> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Total Spend, Amazon Ads > Total Spend for Amazon Ads stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ad Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Total advertising cost across all Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, and DSP campaigns over the window. **`SUM(cost)`** in account currency. The denominator under ROAS, the numerator under ACOS, and the budget figure your CFO checks first. Watch for unexpected spend spikes (>2σ above the 30D baseline) which usually mean auto-campaign drift or competitor cost-per-click pressure. | | | | -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **The formula** | `SUM(cost)` over the window across all campaign types. From Amazon Advertising Reports API: the `cost` field on Sponsored Products / Brands / Display reports. DSP spend is pulled from the DSP Reports API and added to the same total. | | **Reports API endpoint** | `POST /reporting/reports` with `reportTypeId` per ad type (`spCampaigns`, `sbCampaigns`, `sdCampaigns`). DSP uses a separate Reports API endpoint. The card sums across all four. | | **What "spend" means** | Gross media cost, billed by Amazon. Excludes any agency markup or rebates. This is the figure on your Amazon Advertising invoice. | | **ACOS vs ROAS framing** | Spend is the numerator of ACOS (`spend ÷ sales`) and the denominator of ROAS (`sales ÷ spend`). Movement in this card directly drives both. | | **Attribution model** | N/A for cost itself, cost is recorded at click time, not at attribution. ACOS / ROAS calculations attribute *sales* back to clicks within 14 days. | | **Brand vs non-brand keyword scope** | Tracked together in this card; split available via [Branded vs Non-Branded Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/branded-vs-non-branded-spend). Branded spend is typically 10-25% of total for established brands. | | **Sponsored Products vs Brands vs Display vs DSP** | All four are summed. Split available via [DSP vs Sponsored Spend Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/dsp-vs-sponsored-spend-mix). Typical share for sellers without DSP: SP 70-85%, SB 10-20%, SD 5-10%. With DSP committed, DSP can be 0-30%. | | **Currency** | Account currency only. Multi-marketplace sellers run separate accounts; total spend is reported per-account. | | **Amazon-only attribution gap** | Spend is what it is; the "gap" only matters when computing ROAS / ACOS, not for raw spend. | | **Time window** | `T/7D/30D vsP`. Today is provisional for \~24h while the 1-3h report-generation lag clears. | | **Alert trigger** | `spike >2σ vs 30D baseline`. A 2-sigma spike is unusual enough to investigate, common causes: a competitor entered the auction (CPC up), an auto-campaign drifted (broad-match leakage), or a budget cap was raised without intent. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing, finance | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Amazon Ads data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US home-goods seller, same account as the ROAS / ACOS examples. The 30-day window covers 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26. | Campaign type | Spend | Share of total | 30D-prior spend | % change | | ---------------------- | ------------ | -------------- | --------------- | --------- | | **Sponsored Products** | \$20,400 | 76.1% | \$19,800 | +3.0% | | **Sponsored Brands** | \$4,800 | 17.9% | \$4,200 | +14.3% | | **Sponsored Display** | \$1,600 | 6.0% | \$1,400 | +14.3% | | **DSP** | \$0 | 0% | \$0 | - | | **Total ad spend** | **\$26,800** | **100%** | **\$25,400** | **+5.5%** | What's interesting: 1. **A 5.5% rise in spend is well within the 2σ window** (which on a $25,400 baseline with typical 12% daily volatility would be a ~$5,000 spike). No alert fires; the rise is within normal scaling. **Pair with [ROAS](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/roas) to confirm**: ROAS dropped 8.5% over the same period, so spend up + ROAS down = scaling slightly past the efficient frontier. Watch. 2. **SP at 76% of spend is normal for a Sponsored-only seller.** SB and SD share remained roughly stable. If SD spend were rising disproportionately, it would suggest the merchant is leaning into remarketing without being asked to. 3. **No DSP commitment yet.** DSP requires minimum spend commitments (\$35K+ for managed-service, less for self-service). For sellers below that threshold, DSP shows zero, which is correct. 4. **The 14% rise in SB and SD with only 3% in SP** could mean Amazon's auto-budgeting shifted spend toward the better-converting campaigns last cycle, or that the merchant manually raised SB and SD budgets after a good week. Both are normal; investigate only if [ROAS by Campaign](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/roas-by-campaign) shows the rise concentrated in a single drifting campaign. 