Why Your Amazon Ads Aren’t Delivering: 6 Critical Issues to Fix

Many issues with Amazon advertising have little to do with bids. Learn what actually stops your ads from showing—and how to avoid it.

Amazon Advertising operates within its own closed ecosystem, so ad delivery here works differently than on other platforms.

If you’re used to Google or Bing, you might be surprised to learn why your Amazon ads aren’t showing.

Often, it’s not about increasing your budget or adjusting targeting. The key is quickly identifying the real cause.

After analyzing hundreds of accounts, we found that the problem rarely lies in ad copy or audience settings. Most often, it’s something deeper.

Amazon’s advertising system is tightly linked to your product listings, inventory availability, and overall account health.

If these elements aren’t aligned, even the most precisely targeted campaigns with optimal bids and budgets can stop delivering.

Over years of auditing accounts, we identified six main issues that most often cause Amazon ads to stop showing.

Buy Box (Featured Offer) Issues: The Foundation of Ad Eligibility

No matter how strong your keywords or bids are, if you don’t have the Buy Box, Amazon won’t run your Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display ads. (Sponsored Brands can run even without the Buy Box.)

Since Sponsored Products usually make up the largest part of your ad budget, losing the Buy Box can sharply reduce sales.

You can lose the Buy Box either due to listing issues or your specific offer.

Reasons for losing the Buy Box:

• Other sellers on the same listing offer a lower or similar price with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).
• Your price is significantly higher than the reference price for that listing over the past 30 days.
• Decline in seller metrics (late shipment rate, order defect rate, cancellation rate).
• Your inventory is fulfilled by merchant (FBM) while competitors use FBA.

How to fix it:

• If you’re the brand owner, limit the number of resellers to gain more control over your ability to run advertising.
• Review your pricing strategy and make it competitive. Typically, you should match or beat competitor pricing.
• Switch from FBM to FBA if possible. Consider moving profitable ASINs to Fulfillment by Amazon.

Suppressed Buy Box

Another common reason ads may stop delivering is when Amazon detects a lower price elsewhere.

Amazon monitors prices across multiple online retailers.

If it sees a significantly lower price, the Buy Box for your listing will be removed, and your ads will stop running.

Example:

You sell a product on Amazon for $19.99.
The same product on Walmart is available for $15.50.

Amazon will remove the Buy Box until you either lower your Amazon price to match Walmart or raise the Walmart price to match Amazon.

Suppressed Listings: Policy Violations, Customer Feedback, or Compliance

Listings can also be suppressed for other reasons:

• Missing details (unit count, images, structured data).
• Negative customer experience (NCX) flagged in Voice of the Customer.
• Compliance requirements such as safety testing or restricted terms.

Policy violations are another common cause. For example, using a term like “anti-microbial” could flag your listing as a pesticide.

Understanding Amazon’s policies not only helps prevent these issues but also speeds up troubleshooting when ads stop delivering.

Out-of-Stock Inventory

Amazon ads will not deliver if your product is out of stock—this applies to both Sponsored Products and Sponsored Display.

Unlike Google or Bing, Amazon benefits most when an ad leads to a sale on its platform.

To avoid campaign stoppages, maintain at least 4–6 weeks of inventory, based on the daily sales velocity of advertised ASINs.

For many clients, we also recommend turning off ads for products with less than two weeks of inventory.

Ads are reactivated only after the product is fully available at FBA warehouses.

This ensures advertising spend is only used when the product is most likely to convert.

Adult Product Classification

If Amazon flags your product as adult content, your ads will not appear in standard placements.

Of course, if you sell adult products, you’re likely already familiar with these challenges.

But even if you operate in other categories, this issue can affect you.

A common black-hat tactic is for competitors to report your product as adult content to block your advertising.

We’ve seen cases where even baby spoons or gardening tools were flagged as “adult” or “sexual wellness.”

This classification can also occur automatically without cause. You don’t need to sell explicit items to be flagged.

Common triggers:

• Suggestive imagery or wording.
• Health and wellness products with certain keywords.
• Mention of body parts or intimate functions.
• Products considered mature or sensitive content.

How to check:

• Review your product listing in the Product Details section for an “Adult Product” designation.
• Check your campaign reports for policy violations.

Restricted Product Categories

Certain product categories on Amazon are either prohibited from advertising or require pre-approval, even if they are allowed to sell on the platform.

If your product falls into one of these categories, you must either request approval or reposition your product to comply with guidelines.

Commonly restricted categories:

• Political figures, campaigns, or merchandise.
• Sexual wellness products (some exceptions may apply).
• “Embarrassing” products.
• Tobacco and related products.
• Alcohol and specific alcohol-related products.
• Products depicting violence or weapons.
• Items related to illegal activities.

Category and Targeting Misalignment

Amazon benefits most when ads lead to a purchase.

If your product’s backend category doesn’t align with your targeting, ads may be suppressed.

Amazon’s system can identify relevance much more accurately than other platforms.

Common misalignment issues:

• Product listed in Home & Kitchen but targeting keywords like “dog treats for big dogs.”
• Targeting competitor ASINs from other categories.
• Using broad match keywords spanning unrelated categories.
• Selecting a category that doesn’t reflect the product’s primary use.

How to fix it:

• Ensure your products are listed in the most relevant category.
• Align keyword targeting with the product category.
• If a product fits multiple categories, create separate campaigns for each.
• Use category-specific keywords that match the product’s positioning.

Moving a product to a more appropriate category can fix targeting issues and improve organic visibility.

Bid Too Low for the Competitive Landscape

Sometimes, your bids or budget are simply too low to trigger delivery.

Amazon’s auction system won’t serve your ad if you don’t meet the minimum bid threshold for your desired placement.

If your maximum bid is significantly lower than what competitors are willing to pay, your ads won’t show—and no placement means no delivery.

Why low bids fail:

• Amazon’s auction considers both bid amount and ad relevance.
• Popular keywords in competitive categories require higher bids.
• Your bid may have been competitive initially, but market conditions can change.

How to diagnose:

• Check campaign reports for keywords with zero impressions.
• Use Amazon’s suggested bid ranges as a baseline for competitive positioning.

How to fix it:

• Analyze keywords with zero impressions in campaign reports.
• Gradually increase bids, starting with 10–20% increments.
• Use Amazon’s suggested bid tool to understand competitive ranges.
• Focus on long-tail keywords where competition may be lower.
• Consider automatic targeting so Amazon can optimize bids for you.

Keeping Your Amazon Ads Running Smoothly

Amazon ad delivery issues can be frustrating, but most are easily resolved once the root cause is identified.

Systematically checking each of these six areas can quickly diagnose and resolve most delivery problems:

1. Buy Box issues.
2. Out-of-stock inventory.
3. Adult product classification.
4. Restricted product categories.
5. Category and targeting misalignment.
6. Low bids.

Remember: preventing problems is always more efficient than fixing them after they occur.

Make these checks part of your campaign launch and ongoing account management routine to ensure consistent ad delivery and maximize advertising ROI.

The key is to treat Amazon Advertising as a system where multiple elements must work in alignment.

When your ads aren’t delivering, it’s the system signaling that something needs attention—and now you know exactly where to look.

We help sellers launch and optimize Amazon Ads campaigns. We set up Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display, monitor category relevance, competitive bids, and inventory availability. With a systematic approach, your campaigns will run smoothly and deliver maximum results.

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