OC Systems Agency
Amazon PPC

Amazon PPC Management From $750/Month

Managed for profitable growth — not vanity ACOS.

A low ACOS on a campaign that barely spends is not a win, and neither is scaling a campaign that loses money on every order. We rebuild the account structure, derive a break-even ACOS from each SKU's real margin, and manage bids against that number every week. Flat fee, never a percentage of what you spend.

Sponsored ProductsSponsored BrandsSponsored DisplayBreak-even ACOS per SKUWeekly search-term harvestingTACOS reporting
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The same handful of things are usually wrong

Most accounts we open are not badly intentioned. They are accounts where nobody has had a reason to read the search-term report in three months, and the damage is consistent enough to list in advance.

  • ✗Auto, broad, phrase and exact all running inside one campaign, so no line of data can be read on its own
  • ✗A single account-wide ACOS target applied across SKUs with completely different margins
  • ✗Search terms that have spent for months without a conversion, still not negated
  • ✗The same keyword bid against itself in three campaigns, pushing your own cost per click up
  • ✗Budget sitting on branded terms that would have converted without paying for the click
  • ✗Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display switched on once and never reviewed since
  • ✗Bids set from an ACOS benchmark someone read in a blog post rather than from what the unit earns
  • ✗Ads still running against SKUs that are out of stock or have lost the Buy Box to a reseller

None of these is dramatic enough to trigger an alarm on its own, and that is the mechanism: ad waste is the one cost in an Amazon P&L that grows automatically in proportion to budget while nobody is looking. Scaling spend on top of a structure that has not been proven profitable at your margin does not fix any of it — it enlarges all of it at exactly the rate the budget grows.

How We Audit the Account

Sixty days of search-term data pulled across every campaign — what spent, what converted, what did neither
Campaign and ad-group structure mapped, so targets competing against each other become visible
Bid and budget allocation checked against each SKU's actual contribution, not an account-wide target
Negative keyword and negative-ASIN coverage checked at both campaign and ad-group level
Placement, day-part and top-of-search multipliers reviewed against what they actually returned
Branded and non-branded spend separated, so defensive spend shows up as its own decision
ACOS and TACOS trended over the same period, at account level and at SKU level
Conversion rate checked per listing, because a traffic fix cannot repair a conversion problem
Referral and FBA fee assumptions re-checked against current rates, since those set the break-even
Inventory position and Buy Box status on every advertised SKU
Campaigns that cannot be made profitable at your margin identified and named as such

What We Change First

In roughly this order, and usually inside the first two weeks. The sequence matters: bids set before the structure is readable are guesses with more decimal places.

What We Change First1Separate auto, broad, phrase and exact so each can be read onits own2Re-derive break-even ACOS per SKU from landed cost and currentAmazon fees3Reset bids against that break-even instead of an account-widetarget4Negate search terms with spend and no conversions, at theright level5Promote converting search terms into their own exact-match adgroups6Split branded from non-branded spend so defensive budget isdeliberate7Pause or cap targets on SKUs that are out of stock or losingthe Buy Box8Set placement multipliers from the placement report, not fromdefaults

The First 30 Days

Onboarding is the part most agencies describe vaguely, so here is ours by week. Nothing in it depends on you doing anything more than granting access and telling us what a unit costs you.

  1. Days 1–5

    Access, audit, and the arithmetic

    We take reporting access to Seller Central and the ad account, pull 60 days of search-term and placement data, and ask you for landed cost at whatever resolution you actually have it. By the end of the week you have the audit findings and a break-even ACOS per SKU, with the working shown so you can argue with the assumptions.

  2. Days 6–12

    Restructure and reset bids

    Auto, broad, phrase and exact get separated so each can be read on its own. Duplicate targets competing across campaigns are consolidated. Bids come off whatever account-wide target was in place and get reset against each SKU's own break-even. Nothing is scaled in this window — the point is to make the account legible first.

  3. Days 13–21

    First harvest cycle

    The first full pass over search terms since the restructure: converting terms promoted into their own exact-match ad groups and bid properly, terms with spend and no conversions negated at the right level. This is the loop that compounds, and it runs weekly from here on rather than as a one-off cleanup.

  4. Days 22–30

    First full report and the honest read

    You get spend, ACOS, TACOS and what changed, in plain English, plus our read on what the account can realistically do. If the constraint turns out to be the listings, the price or the inventory rather than the ads, that is what the report says — including in the case where the honest recommendation is to spend less next month.

What We Monitor, and How Often

An Amazon ad account degrades on its own — terms drift, competitors move, a SKU goes out of stock. This is the cadence that stops it, written down so you can hold us to it.

