Amazon PPC management is usually priced as a flat monthly fee, a percentage of ad spend, or whichever is higher of the two. At Webiclouds it starts at $499 a month or 10% of ad spend, and your ad spend is paid directly to Amazon. This guide explains the pricing models, what you should get for the fee, and how to tell whether your ads are profitable.
The three ways agencies charge
| Model | How it works | Works best when |
|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly fee | A fixed fee regardless of spend | Spend is small or steady |
| Percentage of ad spend | The fee rises and falls with your budget | Spend is large or seasonal |
| Hybrid | A minimum fee, or a percentage above a set spend | Spend is growing |
None of these is right for everyone. What matters is that the fee is written down before work starts and that ad spend is always separate, paid by you straight to Amazon, so you can see where every dollar goes.
What management should include
A management fee should buy weekly work, not a one-off setup. At minimum, expect:
- Campaign structure across Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display.
- Search-term harvesting: moving converting customer search terms into their own targeted campaigns.
- Negative keywords: blocking search terms that spend without selling.
- Bid and budget changes every week based on sales, not guesswork.
- Listing optimisation: titles, bullets, descriptions and backend keywords, because ads cannot fix a listing that doesn’t convert.
- Monthly reporting on sales, ad spend and ACoS, with what happens next.
If an agency only “sets up campaigns” and checks in monthly, the fee is buying very little.
ACoS and TACoS, explained
ACoS (advertising cost of sale) is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales.
ACoS = ad spend ÷ ad sales. If you spend $20 and the ads bring $100 in sales, your ACoS is 20%.
TACoS (total advertising cost of sale) is ad spend divided by all sales, including organic ones.
TACoS = ad spend ÷ total sales.
ACoS tells you whether the ads themselves are efficient. TACoS tells you whether advertising is helping the whole business. A falling TACoS while sales grow usually means ads are lifting organic rank too.
Your break-even ACoS
Before judging any campaign, work out the most you can spend on ads per sale without losing money:
Break-even ACoS = profit margin before advertising.
If a product sells for $40 and leaves $12 after product cost, Amazon fees and shipping, your margin is 30%. An ACoS above 30% loses money on that sale; below 30% it makes money. Some sellers accept a higher ACoS during a launch to build rank, but that should be a deliberate, time-limited choice.
How to choose between an agency and doing it yourself
- Do it yourself if you have a few products, time every week, and comfort with search-term reports.
- Use software if you have many products and want rules to automate bids, and someone in-house to manage the rules.
- Use an agency if you want weekly hands-on management and listing work without hiring.
Whichever you choose, keep ownership: give an agency user access to Seller Central, never your main login.
Frequently asked questions
Is ad spend included in the management fee?
No. You pay Amazon directly for ads. Our fee covers management.
Do you need access to Seller Central?
Yes, user access so we can manage listings and ads. You keep full ownership.
How soon will I see results?
Wasted spend usually drops within the first few weeks once negative keywords are in place. Growth in sales and organic rank builds over the following months.
Do you handle inventory or logistics?
No. We focus on marketing and advertising: getting listings found and ads profitable.
Want to know where your Amazon ad budget is leaking? Request a free audit and a founder will send you a prioritised list of fixes.