Amazon Ads API: definition, access and common mistakes
Updated · By Ecomsellertool editorial team
The Amazon Ads API is Amazon's REST API for managing and reporting on advertising in code instead of the ads console. Advertisers, agencies and tool providers apply for access, connect a Login with Amazon client, then create campaigns, change bids and budgets, and download reports. Amazon Ads charges no extra fee to use it. It is separate from the Selling Partner API, which covers orders, inventory and payments.
- Amazon Ads charges no extra fee for the Ads API; you pay for your ads and normal account fees. Marketing Stream is also free from Amazon, but the AWS destination it writes to can carry AWS charges.
- Access takes three steps: create a Login with Amazon client (free, no approval), apply for API access, then assign that access to the client. Amazon says approval can take up to 1 business day.
- Requests go to one of three regional endpoints (North America, Europe, Far East), and most calls name an advertising profile, which maps to one advertiser account in one marketplace.
- Reports are asynchronous: create one, check its status about once a minute, then download it. Version 3 reporting stops on June 30, 2027; the reporting API v1 replaces it (checked October 30, 2026).
- Amazon Marketing Stream pushes ad data to your own AWS account instead of making you poll. Stream version 2, which replaces version 1 by June 30, 2027, writes to Amazon S3 as often as every 15 minutes.
- Orders, shipments, inventory, fees and payments come through the Selling Partner API, not the Ads API, so profit-aware ad decisions need data from both.
Definition: Amazon Ads API
The Amazon Ads API is Amazon's REST interface for managing and reporting on advertising in code. Approved advertisers, agencies and tool providers use it to create campaigns, change bids and budgets, and download performance data for sponsored ads, Amazon DSP and related products without working in the ads console.
The Amazon Ads API is how software, rather than a person in the console, runs Amazon advertising. It supplies the raw inputs (spend, clicks and attributed sales) that metrics such as ACoS (ad spend ÷ ad revenue × 100) are calculated from, and it accepts the bid and budget changes that act on them.
What can you do with the Amazon Ads API?
Amazon describes it as a way to build custom reporting dashboards and automate bid, keyword and budget optimization, with programmatic access to sponsored ads, streaming TV, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Amazon Marketing Stream and Display, Video, and Audio ads. Amazon Ads says there are no additional fees to use the API beyond your account fees and campaign costs. In practice a brand touches four data paths:
| Path | What you get | Freshness | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting API v1 (replaces version 3 reports, which stop on June 30, 2027) | Campaign, ad group, target, search term and product metrics, combinable across ad products and accounts | Generated on request; check status, then download | Daily reconciliation, margin math, backfills |
| Amazon Marketing Stream | Traffic and conversion data pushed to your AWS account | Version 2: Parquet files in S3, updated as often as every 15 minutes | Intra-day bid and budget moves |
| Exports | Campaign, ad group, ad and target metadata | On request | A full account snapshot without thousands of list calls |
| Campaign management endpoints | Campaigns, keywords, targets, bids, budgets, budget rules | Applied on the call | Acting on a decision |
How do you get access to the Amazon Ads API?
Amazon's onboarding has three steps. Create a Login with Amazon client application, which is free and needs no approval. Apply for API access, describing how your business will use it; approval can take up to 1 business day. Then assign that access to your client.
After that, most calls carry your client ID (Amazon-Ads-ClientId), an access token and a profile ID (Amazon-Advertising-API-Scope). A profile maps to one advertiser account in one marketplace, and it must be sent to the matching regional endpoint: North America, Europe or Far East. Version 3 reporting also requires an Amazon-Ads-AccountId header, and Amazon's Postman collections send that account ID on unified Ads API requests and list one URL per regional endpoint.
Why does the Ads API matter for operations and growth?
Ad decisions depend on facts the Ads API does not hold. It knows spend and attributed sales. It does not know that a SKU has nine days of stock left, that a new shipment landed at a higher cost, or that fees changed. Those live in the Selling Partner API, which Amazon describes as access to data on orders, shipments, payments and inventory (fee estimates per SKU come from its Product Fees API), and in your purchasing data.
A bid engine that sees only ads data keeps spending on products about to stock out and scales SKUs whose margin ACoS is already above break-even. That is the gap described in inventory-aware ad spend.
What mistakes do teams make with the Ads API?
- Polling reports in a tight loop. Amazon's reporting API v1 quickstart recommends checking a report's status about once a minute, and too many calls draw 429 throttling responses. Wait between checks and honor the Retry-After header.
- Backfilling in one burst. Report rate limits shrink when a region's queue is busy. Amazon advises spreading requests through the day with exponential backoff.
- Listing every entity. Thousands of list calls scale badly, and extended list calls count 5x against limits. Request an export instead.
- Mixing attribution windows. Version 3 Sponsored Products reports expose purchases at 1, 7, 14 and 30 days; the reporting API v1 gives one figure on the campaign's default look-back. Pick one window per metric and use it everywhere, and do not mix v3 and v1 numbers in one trend line.