Every week

  • ·Search-term report reviewed, new negatives applied
  • ·Converting terms promoted to exact match
  • ·Bids adjusted on targets that moved materially
  • ·Budget caps checked — which campaigns capped, and whether that was right
  • ·Advertised SKUs checked for stock-outs and Buy Box loss

Every month

  • ·ACOS and TACOS trended together, at account and SKU level
  • ·Branded versus non-branded spend split out
  • ·Placement and top-of-search multipliers against what they returned
  • ·Contribution after ad cost per campaign, using your cost data
  • ·Any Amazon fee change that moves a break-even figure

Every quarter

  • ·Full structure review — what has drifted since the last rebuild
  • ·Per-SKU targets re-derived against updated landed cost and fees
  • ·Category CPC drift and what it does to your ceiling
  • ·The role of Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display re-argued
  • ·Campaigns that cannot be made profitable named and dealt with

How We Decide What a Click Is Worth

ACOS is a ratio, not a verdict. It tells you what share of ad-attributed revenue went to advertising and nothing about what was left after Amazon took its cut and you paid for the unit. So we do not start from an ACOS target at all — we start from what a sale actually earns you, and derive the target from that.

Referral fees run 8 to 17 percent for most categories and up to 45 percent for Amazon device accessories, and FBA fulfilment fees moved again this year: roughly eight cents per unit on average, plus a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on US and Canada FBA fulfilment fees from April 17, 2026, extended to Multi-Channel Fulfilment on May 2. Amazon puts the US FBA impact at about seventeen cents a unit. Those numbers sit upstream of every bid, which is why we re-derive them per SKU instead of carrying last year's assumption forward.

Worked illustration

Made-up figures, not a client account. Substitute your own and the method is identical.

Sale price
$29.99
Referral fee at 15%
−$4.50
FBA fulfilment fee
−$5.60
3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge, charged on the fulfilment fee
−$0.20
Landed unit cost
−$8.00
Contribution before advertising
$11.69
Break-even ACOS — where an extra sale earns nothing
39.0%
At a 26% target, what a sale leaves
$3.89

Two things follow from that panel. A 35% ACOS still leaves something on this unit and would be a straight loss on a thinner one, which is why a single account-wide target always starves some SKUs while others quietly lose money on every order. And the surcharge is charged on the fulfilment fee rather than on your sale price, so it moves the break-even on heavy, cheap units far more than on light, expensive ones.

Alongside all of that we report TACOS — the same spend measured against total sales, organic included. It is the number that shows whether advertising is buying you rank or just buying sales you would have made anyway. Falling TACOS with rising total revenue is the pattern worth paying for. Rising TACOS with flat revenue means the channel is getting more expensive to stand still in, and we would rather show you that than a tidy ACOS chart.

ACOS vs TACOS

ACOS compared with TACOS: formula, what each measures, what each hides, and how to read them
ACOSTACOS
FormulaAd spend ÷ ad-attributed salesAd spend ÷ total sales, organic included
What it measuresWhat share of the revenue the ads themselves produced went back into advertisingWhat share of everything you sold went into advertising
What it hidesWhether a sale was profitable after the referral fee, fulfilment and unit cost. And whether the ads bought organic rank or only bought sales you would have made anyway.Which campaigns or SKUs are doing the work. It is an account-level health number, not a bidding number.
Reads well whenIt sits below the break-even ACOS derived from that SKU's real marginIt falls while total revenue rises: each ad dollar is producing organic sales it does not get credit for
Reads badly whenIt is compared against a benchmark from a blog post instead of your own marginIt rises while revenue stays flat: the ads are cannibalising demand you already had
Where we use itPer SKU, to set and manage bids against break-evenPer account and per SKU, monthly, to say whether the channel is growing or getting more expensive to stand still in

Who This Fits — and Who It Does Not

1

A good fit

An established catalog already selling on Amazon, with enough ad spend for search-term data to mean something, and a landed cost you can give us at some resolution — per SKU ideally, blended across a family is workable. If you want someone to argue with you about which SKUs deserve budget, this is the service.

2

Probably too early

Spend under roughly $1,000 a month. At that level our fee dominates the channel and the click volume is too thin to optimise against, so you would be paying for judgement there is no data to apply. The honest answer is usually the $495 audit plus your own hours until the channel can carry a management fee.

3

Not a fit

If clicks arrive and the listing does not convert, PPC management makes that leak more expensive rather than smaller — fix the listing first, or take Amazon Full Management instead. We are also not a fit if you want a guaranteed ACOS, a percentage-of-spend arrangement, or an agency that will never tell you to spend less. Say so now and we both save a call.

What It Costs

Flat fees, excluding the ad spend you pay Amazon directly. Never a percentage of your budget — under that model an agency earns more the more you spend, which makes the one conversation you most need it to have the one it is paid to avoid.

Start here

Full PPC Audit

The complete written audit of your existing account: structure, search-term waste, bid and budget allocation, ACOS and TACOS against your real margin, and a prioritised 90-day action plan you can hand to anyone — including a different agency. Credited toward your first month if you hire us within 30 days.

$495 one-time

Ongoing

Amazon PPC Management

Everything on this page, run week to week: structure, bids against your break-even, weekly search-term harvesting and negatives, placement and day-part work, and monthly ACOS and TACOS reporting in plain English.

$750 per month, starting + ad spend

If the account needs it

Amazon Full Management

The ads plus the account behind them — listing SEO, A+ Content, Brand Store, catalog and account health. The right choice when the constraint is the listing rather than the campaign, because ads pointed at a neglected listing only spend faster.

