Not a marketing ploy!  You’re already on my site, the last thing I want to do is add a barrier between you and a purchase. 

When a company uses slogans like, “Priced too low to advertise” or requires the potential customer to add an item to their cart to see pricing, it’s usually because the manufacturer, or wholesaler that the retailer purchased the item from has invoked a Minimum Advertised Price or MAP.  In order for the retailer to stay in good graces with the manufacturer or wholesaler that required the MAP, the retailer can’t advertise prices below the MAP, but in most cases they can still sell below it.  They just need the customer to ask for the price that’s set below MAP.  MAP pricing is usually set to protect small businesses like myself, but it frustrates me too.  Rest assured, I will not require you to identify all your private information just to see a price.  Add it to the cart; if you don’t like the price, simply remove the item from the cart.