- Reading ACoS as profit. Amazon Ads says ACoS must stay below your profit margin to keep a profit, and the API does not know your margin.
What changes when v3 reporting shuts off on June 30, 2027?
Amazon's list of planned deprecations (checked October 30, 2026) says v3 reporting, Sponsored Ads v2 reporting and Marketing Stream version 1 stop delivering data on June 30, 2027, in every region. The Exports API is not affected. Anything that reads those reports, from a bid rule to a finance dashboard, needs moving before then. These are the differences that change numbers, taken from Amazon's reporting API v1 overview:
| Version 3 reporting | Reporting API v1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report shape | One report type per question (campaigns, targeting, search terms, advertised products) | No report types; you combine the dimensions you need, across ad products and accounts |
| Look-back in metric names | Separate columns such as purchases7d and sales14d | One base metric; Sponsored Products uses 7 days for sellers and 14 for vendors, most other campaign types 14 |
| Conversion date | Sponsored ads already used the click date; Amazon DSP used the purchase date | Every conversion is reported on the date of the ad interaction ("traffic date") |
| Other-product sales | Named per program (for example "Brand Halo") | Standardized as "Halo", with Promoted and Halo versions of each conversion metric |
| Streaming partner | Marketing Stream version 1: SQS or Data Firehose | Stream version 2: Parquet files in S3 with total values, not deltas |
The traffic-date change matters most for rules that judge recent days. A click on October 1 that turns into a sale on October 3 is counted on October 1, so the latest days look weaker until their sales arrive. A bid rule should leave the most recent days out of its window or wait for them to settle. Our Amazon PPC bid rules library explains why a daily run is enough for most rules: Amazon credits a seller's Sponsored Products orders to a click for up to 7 days.
How does Growth OS use the Ads API?
Ecomsellertool Growth OS connects to the Ads API on your own accounts. It is built to land reports and Marketing Stream data in your data store and join them with SP-API orders, fees and inventory and with landed costs from replenishment. Its ad agents are built to work against a margin target for each SKU: they check stock cover first, adjust bids on the keywords and targets that advertise that SKU and budgets on its campaigns, and log every change with its reason.
It builds on the margin-aware ad metrics and agents we built for Amazify. The team has built on Amazon's seller APIs since 2017, and your API credentials stay with you. You keep your accounts, your data and the custom code we build; the Growth OS base is licensed to you. For a custom build, see Amazon Advertising API automation; for the agent that runs this loop, see the advertising agent. Amazon's own Ads MCP Server for AI assistants is covered in our SP-API MCP server guide.
Where should you start?
If your ads run on console rules that never see inventory or margin, start with the free 24-hour diagnostic in the Ops Gap Diagnostic: connect Amazon with Login with Amazon, no password shared, and get a report of what is going wrong within 24 hours of connecting, on business days. We only read data; we never change listings, prices, stock or ads. To see the base system first, look at Growth OS.
If your team exports console reports into a spreadsheet to match ad spend with stock and margin, that routine can become a workflow automation project: reports pulled through the API on a schedule, joined with your inventory, and bid changes left for a person to approve.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Amazon Ads API free to use?
Yes. Amazon Ads charges no extra fee for API access; you still pay for the ads you run. If you use Marketing Stream, AWS may bill for the destination you create. You do need to apply for access and be approved before your client application can make calls.
What is the difference between the Amazon Ads API and SP-API?
The Ads API manages campaigns, bids, budgets and ad reporting. The Selling Partner API covers orders, shipments, payments, inventory and listings. Each has its own access process, and a margin-aware ad system reads from both.
How long does it take to get Amazon Ads API access?
Creating the Login with Amazon client is free and needs no approval. Amazon says the API access application itself can take up to 1 business day to approve, after which you assign access to your client.
How fresh is Amazon Ads API data?
Reports are generated on request and arrive after a wait; version 3 reports can take up to three hours. For intra-day decisions, Amazon Marketing Stream pushes data to your AWS account instead. Stream version 2 updates as often as every 15 minutes, and Amazon positions it, not the reporting API, for intraday bid and budget changes.
Is Amazon Ads v3 reporting being deprecated?
Yes. Amazon announced in September 2026 that v3 reporting, Sponsored Ads v2 reporting and Marketing Stream version 1 stop delivering data on June 30, 2027. The reporting API v1 replaces both reporting APIs, and Stream version 2 replaces version 1. Existing integrations keep working until then, but metric names, look-back windows and the conversion date change, so plan the move.
Who can connect the Amazon Ads API to my inventory and margin data?
Ecomsellertool builds these integrations for ecommerce brands, building on Amazon's seller APIs since 2017: Ads API reports and Marketing Stream data joined with Selling Partner API orders, fees and stock, so bid and budget changes check stock cover and margin first and every change is logged for a person to approve. Describe the ads routine you run by hand in the project brief on our workflow automation page and a person replies within 2 business days with a written plan and a fixed price.
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