# North Carolina · retail · prohibition — State below-cost motor fuel selling laws and minimum-markup percentages

For North Carolina · retail · prohibition, state is North Carolina; applies to is retail; rule is prohibition; law name is Unlawful below-cost selling; exceptions; statute citation is G.S. 75-82, recorded from its source on 2026-08-20; source re-checked 2026-09-01.

- **State:** North Carolina _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Applies to:** retail _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Rule:** prohibition _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Law name:** Unlawful below-cost selling; exceptions. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Statute citation:** G.S. 75-82 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **What is prohibited:** It shall be unlawful where the intent is to injure competition for any motor fuel merchant or the affiliate of any motor fuel merchant to sell with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice of selling at a motor fuel outlet any grade, brand or blend of motor fuel for less than the cost of that grade, brand or blend of motor fuel _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Exceptions:** (i) the price is established in good faith to meet or compete with the lower price of a competitor in the same market area on the same level of distribution selling the same or comparable product of like quality, (ii) the price remains in effect for no more than 10 days after the first sale of that grade, brand or blend by the merchant at a new retail outlet, (iii) the sale is made in good faith to dispose of a grade, brand or blend of motor fuel for the purpose of discontinuing sales of that product, or (iv) the sale is made pursuant to the order or authority of any court or governmental agency. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> (a) It shall be unlawful where the intent is to injure competition for any motor fuel merchant or the affiliate of any motor fuel merchant to sell with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice of selling at a motor fuel outlet any grade, brand or blend of motor fuel for less than the cost of that grade, brand or blend of motor fuel except where (i) the price is established in good faith to meet or compete with the lower price of a competitor in the same market area on the same level of distribution selling the same or comparable product of like quality, (ii) the price remains in effect for no more than 10 days after the first sale of that grade, brand or blend by the merchant at a new retail outlet, (iii) the sale is made in good faith to dispose of a grade, brand or blend of motor fuel for the purpose of discontinuing sales of that product, or (iv) the sale is made pursuant to the order or authority of any court or governmental agency.

## Source

- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_75/GS_75-82.html

Last verified: 2026-09-01. Review by: 2027-02-16.
Part of [State below-cost motor fuel selling laws and minimum-markup percentages](https://referencesource.org/motor-fuel-minimum-markup-laws-by-state/).