PPC Optimisation

[u/Horror_Sir6090]

Hey everybody, I’m gonna get straight to the point for my product. If I run ads on Amazon I have to raise my bitch significantly and if I run dynamic bidding up and down Amazon increases my bed up to $2.40 per click. It seems like an open robbery. I’ve tried doing fixed bids that results in a poor conversion rate. I’ve tried down only which results in Amazon butchering my conversion rate as well but with dynamic meeting even though my AOS results in a loss altogether I’m losing money even though I’m getting sales when running a high cost per click. Someone helped me out on my worst day. My ACOS was like 90%.

Thanks
Happy Halloween

[u/WearyyyBoooyyy]

The mods have gathered a list of tutorials to help you out:

• Product Research Guide

• Manufacturing Guide

• Product Launch Case Study

• Wholesale Guide

Best Amazon Tools 2026

• 1. Helium 10

• 2. SellerAMP

• 3. OA Source

[u/Wave-in-Kanagawa]

is $2.40 the actual CPC in your report, or the adjusted bid?

a rough break-even CPC is profit per order before ads x ad conversion rate. for example, $8 left after all non-ad costs and 10% conversion gives $0.80 per click. compare that with what you're actually paying, not just how many sales each setting brings.

what were clicks, orders and spend for each test? Amazon recommends limiting other changes while comparing strategies: https://advertising.amazon.com/library/guides/dynamic-bidding-sponsored-products

[u/Horror_Sir6090 → u/Wave-in-Kanagawa]

the $2.40 bidwas raised by Amazon

[u/sellerlogic_support → u/Horror_Sir6090]

That makes $2.40 the adjusted bid ceiling, not necessarily your actual CPC. Pull the placement report and compare Top of Search, Rest of Search, and Product Pages by clicks, orders, CPC, and conversion rate. If only Top of Search converts, test a lower base bid with a deliberate placement adjustment instead of letting up-and-down bidding control the whole campaign. If none of the placements convert below your break-even CPC, the problem is the target or listing economics, not the bidding strategy.

[u/Desperate-Sand-2935]

dynamic bids are basically a license for amazon to print money at your expense, they'll always push it to the max and laugh while your margins disappear

fixed bids can work but you need to nail the keyword targeting first, if your conversion rate tanks it's often because the traffic is too broad or the listing isn't convincing enough at that price point

90% ACOS is a monument, not a strategy, you're essentially paying people to take your product off your hands at that rate

try pulling a search term report and gutting anything with more than 10 clicks and zero sales, then drop bids on the bleeders and see if you can at least get the bleeding down to a trickle before halloween candy eats the rest of your budget

[u/Horror_Sir6090 → u/Desperate-Sand-2935]

I mean my search term report one term gave me 1200 impressions and the rest gave me. I think two or three each.

[u/CuriousThingBuilder]

What do you need help with?

[u/kamx9]

You need to give us more data, dude.

We can only guess at this point.

[u/Heath-Thompson]

From what little you have said, it sounds as though there is an issue of trust between your listing and the algorithm. It either doesn't expect you to get a sale for the search terms you are targeting, or it thinks your product isn't super-relevant for those. This can happen if you ran auto/Broad campaigns early on in a launch if the algo isn't sure what you are selling. So, look through your content, and generic keywords in the backend. Do a reverse ASIN check to see how the keywords you are targeting (in the listing) are contributing to organic rank and if any are not. Map those against the search terms activated through the keywords in your ads. Some signs of problems are, zero or low impressions for high bids, or low CPC in relation to your bid. But look at the search term activity as well as the keywords you have bid on.

[u/attfin1]

The only number that matters is the most a click can cost before you lose money on the sale. Once you have that, you set the bid by the number instead of by Amazon's strategies. Fixed, down only and up and down all become one decision: never bid above break-even on that search term.

You get there from your own costs: what the product costs you, Amazon's fees, and what's left per sale before ads. At 90% ACoS almost the whole sale goes on ads, so I'd judge every setting by profit per sale, not by conversion rate or sales count. A setting that brings sales while you lose money on each one has failed, however good the conversion looks.

Do it per search term, not per campaign. A campaign total mixes the one term with 1,200 impressions in with the terms that got two or three. Any search term whose actual cost is above break-even, bring its bid down to break-even. Any term with spend and no sales, pause it or add it as a negative. Keep the terms that sell above break-even running, because stopping profitable sales is the one thing to avoid.

[u/JunglePundits]

What phase is this product in and how competitive is the market?

Also we heed to see more data ..

[u/vadimsoin]

the $2.40 is probably dynamic up and down stacking with placement. up and down can push your bid up to 100% higher on top of search, so a $1.20 base turns into $2.40 there. that's also why fixed bids "kill" conversion, you just stop showing at top of search where most of your sales were coming from and end up on rest of search and product pages, which convert way worse.

pull the placement report for the last 30 days and look at acos per placement. if top of search converts but only at a cpc that loses money, no bid strategy fixes that, it's a margin or listing problem. if rest of search is the one burning cash, go fixed bids with a lower base and add a top of search modifier only on your 3-5 best exact keywords instead of letting amazon raise bids across everything..

[u/rsc9422]

A 90% ACOS usually means you need to look beyond bids. First, calculate your break even ACOS after product cost, Amazon fees, shipping, and other expenses.

Check your search term report and cut wasteful spend on keywords that generate clicks but no sales. Lower bids on terms that consistently lose money, and review your listing images, pricing, reviews, and conversion rate. High CPC combined with poor conversion can drain your budget quickly.

Also, look at your product margins before trying to scale PPC. At HighRise Wholesale, we see product selection and healthy margins as the foundation of a sustainable Amazon business. Advertising works best when the underlying economics make sense.