which resellers? I would have to imagine that anyone buying directly from Sony and marking up their products would catch the ire of the company, but maybe not.

which resellers? I would have to imagine that anyone buying directly from Sony and marking up their products would catch the ire of the company, but maybe not. MAP and MRP are more about the downward pressure on prices, not upward, so that companies can't come back later and say "I can't sell your product and make a profit because I'm selling it for too cheap." The discounter largely doesn't care as much because of the sheer volume they were doing. They were selling at near half the price of what brick and mortar shops were selling AND this was during a time where most states were not charging taxes on internet purchases OR on tobacco sales. Say you have a box of cigars that has an MSRP for $100 a box. Break even price is $50. Discounter sells for $60 and offers free shipping. You go to the local store and buy for $100. Then you get hit with a 30% tobacco tax and a 9% sales tax. So now you're comparing $60 vs $139. Even if they didn't have what you want in stock, they probably would have something else you'd like for a fraction of the cost. Most mom and pop cigar stores carry about $50-200K worth of inventory at any one time. This discounter was doing mail order business and had about $80-100M worth of inventory.