Are your Amazon ads making money?
Enter your product's price, category and costs, and a period of ad spend and sales. See your ACoS against the break-even your margin allows, with ROAS, TACoS, a target ACoS and the most a click can cost.
Checked by the BaseAcross team.
A $29.99 kitchen product
- Referral fee
- $4.5015% of the price
- Break-even ACoS
- 41.65%Its margin before ads
- Ad ACoS
- 27.8%$500 of ads, $1,800 of sales
- TACoS
- 11.1%Against $4,500 of all sales
What do your ads earn?
Nothing is saved or sent. The example is filled in; replace it with your numbers.
Your ACoS
27.8%
Below your break-even of 41.7%, so the ads make $249.70 on the sales they bring in.
The numbers
- Break-even ACoS
- 41.7%
- Your margin before ads: above it, ads lose money
- Target ACoS
- 31.7%
- Leaves the 10% profit you want
- ROAS
- 3.6×
- Break-even at 2.4×
- TACoS
- 11.1%
- Ad spend over all sales
- Profit per unit before ads
- $12.49
- 41.65% of the price
- Most a click can cost
- $0.95
- At your target ACoS and conversion rate
Across all your sales
On $4,500.00 of sales at a 41.65% margin, after $500.00 of ads, you keep $1,374.25, a 30.5% margin. Ads bring in 40% of your sales; the rest is organic, which the TACoS counts and the ACoS doesn't.
ACoS, break-even ACoS, ROAS and TACoS
Four ways of reading the same spend.
ACoS: ad spend ÷ ad sales. What each dollar of sales from ads cost you in ads. $500 of spend that brings in $2,000 of sales is a 25% ACoS.
Break-even ACoS: your margin before ads. The ACoS at which ads earn exactly what they cost. Above it, every sale from an ad loses money; below it, ads make money.
ROAS: ad sales ÷ ad spend. The same measure turned round. A 25% ACoS is a ROAS of 4: four dollars of sales for each dollar of ads.
TACoS: ad spend ÷ all sales. Counts organic sales too, so it shows what advertising costs the whole business. It falls as organic sales grow.
Amazon referral fees by category
Amazon's own table, read 2026-10-21. The fee is a share of the item's total price, shipping and gift wrap included, or the minimum, whichever is more.
| Category | Referral fee | Minimum | On a $30 item |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Device Accessories | 45% | $0.30 | $13.50 |
| Appliances, compact | 15% on the part up to $300; 8% on the part above $300 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Appliances, full-size | 8% | $0.30 | $2.40 |
| Automotive and Powersports | 12% | $0.30 | $3.60 |
| Baby Products | 8% up to $10; 15% above $10 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Backpacks, Handbags and Luggage | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Base Equipment Power Tools | 12% | $0.30 | $3.60 |
| Beauty, Health and Personal Care | 8% up to $10; 15% above $10 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Business, Industrial and Scientific Supplies | 12% | $0.30 | $3.60 |
| Clothing and Accessories | 5% up to $15; 10% up to $20; 17% above $20 | $0.30 | $5.10 |
| Computers | 8% | $0.30 | $2.40 |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% | $0.30 | $2.40 |
| Electronics Accessories | 15% on the part up to $100; 8% on the part above $100 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Eyewear | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Fine Art | 20% on the part up to $100; 15% on the part up to $1,000; 10% on the part up to $5,000; 5% on the part above $5,000 | $1.00 | $6.00 |
| Footwear | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Furniture | 15% on the part up to $200; 10% on the part above $200 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Gift Cards | 20% | None | $6.00 |
| Grocery and Gourmet | 8% up to $15; 15% above $15 | None | $4.50 |
| Home and Kitchen | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Jewelry | 20% on the part up to $250; 5% on the part above $250 | $0.30 | $6.00 |
| Lawn and Garden | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Lawn Mowers and Snow Throwers | 15% up to $500; 8% above $500 | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Mattresses | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Media: books, DVDs, music, software, video | 15%, plus a $1.80 closing fee | None | $6.30 |
| Merchant Fulfilled Services | 20% | $0.30 | $6.00 |
| Musical Instruments and AV Production | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Office Products | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Pet Supplies | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Pet Supplies: veterinary diets | 22% | $0.30 | $6.60 |
| Sports and Outdoors | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Tires | 10% | $0.30 | $3.00 |
| Tools and Home Improvement | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Toys and Games | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
| Video Games and Gaming Accessories | 15% | None | $4.50 |
| Video Game Consoles | 8% | None | $2.40 |
| Watches | 16% on the part up to $1,500; 3% on the part above $1,500 | $0.30 | $4.80 |
| Everything else | 15% | $0.30 | $4.50 |
From Amazon's selling fees page, with the Professional plan at $39.99 a month or $0.99 an item sold on the Individual plan. FBA fees depend on size and weight and come on top.
Questions about ACoS.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
Ad spend divided by the sales those ads brought in, as a percentage. $500 of spend and $1,800 of ad sales is an ACoS of 27.8%.
One below your break-even ACoS, which is your profit margin before advertising. A product earning 41.65% before ads breaks even at a 41.65% ACoS, so anything under that makes money on the sales the ads bring in.
Take the price, subtract the product cost, Amazon's referral fee, the FBA fee and other costs per unit, and divide what's left by the price. A $29.99 kitchen item costing $7.00, with a $5.50 FBA fee and a $4.50 referral fee, breaks even at 41.65%.
Total advertising cost of sales: ad spend divided by all sales, organic included. In the example above, $500 of ads against $4,500 of sales is a TACoS of 11.1%.
They're the same measure inverted. ACoS is spend over sales; ROAS is sales over spend. A 20% ACoS is a ROAS of 5.
It depends on the category: 15% in most, 8% for computers and consumer electronics, and up to 45% for Amazon device accessories, with a $0.30 minimum per item in most categories. The full table is on this page.
Price × conversion rate × target ACoS. A $30 product converting at 10%, with a 20% target ACoS, can afford $0.60 a click.
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