Testing Ads With AMS | Merch By Amazon

Setting Up Testing With AMS For Merch

Well, finally the account has been approved for Amazon Advertising on Merch. This is the moment of truth.

I wrote an earlier article in which I stated that AMS was probably the biggest reason for people to tier up and make decent sales.

My money is where my mouth is. Currently, I have started testing to see hows and whats of it all.

As of Feb 7, 2019, let's see where this one goes

Applying For AMS On Merch Dashboard            

This was a bit confusing until I read the article that walks you through the application DOI. But seriously it wasn't so difficult.

The link will be found on your Merch Dash at the bottom. Use the code that is there or I am sure the app will fail.

Click the link and away you go to the Merch walkthrough, read down to the second instruction (2) and you will find the link to the Amazon Advertising page.

I would left click that and open I new tab so you can go back and forth, following the instructions.

Easy To Follow

The rest is easy enough, hit register. You will be asked if you have a seller or account. If not no worries just hit 

• I represent a vendor

That's in the first area you see, then just follow through.                             

If you don't have a brand just put  your name in, but remember when listing your shirts to use the drop-down 

• All Amazon Products.

You will be asked for the code, so get that from the first area you in the dash in your merch account, f you don't already have it on hand.

You will get emails to verify. Then after a few days, you will get the acceptance letter. Boom away you go.

Ad Set | Test 1

Ok, so I watched a few vids from youtube on this but decided to follow my gut.

I will do what I'm testing on FBA campaigns at this time.

I am in on 

• AUTO
• .05 
• $1 a day
• 27 Asins (Items: Tshirts, Hoodies)
• 3 weeks ( I will monitor daily just to make sure it doesn't go wild)

So the test begins, I may switch up the rules of this campaign on and off in the three weeks looking for a sweet spot.

Not all of these items have BSR`s.

Live Event

The ad set is live  2/07/2019...

• Day 1 is done, 10 impressions, ZERO clicks
• Day 2  Changing up my ad config  upping the click and daily spend, added more items now at 41 
• Day 3 rebooting 

Added targetting .06, all and the last. 07                        

.10 per click

Daily spend 2.00, placement 3% and 1%

Dynamic down... I will run like this now for a week then talk numbers if any.
So day 3 107 impressions 1 click, spend is .02 cents

These ads are all on automatic, meaning I have not filled in Keywords (search terms ) or anything, I let Amazons machines do that for me.

One Week In

Ok, so far I have been very unsuccessful with this.          

I originally thought that I could throw up a bunch of tees in an auto campaign, much like the ones I use in FBA.

Nope.

I have gradually increased to .15 cents per click, $2.00 per day.

I have tweaked and played with the 

• Campaign Settings (bids)
• Targetting
• Placements

Well after five days in, I have just one click and zero buys.

Impressions are a lowly 159. 

My designs suck? 

My bids are too low?

Maybe, but there are much worse, that I have seen in this past week of actually looking, and how much are you willing to spend to try for a few sales? Not every click will convert!

Is AMS Worth The Spend For POD

 I  still firmly believe so, it is still a great way to tier your account BUT, I am wrong to have assumed it would be easier.

You need to take a bit of care here, you can lose a lot of money, go very slowly.

Some groups "RESEARCH" consists of looking at what's selling, and also what is in the sponsored ads, this can and for sure leads to a lot of false clicks, and it costs you per click.

One thing I did not take into account was the number of people doing this and the number of non Merchers doing this. (Independent or through other PODS that pay better)

Transparency Issues

After watching a few youtube videos and talking privately with a few people I became aware that some people peddling this idea were maybe not so transparent.

They are trying to make a "business" by selling you "research" and other things that maybe consist of basically copying other peoples work (making it better) which in my opinion is really just an excuse for non-creative people to steal.

Those particular people are not saying, I spend $300 bucks in ads, make $20 bucks profit, but raise the price on the shirt to eventually cover the cost of the ad spends.

Those folks were in before it got harder, have thousands of slots up and can't help but make sales due to the "making it better" mindset (copying)

Of course its "business" right guys.

Can You Afford Ads                     

That is the question, ad spending is much like the design, throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

Research is just copying, there is actually no harm in trying to repeat what a successful person has done, I guess that depends on your limits.

It will still be cheaper than buying your tiers out. At this writing, the Merch team is not tiering people up as fast or as leniently as they did for a while.

There is suddenly a ton of new people coming in, as well as outside people selling on Amazon.


So as far as my upping my limits more, no, I will still try organically. Leaving that campaign running till I decide its dead completely.

Merch is changing a lot, there are (this week) things happening behind the scenes, that may or may not be good for most of us.

If they come with a paid platform, it may be worth trying for a couple of months, many will drop out I'm sure.

Personally, I love POD but would not pay Amazon for the pleasure of using their platform to make what amounts to a few dollars royalty per sale, if that. Unless I was making 100`s of sales a week, and I'm not even remotely close to that.

FBA ads perform a lot better. Lower spend and very good results.

I just don't get that many sales from merch to justify spending that much money.

People will always come at you with their perspective, including me, though I am not selling anything.

Remember they may not be the typical GURU types and some people actually have success with them, or what they sell, that doesn't mean you will.

One of the things they will harp on about is the fact that you need to spend money on your business to grow, and lo and behold, they have just what you need.

Just think that through a bit, they are making $$ on their "business" that they got in early and got help for free, so how much from their pockets did they ever spend? In merch we are talking here.

And if it's so great why do they need your money? People helped them for free. Tread carefully and think things through as you continue.

Merch By Amazon as of today is still number 2 on my radar, FBA being 1, though I would love to switch that up.

Opportunities come in all shapes so don't think people aren't always looking out for themselves, this new "I want to help you make money" thing is simply BS, they want to make money, and your money they want. Sorry to sound so negative, but I see this way too much today.

They are not your friends they simply want to open your wallets and help themselves, under the guise of helping you, help in my world is FREE unless I hire you, or you hire me.
 Think that through )P

Well, all in all, Merch is still pretty awesome, so carry on, and if you need some HELP, I can try for FREE.
 Just leave questions or comments below and as I have Time I will answer.

All the Very best and wishing you not to make the dumb mistakes I have

EJ