MAP vs List vs Sale Price, What Gives?

Now, I know this has been discussed somewhat before, but, still scratching my head on this. 

AGD & PA have sales every so often that exclude MAP items, OK... fair enough. Problem is the inconsistencies with all this, bear with me here: 

TX200HC in .177 Walnut, apples to apples:

PA sells for $700, Lists for $790, You “save” $90 or 11%. 

AGD sells for $730, Lists for $870, You “save” $140 or 16%. 

So, I take it list and map are not the same? Why not? Why are they on “sale” if there’s a MAP and they can’t include them in the “Sales” Confused yet? Me too. 

As for this gun’s realistic retail sale savings: I guess you save $30 or 9.6% if you buy from PA. 
 
MAP = minimum advertised price = the lowest price the seller is supposed to advertise the gun 

"List" price is what the wholesaler wants the gun to sell for, building in profit and advertising fees. A "suggested" price that is usually higher than the actual purchase price. Think about how car dealerships work... sticker price vs. "lemme see what the boss says" price...
 
MAP pricing is good for the small business and sport shop, it’s seen a lot in hunting, boating and sports stuff, it basically makes it a fair playing field for the smaller business that can’t afford to buy 25 of the same product like a bigger store can, so if store A has a sale on brand X trolling motors for 189.00 dollars it makes it easier for the smaller store to match the price at 189.00 without loosing money and customers. If a store does sell below MAP they can lose the distribution rights to that product so there are rules and penalties that the Manufacturer sets also.

No one really advertises MAP pricing most will just say it’s normally this much and on sale for this much and if you really want the sale or customer you have some wiggle room to lower the price if needed( you need to keep the doors open )and not get into trouble with other dealers. There was a store that was underselling a particular brand trolling motor to gain customers and another business/dealer complained to the manufacturer thinking they weren’t getting the same deal, it turned out the business that undercut everyone else was selling below MAP pricing and ended up loosing that line of trolling motor and everything with that name on it, it hurt them for a long time.

Business Lesson Learned.....Never sell below MAP and if you do pray you don’t get caught, it’s not worth it. Sometimes a manufacturer will let you sell below set MAP if they are eliminating the product.