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What Is a Good ACoS on Amazon? How to Find Yours
A good ACoS (advertising cost of sales) is one that's below your break-even ACoS and matches your goal for the product. There is no single number that's good for every seller: Amazon itself says there's no fixed "good" ACOS, because it depends on your margins and objectives. A product with a 50% margin can be very profitable at 35% ACoS, while a product with a 20% margin loses money at 25%.
Key takeaways
- Start with your break-even ACoS: your profit margin before ad costs.
- A good ACoS for profit sits below break-even by the margin you want to keep.
- Launch and ranking campaigns can run at or above break-even for a limited time, on purpose.
- Judge ACoS by campaign type: branded, exact, broad and competitor targeting all behave differently.
- Watch TACoS too, so a "good" ACoS isn't hiding shrinking total sales.
Why there's no universal good ACoS
ACoS is ad spend divided by ad sales. Whether that ratio is good depends on how much profit each sale leaves you before ads. Look at three products with the same 30% ACoS:
| Product | Price | Profit before ads | Break-even ACoS | Actual ACoS | Result per $100 ad sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: premium kitchen tool | $39.99 | $20.00 | 50.0% | 30% | +$20.01 profit |
| B: mid-price home item | $24.99 | $8.75 | 35.0% | 30% | +$5.01 profit |
| C: low-price consumable | $12.99 | $2.86 | 22.0% | 30% | −$7.98 loss |
Same ACoS, three very different outcomes. That's why industry "average ACoS" figures are of limited use for your own products. Your break-even is the benchmark that matters.
Step 1: Find your break-even ACoS
Break-even ACoS equals your profit margin before advertising:
Break-even ACoS = (sale price − landed cost − referral fee − FBA fee − storage − returns) ÷ sale price
Say your product sells for $29.99. After landed cost, the 15% referral fee, the FBA fulfillment fee with the 3.5% surcharge, storage, inbound and returns, you have $12.67 left. Your break-even ACoS is $12.67 ÷ $29.99 = 42.2%.
Our full guide to break-even ACoS walks through each cost. Or plug your numbers into the free Break-even ACoS & Max Bid Calculator.
Step 2: Set a target ACoS by goal
Your goal decides how far below break-even you aim. Using the 42.2% break-even example:
| Goal | What a good ACoS looks like | Example target |
|---|---|---|
| Launch / rank a new product | Near or even above break-even, for a set time | 40–50% |
| Grow market share | Moderately below break-even | 30–35% |
| Balanced growth and profit | Well below break-even | 25–28% |
| Maximise profit | Far below break-even | 15–20% |
| Clear old stock | Anything below your margin after liquidation costs | Case by case |
Write down the goal for each product before judging its ACoS. A 45% ACoS is a problem on a mature product you want profit from. It can be fine on a launch product that's climbing in organic rank.
Step 3: Judge ACoS by campaign type
Different campaigns target shoppers with different intent, so their ACoS naturally differs. Judge each against what it's for.
| Campaign type | Typical ACoS pattern | What "good" means |
|---|---|---|
| Branded keywords (your brand name) | Usually lowest | Low ACoS is expected; check you're not just paying for sales you'd get anyway |
| Exact match on proven keywords | Low to moderate | At or below your target ACoS |
| Phrase and broad match | Moderate | Near target, with negatives keeping waste down |
| Auto campaigns | Moderate to high | Acceptable if they find new converting search terms |
| Competitor product targeting | Often higher | Below break-even, and worth it if it wins share from rivals |
| Sponsored Display retargeting | Varies | Below break-even; check it's not only recapturing buyers who'd return anyway |
Blending everything into one account-wide ACoS hides these differences. A great branded ACoS can mask generic campaigns that are losing money. Look at each campaign type on its own. For more on structure, see our guide to Amazon keyword match types.
Step 4: Check TACoS alongside ACoS
TACoS (total advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by total sales, including organic. It shows whether ads are helping the whole product grow.
If your ACoS is "good" but TACoS is rising and total sales are falling, your ads may just be catching buyers you used to win organically. If ACoS is a bit high but TACoS is falling and total sales are climbing, your ads are probably helping organic rank. See ACoS vs TACoS for how to read the two together.
Worked example: is this campaign's ACoS good?