5. **What a 2σ spike would look like**: A sudden jump to \$34,000 in 30D (\~33% above baseline). Common causes: a single auto-campaign exploded due to broad-match leakage (open [Search Terms](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/search-terms-report) immediately); a competitor entered the auction with aggressive bids ([CPC Spike Detection](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/cpc-spike-detection)); or a budget cap was raised without team awareness. Quick sanity tests: * Spend up + ROAS up = healthy scaling. Best case. * Spend up + ROAS flat = clean scaling without efficiency loss. Good. * Spend up + ROAS down = scaling beyond efficient frontier. Common; watch. * Spend down + ROAS up = pruned low-quality. Good if intentional. * Spend up sharply (2σ+) with ROAS flat = budget caps or competitor pressure, not deliberate scaling. Investigate. * Spend flat + ROAS down = attribution change or external factor. Don't react before checking ACOS / ROAS reconciliation. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Total Spend | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Amazon Ads Total Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/total-revenue) | The numerator in ROAS. Spend rising while attributed revenue is flat = ROAS dropping. | | [Amazon Ads ROAS](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/roas) | The efficiency multiple. Spend by itself isn't actionable, ROAS is the qualifier. | | [Amazon Ads ACOS](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/acos) | The percentage twin of ROAS. Same data, same answer. | | [Amazon Ads Spend vs Budget](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/spend-vs-budget) | Pacing check, are you on-track or burning the month-end budget early? | | [Amazon Ads TACOS](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/tacos) | The strategic context, is rising spend lifting the whole business? | | [DSP vs Sponsored Spend Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/dsp-vs-sponsored-spend-mix) | The sub-platform breakdown. | | [Branded vs Non-Branded Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/branded-vs-non-branded-spend) | The keyword-class breakdown. | | [Amazon Ads Spend Anomaly](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/spend-anomaly) | The detector that fires the 2σ alert. | | [Google Ads Spend](/nerve-centre/google_ads/gads_spend) | Cross-platform paid spend comparison. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Amazon Ads Console:** [Amazon Ads Console > Campaign Manager](https://advertising.amazon.com/cm), sort all campaigns by Cost descending. The total at the foot of the table should match this card to within \~1%. [Amazon Ads Console > Reports](https://advertising.amazon.com/reports), choose a 30-day window and the same date range. The Spend column total reconciles directly. [Amazon Ads Console > Billing](https://advertising.amazon.com/billing), the invoice view. **This is the authoritative source** for finance-team reconciliation; this card pulls report-level cost which matches invoiced cost to within \~0.5% (the small drift is invalid-click refunds processed later). **Why our number may legitimately differ from Amazon's invoice:** | Reason | Direction of divergence | Why it happens | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Timezone**. Amazon Advertising reports use **PT (Pacific)** regardless of account location. Vortex IQ aligns to PT. | None when both are PT-aligned. | Amazon's reporting backend is in Seattle. | | **Report-generation latency** (1-3 hours). | Today's spend is provisional for \~24h. | Amazon batches report builds; the most recent hours catch up on the next refresh. | | **Invalid-click refunds**. Amazon retroactively credits invalid clicks \~7-14 days later. | This card may show \~0.5-2% **higher** spend than the final invoice. | Invalid-click filtering happens in batches after the click. | | **API rate limits**. Amazon Advertising API enforces \~2 requests/sec; large accounts may have stale partials during heavy refresh. | Stale by up to 1 refresh cycle (\~4h) in extreme cases. | The pull is paginated and rate-limited. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | [`amazon_sp.amzn_sp_total_sales`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amzn_sp_total_sales) | No direct relationship; this is spend, not sales. The two pair to compute TACOS. | N/A. | | [`google_ads.gads_spend`](/nerve-centre/google_ads/gads_spend) | Cross-platform paid spend. Different ecosystems; the two together give "total paid acquisition cost". | None, they're independent. | | [`google_analytics.ga_revenue_by_channel`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/revenue-by-channel) | No relationship. GA4 doesn't see Amazon Ads cost. | N/A. | | [`shopify.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) | No relationship. Different sales channel. | N/A. |
Edge cases and rare reconciliation issues * **DSP committed-spend agreements**: DSP minimum spend commitments are billed even if the campaign underdelivers. The card reflects delivered cost, not committed cost. For finance reconciliation, check the DSP service-agreement separately. * **Vendor Central vs Seller Central**: Vendor accounts may have co-op funding offsets (Amazon partially-funded ad spend). The card reports gross spend; the net-of-coop figure is on the invoice. * **Currency**: Single-marketplace by design. Multi-marketplace sellers see one card per account; do not aggregate cross-currency without explicit FX conversion.
