Ad costs in your Amazon payout: when they are deducted and in what amounts
If you pay for your ads from your seller balance, the ad cost does not show up as one amount at the end of the month. It comes as separate lines in your settlement: a larger charge usually on the 2nd of the month, and further charges in between whenever the accrued spend reaches a threshold. For a new account the threshold starts at a few euros and climbs step by step to 500 euros.
We looked at 178 ad charges across 9 seller accounts (Dental Rituals has two separate accounts, one US and one EU). 120 charges came in the first four days of the month, 112 of them exactly on the 2nd. Of the 58 charges posted mid-month, 18 were between 497.74 and 505.45 euros. We never saw a euro charge above 505.45 euros, and the dollar and pound charges all stayed below 400.
The data
We used the ad charges in the settlements between 8 February 2025 and 2 September 2026. In our data they come as ProductAdsPayment, type Charge.
| Seller account | Currency | Charges | Total | Largest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Going Forward | EUR | 28 | 10,134.30 | 505.45 |
| Beton Booster | EUR | 58 | 5,070.46 | 470.43 |
| Quadrofixing | EUR | 30 | 4,717.26 | 504.96 |
| Molly Cat | EUR | 10 | 2,695.58 | 501.54 |
| Dental Rituals (US) | USD | 17 | 2,537.44 | 390.73 |
| Premiumwelt | EUR | 11 | 1,761.68 | 439.89 |
| Dental Rituals (EU) | EUR | 8 | 1,104.12 | 392.10 |
| The Coolest Shop | EUR | 8 | 841.12 | 293.22 |
| Going Forward | GBP | 6 | 411.96 | 189.77 |
| Bohema Games | USD | 2 | 270.13 | 213.46 |
55.3% of the euro amount charged came in the first four days of the month, the rest mid-month. Going Forward pays in both euros and pounds, so it has two rows.
Monthly close on the 2nd
On the 2nd of the month (a few times 1-2 days later) Amazon charges the ad cost of the previous month that has not been charged yet. If a seller advertises in several countries, several separate charges come that day.
On 2 August 2026 Beton Booster was charged four times: 283.30, 223.29, 93.74 and 86.48 euros. In July it advertised in four countries, and by size the four amounts line up with the July spend of those four countries: France 271.09, Germany 217.30, Italy 87.58, Spain 85.04 euros. Each charge is a few percent above the spend in our campaign report. The charge line has no country, so this pairing is inferred from the amounts.
Thresholds during the month
If spend reaches a threshold during the month, Amazon does not wait for the 2nd but charges right away. For a new ad account the threshold is small and grows step by step until it reaches 500. Then it stays there. Of the 58 mid-month charges, 54 cluster around these amounts (in the account currency: euros, dollars or pounds):
| Step | Charges we saw |
|---|---|
| about 2 | 1.70 · 1.90 · 1.90 · 2.01 · 2.23 · 2.93 |
| about 10 | 10.11 · 10.33 · 10.84 · 11.16 · 11.31 · 13.40 |
| about 25 | 25.23 · 25.35 · 25.37 · 25.94 · 26.27 · 26.74 |
| about 50 | 50.46 · 50.64 · 50.89 · 51.45 · 51.65 · 51.75 · 52.42 |
| about 150 | 151.00 · 151.13 · 151.92 |
| about 200 | 200.11 · 201.52 · 201.72 · 202.00 · 202.04 |
| about 350 | 352.01 · 352.35 · 353.47 |
| about 500 | 18 charges between 497.74 and 505.45 |
Three ladders from our data:
- Quadrofixing, 2025: 2.23 (8 February), 10.33, 25.35, 51.75, 51.65, 202.04 (14 March), 353.47 (28 April), 503.24 (27 May). It took 108 days to reach the 500 level.
- Molly Cat, 2026: 25.23 (15 May), 50.64, 201.72, 352.01, 500.06 (15 July). 61 days.
- Going Forward, UK, 2026: 2.93 pounds (9 June), 10.11, 26.74, 50.46 (19 June). Its euro account had long been at the 500 level; the UK started from the bottom.
At the 500 level, Going Forward was charged mid-month once or twice every month between October 2025 and August 2026 (503.57, 503.47, 503.22, 505.45 and so on), plus the close on the 2nd.
The charges roughly equal the monthly spend
We compared the charges with the monthly spend in our campaign report from April to July 2026. For a month we counted the mid-month charges and the charges in the first four days of the next month. In 23 of 33 seller-months the difference was within 5%, in 27 within 10%.
An example: for its June spend, Going Forward was charged 503.29 euros on 13 June, 501.11 on 30 June, then 68.17 and 14.03 on 2 July. Together that is 1,086.60 euros; the June spend in the campaign report is 1,094.80 euros.
Some of the larger differences come from gaps in our campaign report: for Molly Cat, for example, campaign data starts only on 17 May 2026, so the May charges are 62% above the spend the report shows. We did not investigate the other differences.
What to do
- Book the charge on the 2nd to the previous month. If you count monthly profit by payout date, your ad cost shifts by a month.
- Expect mid-month charges once you spend more than 500 euros a month. Then your mid-month payout gets smaller too, not only the one at the start of the month.
- On a new marketplace, many small charges are not an error. In the first weeks charges of about 2, 10, 25 and 50 come, and the threshold takes weeks to grow to 500.
- Compare the charges with your campaign spend every month. For us they matched within 5% in most months. If the charges are much higher, check whether there is another ad account or ad type your report does not see.
- Look it up in your settlement. In Seller Central, look under Reports, Payments among the transactions. In our data it comes as ProductAdsPayment.
Why the numbers are not exact
- We looked at 9 seller accounts and saw the ladder at 7 of them. Other accounts may have different steps.
- The charge lines have no country, so pairing the charges on the 2nd with countries is inferred from the amounts.
- For the spend comparison we used our own campaign report, which is incomplete in some months.
- We only see ads paid from the seller balance. If you pay for ads by card, the cost shows up on the card, not in these lines.
- For most sellers the data is complete until 21-23 August 2026.
Of 178 charges, 112 came on the 2nd of the month, and no euro charge was above 505.45 euros. The threshold grew step by step to 500 euros: at Quadrofixing in 108 days starting from 2.23 euros, at Molly Cat in 61 days starting from 25.23 euros.