Say you have one exact-match campaign for your $29.99 product over the last 30 days:
- Spend: $620
- Clicks: 800 (average CPC, or cost per click, of $0.775)
- Orders: 64 (CVR, or conversion rate, of 8%)
- Ad sales: 64 × $29.99 = $1,919.36
ACoS = $620 ÷ $1,919.36 = 32.3%
Your break-even is 42.2%, and the product is in a balanced phase with a 27% target. So this campaign is profitable (about $190 of profit on ad sales above break-even) but above target.
To hit 27%, you need a lower CPC at the same CVR:
Max CPC = price × CVR × target ACoS = $29.99 × 0.08 × 0.27 = $0.65
Lowering the average CPC from $0.775 to about $0.65 brings ACoS to target, if conversion holds. Or you could raise conversion instead: at the current CPC, a CVR of about 9.6% would also hit 27%.
How to lower a high ACoS
If ACoS is above your target, work through these in order:
- Cut wasted search terms. Download your search term report from the Ads console (Measurement & Reporting > Sponsored ads reports > Search term). Find terms with spend and no orders. Many sellers negate a term after about 10 to 15 clicks with no sale. The free Search Term Report Analyzer flags these for you.
- Lower bids on expensive targets. Use max CPC = price × CVR × target ACoS for each keyword with enough data.
- Check placements. In Campaign Manager, open a campaign and view the Placements tab. If top of search or product pages convert poorly for you, reduce the placement bid adjustment.
- Move winners to exact match. Search terms that convert well in auto or broad campaigns usually perform better with their own exact-match targets and bids.
- Fix the listing. ACoS depends on conversion. Better main images, a clearer title, more reviews and a competitive price all lift CVR, which lowers ACoS at the same CPC.
- Check price and margin. If ACoS is fine but break-even is too low, the problem is margin, not ads.
Common mistakes
- Copying someone else's target. A 25% target from a forum post means nothing if your break-even is 20% or 50%.
- Judging too early. Sponsored Products sales can be credited up to 7 days after the click (14 days for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display), so the last few days usually look worse than they end up.
- One target for the whole account. Set targets per product, or at least per product group with similar margins.
- Chasing the lowest ACoS. Very low ACoS with falling total sales means you are under-investing.
- Forgetting fee changes. From 15 October 2026 to 14 January 2027, holiday peak fulfillment fees lower your break-even, so a September "good" ACoS may not be good in November.
Bottom line
A good ACoS is one below your break-even ACoS that fits your goal for that product. Work out break-even first, set a target by goal, judge each campaign type on its own terms, and check TACoS so ads are growing the business, not just looking efficient. As Amazon's own ACOS guide puts it, there's no fixed number, so build yours from your numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 30% ACoS good on Amazon?
It depends on your margin. If your break-even ACoS is 45%, a 30% ACoS leaves you 15 points of profit on every ad sale, which is good. If your break-even ACoS is 25%, a 30% ACoS loses money on every ad sale. Always compare ACoS to your own break-even, not to a general benchmark.
Why is my ACoS so high on a new product?
New products usually have few reviews, no sales history and low organic rank, so they convert fewer clicks into orders. Lower conversion means each sale costs more in ads. ACoS often improves as reviews build and conversion rises. Give a launch a set time and budget, and track TACoS and organic rank, not just ACoS.
Can ACoS be too low?
Yes. A very low ACoS often means your bids are too low to win much traffic, or most of your spend is on branded searches from people who would have bought anyway. If ACoS is far below target while total sales are flat or falling, you may be missing profitable growth. Test higher bids on proven keywords.
What is the difference between ACoS and ROAS?
ACoS is ad spend divided by ad sales, as a percentage. ROAS (return on ad spend) is ad sales divided by ad spend. They show the same thing in opposite directions: a 25% ACoS is a ROAS of 4, and a 20% ACoS is a ROAS of 5.
How long should I wait before judging a keyword's ACoS?
Wait until the keyword has enough clicks to be meaningful. A common rule of thumb is to look at a keyword after 10 to 15 clicks with no sale, or after enough orders to see a stable conversion rate. Also allow for the attribution window: Sponsored Products sales can be credited up to 7 days after the click, so recent days often look worse than they end up.
Amazon fees, policies and features change often. Figures here were checked in October 2026; confirm current rates in Seller Central before making pricing or budget decisions. Sotrics is not affiliated with Amazon.