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why doesn't my Amazon Ads invoice match this card exactly?** Three reasons. (1) **Invalid-click refunds**. Amazon credits invalid clicks 7-14 days after the click; this card shows the gross figure, the invoice is net. Expect 0.5-2% drift, settling within \~14 days. (2) **DSP committed minimums** are billed even on under-delivery; this card shows delivered cost. (3) **Co-op offsets** for Vendor Central accounts. The card is gross; the invoice is net of co-op funding. **My spend spiked but ROAS didn't change, what happened?** Three plausible diagnoses. (1) **Auto-campaign drift**, broad-match keywords are matching new traffic that converts at the same rate as your existing audience (rare but possible). (2) **Competitor entered the auction**, CPC rose, you bought fewer impressions per dollar but the conversion rate held. Check [CPC Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/cpc-trend). (3) **Budget cap raised**, the team raised a cap and Amazon redistributed unspent budget into newly-uncapped campaigns. Audit recent budget changes. **My spend dropped sharply, am I missing impressions?** Likely. Check [Impression Share](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/impression-share), if impression share fell, your bids are no longer competitive (a competitor entered or you cut bids). Spend dropping while ROAS rises is the "pruning" pattern; spend dropping while ROAS flat is competitive squeeze. **Why doesn't this card include refunds?** Total Spend is gross media cost, not net of refunds. The card answers "how much did I commit to Amazon Ads?", refunds happen later. For net-of-refund spend, use the [Amazon Ads Billing](https://advertising.amazon.com/billing) view directly. **Multi-marketplace, can I see total global ad spend?** Not in a single card. Each marketplace is a separate Amazon Advertising account with its own currency. Vortex IQ shows one card per account. For a global view, sum manually in your CFO spreadsheet (with FX conversion to a reporting currency). **Can I trust today's spend?** Mostly. Spend is recorded at click time, so today's number is fairly stable within the 1-3h report-generation lag. Unlike ROAS / ACOS (which keep settling for 14 days), spend is essentially final by end-of-day PT. **Why do my Sponsored Brands and Display spend percentages look small?** Most Amazon sellers have SP at 70-85% of spend, SB 10-20%, SD 5-10%. SP is the highest-converting placement; SB and SD are awareness / mid-funnel. **A SB or SD share above 25% suggests over-investment in upper-funnel**, usually only justified during product launches or major brand-building pushes. **Should I include DSP in this card or break it out?** Both. The hero card sums all four; the [DSP vs Sponsored Spend Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/dsp-vs-sponsored-spend-mix) shows the split. DSP and Sponsored have different attribution windows and audiences, so they're worth understanding separately, but the CFO wants a single total. **My monthly spend is volatile, is that normal?** Yes for most categories. Amazon Ads spend correlates with shopper traffic, which is highly seasonal: Prime Day weeks 2-3× normal; Black Friday / Cyber Monday 3-5× normal; Q1 typically 30-50% below Q4. The 30-day rolling smooths this; week-over-week comparison only makes sense within a comparable demand period. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Total Spend* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Amazon Ads and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.