Can an online store say, "You may not bid more than $x per click"?

Question.

[HughMungus]

Say if an a store you're affiliated with says, "You may use our name but you may not bid more than $x per click." Isn't this price fixing?

[skibum]

They can and usually will kick you out of their program if the policy is violated. It's their brand and they can dictate the rules of how affiliates use it.

[veroxii]

Yes they can. And they do. But if you can write better creative than them, you might still beat them to the top spot on Adwords, since they take your CTR into account.

-V

[skibum]

Ya, its amazing how many merchants just cannot write creative or don't pay attention to it, even on their own name.

[chrisgarrett]

I think the problems go deeper than that - some of these "marketeers" can not articulate any kind of USP and only have a brief grasp of their products features .. which I guess is why they need us? :)

[HughMungus]

They can and usually will kick you out of their program if the policy is violated. It's their brand and they can dictate the rules of how affiliates use it.

That's not what I asked. I asked if it's *legal*.

[skibum]

Its perfectly legal to dictate how 3rd parties and vendors may use a brand.

[jcoronella]

This happens all the time in the retail world where a manufacturer sets the price that their product can be sold for. It isn't price fixing because they are not controlling their competitors product.

You can bid above them if you'd like, and sell their competitors product.

[HughMungus]

Well, I didn't start the thread to complain. I just thought that colluding to not pay more than $x amount for something (e.g., advertising) would be price fixing.