Amazon Ads for new sellers: Sponsored Products first
A new listing has no sales history, few reviews and little organic visibility. Sponsored Products are the most direct way to put it in front of shoppers searching for what you sell — once the listing is ready.
ARAgile Ranker TeamSearch & AI Visibility deskPublished7 Oct 2026Read9 minReviewed bySearch & AI Visibility desk
Side by side
Automatic campaign
Amazon chooses where your ad shows
Finds search terms you hadn’t thought of
Less control, some wasted clicks
vs
Manual campaign
You choose keywords and match types
Bids set keyword by keyword
Works best with data from auto
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The quick answerCopy
Start with Sponsored Products: they appear in search results and on product pages, are open to professional sellers without Brand Registry, and generate the search-term data everything else depends on. Run an automatic campaign to discover terms, move proven ones into manual exact and phrase campaigns, and add negatives weekly.
Sponsored Products promote individual listings in search results and on product pages; you pay per click.
Fix the listing first: title, images, price and reviews decide whether clicks turn into orders.
Use an automatic campaign to discover search terms, then move the winners into manual campaigns.
Add negative keywords weekly from the search term report to stop paying for irrelevant clicks.
Judge ads on total sales and organic rank as well as ACoS, especially during launch.
01
Why should new Amazon sellers start with Sponsored Products?
Because they put individual products where buying happens — in search results and on product pages — and professional sellers can run them without Brand Registry. They also produce the search-term data every later campaign depends on.
A new listing has a visibility problem. Organic placement on Amazon tends to favour products with a sales history, and a product with no sales struggles to get the impressions that create sales. Sponsored Products break that loop by buying placement while the listing builds a history.
Sponsored Brands — headline placements with your logo and several products — and Sponsored Brands video need Brand Registry, and work best once you have a few products and some reviews. Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP reach audiences on and off Amazon and suit retargeting and awareness later on.
Start with the format closest to purchase intent, learn what shoppers actually search for, then expand into brand and audience formats once you know which terms and products earn their keep.
02
What should you fix on the listing before running ads?
The title, main image, bullet points, price and at least a few genuine reviews. Ads buy the click; the listing has to win the sale. A weak listing makes every ad more expensive.
Your ad shows the main image, title, price, star rating and delivery promise. If any of those looks worse than the products around it, shoppers scroll past, or click and leave — and you pay for the visit either way. Fix the main image and title first; they carry the most weight in search results.
Sponsored Products also need your offer to be the featured offer, often called the Buy Box. If it is not, your ads may not show at all. Check featured-offer eligibility before wondering why a campaign has no impressions.
For reviews, use Amazon’s own tools, such as the Request a Review button and, where available and eligible, Amazon Vine. Never offer incentives for reviews or ask friends to post them; Amazon treats that as manipulation and can suspend the account.
03
How should you structure your first Amazon Ads campaigns?
Run one automatic campaign per product group to discover search terms, plus one manual campaign for the obvious keywords. As the automatic campaign finds converting terms, move them into manual exact and phrase match.
Automatic campaigns let Amazon match your ad to searches and products based on your listing. They are the discovery engine: within a few weeks the search term report shows which terms bring clicks and orders. Auto targeting is split into close match, loose match, substitutes and complements, and each can have its own bid.
Manual campaigns let you choose keywords and match types — broad, phrase and exact — or target specific products and categories. Use them for terms you already know buyers use, and for the proven terms harvested from auto.
Keep the structure simple: group products that share keywords and price points, and give each campaign one clear purpose. Fifty campaigns on a new account create more admin than insight.
Manual phrase or broad: wider reach on core themes
Product targeting: your own listings and close alternatives
Want this done for you?
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Start near Amazon’s suggested bid, set daily budgets high enough that campaigns don’t run out by afternoon, and adjust weekly based on ad cost per order against your margin. Your break-even comes from your margin, not a benchmark.
Work out your margin per unit after Amazon fees, shipping and product cost. That is the most you can spend on advertising per order before losing money on it. Many new sellers accept a loss on early orders to build sales history, but decide that deliberately and set an end date.
ACoS — advertising cost of sales — is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales. If you keep ₹30 before advertising on a ₹100 product, an ACoS above that margin loses money on those orders. Watch total ACoS too: ad spend divided by all sales, which shows whether advertising is lifting organic sales over time.
For bidding, Amazon offers dynamic bids that go down only, dynamic bids that go up and down, and fixed bids. Down only is the cautious default for a new campaign.
05
How do you use the search term report?
Review it weekly. Move search terms that produce orders into manual campaigns as exact match keywords, and add terms that get clicks without sales as negatives. Most of the early improvement in a new account comes from this habit.
Download the report from the advertising console and sort by spend. Terms with several orders at an acceptable cost go into a manual exact campaign with their own bid. Terms with meaningful spend and no orders become negative exact or negative phrase keywords in the automatic campaign.
Be patient with low-data terms. A few clicks without a sale prove nothing yet. Set a rule — for example, negate a term once it has spent more than your target cost per order without converting — and apply it consistently.
Watch for irrelevant matches: the wrong size, a different product type, or brand searches for products you do not compete with. Removing them quickly keeps a small budget focused.
06
Does the same approach work on Flipkart?
Broadly, yes. Flipkart Ads offers sponsored product listings in search and on product pages, and the same logic applies: fix the listing, start with product ads on high-intent searches, and review performance weekly.
The tools and reports differ, and marketplace ad features change often, so check Flipkart’s current seller advertising documentation before you set up. The principle — buy visibility for a ready listing, learn which searches convert, then refine — holds across marketplaces.
Selling on both? Keep separate budgets and separate reporting. Shoppers, competition and costs differ between platforms, and blending them hides which one is actually profitable.
07
What are the common mistakes?
01Advertising a listing that isn’t ready
Weak images, a vague title or no reviews mean paying for clicks that do not convert. Fix the listing before turning ads on.
02Never adding negatives
Auto and broad campaigns match irrelevant searches. Without weekly negatives, spend drifts toward clicks that never sell.
03Judging only on ACoS
A high ACoS during launch can be worth it if it builds organic rank. Track total sales and total ACoS alongside it.
04Budgets that run out by lunchtime
A campaign that stops mid-day misses evening shoppers. Raise the budget or lower bids so ads run all day.
08
Questions people ask
Do I need Brand Registry to advertise on Amazon?
Not for Sponsored Products, which professional sellers can run. Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Brands video and Stores need Brand Registry, which requires a registered or pending trademark. Check current eligibility for your marketplace.
How long before Amazon ads show results?
Clicks start within days, but useful data takes a few weeks. Allow about a month of discovery and optimisation before judging a product’s ad performance, and longer in low-traffic categories.
Should I advertise every product at once?
Start with the products that have the strongest listing, margin and reviews. Advertising weaker products spreads a small budget thin and teaches you less.
Is it worth advertising if I already rank organically?
Often, for your most important terms. Sponsored placements sit above and among organic results, and competitors can bid on your terms. Test pausing ads on a term and watch whether total sales hold.
What is a good ACoS?
There is no universal number. It depends on your margin, stage and goal. A launch product may run at a high ACoS to build rank; a mature product should sit comfortably below its break-even point.
Cite this article: Agile Ranker Team (2026). Amazon Ads for new sellers: Sponsored Products before anything else. Agile Ranker Insights. Published 7 Oct 2026.
AR
Written by
Agile Ranker TeamSearch & AI Visibility desk · Agile Ranker
The Agile Ranker team that runs search, AI visibility, paid media and content for clients in ten markets. Notes are checked against current platform documentation before publishing.
Reviewed by the Search & AI Visibility desk
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