ACoS Too High? How to Stop Wasting Money on Amazon PPC

ACoS climbing month over month is one of the most common reasons sellers reach out to an agency, but it's also one of the most misdiagnosed.

What ACoS Actually Tells You

ACoS on its own is not good or bad, it's only meaningful relative to your margin. Before touching a single bid, know your actual break-even ACoS.

Common Causes of Runaway ACoS

• Broad match keywords left unmanaged, pulling in irrelevant search terms
• No negative keyword hygiene, the same wasteful terms burning budget weekly
• Conversion rate problems, not ad problems, weak images or thin bullets
• Increased competition, more sellers bidding on your core keywords
• Stale campaigns, bid structures never revisited as the account matured

A Practical Audit Checklist

• Pull a 60-day search term report and sort by spend for terms with clicks but zero orders
• Check session-to-order conversion rate on the product page itself
• Compare ACoS by campaign type. Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display perform very differently
• Check whether your Buy Box percentage has dropped

Fixing It Without Killing Sales Volume

Slashing budgets across the board usually backfires, it tanks organic rank along with ad spend. A targeted approach almost always outperforms an across-the-board cut.