Amazon Sponsored Products: Estimated Page 1 Bids vs. Actual CPCs
Amazon sellers would be naive to base their bidding strategy on Amazon’s Estimated Page 1 Bids alone, according to a recent analysis by Pat Petriello Marketplace Channel Manager at CPC Strategy.
“We’ve suspected this, but the estimated page 1 bids Amazon communicates for keywords are not accurate at all,” he said.
As you can see in the below example, the suggested bids by Amazon to rank on the Page 1 are significantly different than the actual CPCs.
Why are Amazon Sponsored Products Estimated Page 1 Bids Not Accurate?
“I believe this could just be a bidding war where a retailer can bid lower and still remain on the first page,” Petriello said.
“However, there are many of these search terms below where our seller’s products aren’t showing up at all on the first page which makes me believe the estimated page 1 bid is just not very accurate.”
“The biggest takeaway is that this number should not be viewed as actionable by sellers. Specifically, as a seller/advertiser, you can’t expect to show up on the first page simply by taking the estimated page 1 bid that Amazon communicates, and adding $0.05.”
Amazon tends to roll functionality out sooner – rather than how polished it is.
“In our verification process that number is not actually a good benchmark for performance. Bid is not the only factor that determines if your ad shows up.”