Why does nobody talk about how much Amazon ads eat into your margins?

I was looking at my seller reports last night and found out Amazon takes almost 30% of my revenue just in ad costs and fees combined. That stat hit me hard because I found it buried in the 'advertising cost of sales' section of their dashboard. Has anyone else noticed this creep and found a way to get better ROAS without just raising prices?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_parker1mo ago

True but @anna_ross19 30% includes fees too not just ad costs alone.

rileyp491mo ago

Understand what you're saying but I actually think 30% is pretty reasonable when you break down what goes into running a platform like that. You're not just paying for ads, you're paying for the whole infrastructure that makes selling possible in the first place. They handle hosting, traffic, payment processing, fraud protection, and customer support that would cost a small business a fortune to set up on their own. Most people don't realize how much it takes to keep a marketplace running smoothly behind the scenes.

graceblack1mo ago

Right, because who doesn't love paying 30% just for the privilege of selling stuff? I keep waiting for the "surprise, you owe us your firstborn" email from them.

anna_ross191mo ago

No way, 30% in just ad costs alone? Thats insane, I thought the fees were bad enough but that's a whole other level of crazy.