$2,000 per month, starting + ad spend

Further reading

All Amazon PPC articles →

Frequently Asked Questions

What ACOS should I be targeting?
There is no universal number, and any agency that gives you one before seeing your margin is guessing. A 35% ACOS can be very profitable on one product and a loss on another, because ACOS only tells you what share of ad-attributed revenue went to advertising — it says nothing about what was left after Amazon's referral fee, FBA fulfillment, storage and your landed cost. We work backward from your unit economics instead: establish the break-even ACOS at which an incremental sale contributes nothing, then set a target below it that reflects how aggressively you want to buy rank. Those two numbers are specific to each SKU, not to your account, which is why a single account-wide target usually means some products are being starved while others quietly lose money on every order. We set them per SKU and show you the working, so you can check the arithmetic rather than take our word for it.
What is the difference between ACOS and TACOS?
ACOS measures advertising spend against advertising-attributed sales only. TACOS measures the same spend against total sales, organic included. TACOS is the better health metric because it captures the thing ACOS hides: whether advertising is buying organic rank or simply buying sales you would have made anyway. Falling TACOS alongside growing total revenue is the pattern you want — it means each advertising dollar is doing more work than the ACOS figure suggests, because the organic sales it created are not attributed to it. Rising TACOS with flat revenue is the opposite signal and usually means ads are cannibalising organic demand. We report both every month, because an agency that shows you ACOS alone is showing you the number that is easiest to make look good. The two together tell you whether the channel is actually growing or just getting more expensive to stand still in.
Do the 2026 Amazon fee changes move my break-even?
Yes, and quietly enough that plenty of sellers are still bidding against last year's arithmetic. FBA fulfilment fees rose by roughly eight cents per unit on average, and from April 17, 2026 a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies to US and Canada FBA fulfilment fees, extended to Multi-Channel Fulfilment on May 2. Amazon puts the US FBA impact at about seventeen cents a unit. The detail that matters for bidding is that the surcharge is calculated on the fulfilment fee rather than on your sale price, so it lands hardest on heavy or bulky units sold cheaply and barely registers on a light, expensive one. Referral fees are the larger lever again at 8 to 17 percent for most categories, and as high as 45 percent for Amazon device accessories. All of it sits upstream of your break-even ACOS, so we re-derive that figure per SKU rather than inheriting an assumption.
Will you spend more of my budget every month?
Only where the arithmetic supports it, and our fee gives us no reason to push. The management fee is flat and never a percentage of ad spend, so we earn exactly the same whether you spend $5,000 or $50,000 a month — recommending a budget cut costs us nothing, which is deliberate. Scaling spend into a structure that has not proven profitable at your margin is the easiest way for an agency to look busy while making the problem larger, because waste grows in proportion to budget. What we do instead is scale the campaigns and terms that have demonstrated they convert at or below your target, hold or reduce the rest, and tell you plainly when the honest recommendation is to spend less this month than last. If a campaign cannot be made profitable at your margin, we will say that rather than quietly leaving it running at a smaller budget.
Do I need a minimum ad spend?
There is no contractual minimum, but there is a practical one worth being blunt about. Management starts at $750 a month, so a brand spending a few hundred dollars on ads would be paying us more than it pays Amazon — at that point the fee dominates the channel and the arithmetic cannot work no matter how well the campaigns are run. There is a second constraint too: very small budgets do not generate enough clicks and conversions for search-term data to be statistically meaningful, so there is little to optimise against. Tell us your current spend and we will say honestly whether managed PPC makes sense yet. Where it does not, the usual answer is software plus your own hours until the channel is large enough to carry a management fee. We would rather tell you that now than take a fee for twelve months and watch you conclude that Amazon advertising does not work.
Can you also fix my listings?
Yes, and often we should, because ads and listings are one system rather than two. Advertising sends traffic; the listing decides whether that traffic buys. If your conversion rate is the real constraint, more ad spend simply makes the leak bigger and more expensive at exactly the rate the budget grows — which is the single most common way sellers waste money on Amazon. In practice we look at both before recommending either: if the search terms are converting and the ACOS is still poor, the problem is usually pricing or fees; if the clicks arrive and nothing converts, the problem is the listing. Ads plus the account behind them is Amazon Full Management at $2,000 a month starting, covering PPC, listing SEO, A+ Content, Brand Store, catalog and account health. If your listings are already strong, stay on PPC management alone — we will tell you which situation you are in after looking.

Last reviewed by the OC Systems Agency team.

The break-even panel on this page is a worked illustration using invented figures, not a client account or a projection. We publish no performance data, and nothing here should be read as a guaranteed ACOS, TACOS, ranking or sales outcome — advertising results depend on your margin, category, listings and inventory, none of which an agency controls.

Find Out What Your Ad Spend Is Actually Earning

Tell us what you sell, what you spend and roughly what a unit costs you landed. We will show you where the waste is and what your break-even actually is — including the case where the answer is that you do not need us.

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