giving you the exact knowledge needed to find and get approved with the best dropshipping suppliers on the planet.
It makes the most sense by far to work with MAP suppliers if you want to build a more profitable store. Don’t get caught selling your core products from open door suppliers only. Open door suppliers can absolutely be useful — for upsells and back-end email offers, they work great. But rather than relying on open door suppliers exclusively, sell your most profitable core products through MAP suppliers instead. That keeps you out of price competition battles and gives you a much easier path to protecting your brand — which translates directly into higher profits.
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Never Worry About Finding Suppliers Again
Set up your DropshipXL Supplier account today to get immediate access to our full supplier directory, plus every mastery training course — including the full step-by-step course on how to find MAP suppliers any time you wish.
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Once you’re a member, you’ll never have to worry again about finding suppliers. You’ll have the tools and knowledge to find them any time you wish.
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