Do I need to Open a Professional Account to Advertise a book?

#1

Hi all, I’ve been using sponsored ads to advertise my one book (self-published by CreateSpace, Amazon) on Amazon since 2016. I have advertising accounts and campaigns in USA & Canada, UK & Germany and Australia.

I had a campaign running in my UK account last month but when I went in to check on it, I couldn’t access or find the campaign manager section. It has gone from the UK account console. But it still exists in the USA/Canada and Australia console.

After many emails back and forth from Amazon Advertising support, I’ve been advised that my UK campaigns are not running and that in order to access them, I need to open a Professional Seller account on Seller Central.

After a bit of research, I discover that there’s a £25 per month fee to sell on here, and given Amazon already sell and dispatch my print on demand book, I don’t get why I’m being advised to do this? Also, the amount of books I sell each month doesn’t warrant it and I am better with an Individual account.

I’m looking for other advice on this as it doesn’t seem that opening a Professional account is what I actually need…and yet I have no advertising campaigns running in the UK now as I cannot access them…do Sponsored product ads not exist on UK advertising anymore?

Any advice and clarity on these changes and best options is appreciated…
thank you
Jane

#2

In order for your ads to work you need to be in the buy box , which you are only eligible for if on the monthly professional plan

Maybe worth spending the money for 3 or 4 months to see if it pays for itself in increased sales ?!

#3

I think you are confused, as are many sellers, between account types and selling plans. There are two types of account and two selling plans. Confusingly, there is both an individual account and an individual plan

If you are buying (or making) goods to sell with the aim of making a profit, you must have a business account on Amazon. The individual account is only for people selling off their own possessions (unwanted books, CDs etc). In your case, you must therefore have a business seller account

The two selling plans are : Individual where you pay a small fixed charge on each sale, plus a % commission, and Professional where you pay a monthly subscription instead of the fixed charge but still the same % commission. With a business account, you can choose either selling plan but financially it’s not worth going for the Pro plan unless/until you sell at least 34 items a month on average. That is the point at which the monthly fee is less than the 34+ fixed charges

I don’t think you can have advertising campaigns with an individual selling plan - that is one of the advantages of the Pro plan - but I may be wrong on that, and no doubt other sellers will correct me if I am

#4

Ignore my last paragraph - The Little Shop has already confirmed that you have to be on the Pro plan to do advertising

#5

Yes, it’s somewhat confusing. I’ve never used the Seller Central console before which is why I’m not clear on why I’m being asked to open it and use it now? Because I’ve already been advertising for 6 years without it. Also, it’s only the UK advertising account that’s changed and not the USA/Canada, Australia ones which I can still sign into and copy a campaign from. I go here to the advertising console: Sign in to your advertising account | Amazon Ads

Blockquote That is the point at which the monthly fee is less than the 34+ fixed charges

Yes, exactly, I’m generally never selling at least 34 items a month so the fee would be more than I make.

Have Amazon then recently changed or combined the Seller Central and Advertising amazon?

Still not clear on this…

#6

Seller Central is your home page that appears when you log into your seller account. You go from there to various other sections - orders, account health etc. You can get to Advertising from the search box in the Help page. There may be another route to it, but I’ve never advertised so I can’t be sure about that

#7

You may need to seek more specialist advice on Amazon’s KDP forum. As far as i know you can’t advertise books in the same way as other products unless it’s through there or some kind of specialised publisher thing.

As you can tell, i am hazy on the specifics but i’m sure the KDP forum will have more knowledge.

closed #8

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