Conditional Pricing Practices – A Short Primer

This paper reviews the economic literature on “conditional pricing practices.” Conditional pricing practices are pricing strategies in which a seller conditions its prices on factors such as volume, the set of products purchased, or the buyer’s share of purchases from the seller. This short primer provides a unifying overview of the economic literature that addresses these practices. This paper was prepared as a background document for a 2014 Public Workshop on Conditional Pricing Practices co-sponsored by the DOJ and FTC.