Amazon PPC Bidding Strategies: What They Are and When to Use Each One

One of the most underestimated decisions in Amazon PPC isn’t keywords, budgets, or even campaign structure.

It’s bidding strategy selection.

Amazon offers three bidding strategies, and while they look simple on the surface, choosing the wrong one for the wrong context can quietly limit performance — or destroy profitability.

This article breaks down:

• What each bidding strategy actually does

• When each one makes sense

• And why there is no “default” or “best” option

The 3 Amazon PPC Bidding Strategies Explained

Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns offer three bidding strategies:

1. Dynamic bids — Down only

2. Dynamic bids — Up and down

3. Fixed bids

Each one signals a different level of intent, risk tolerance, and objective to Amazon’s algorithm.

1. Dynamic Bids — Up and Down

With Dynamic bids — Up and down, Amazon can both increase or decrease your bids in real time, based on its prediction of conversion likelihood.

Amazon may raise bids by up to:

• 100% for top-of-search placements

• 50% for other placements

When to Use Up and Down

This strategy makes sense when growth and visibility are the main objective.

Typical scenarios include:

• High-converting keywords

• Competitive categories

• Scaling phases

• Situations where winning impressions matters more than short-term ACOS

Strategic Insight

This is an offensive strategy.

You’re telling Amazon:

“If you see a high-quality opportunity, take it.”

Up and down bidding allows Amazon to push harder when the probability of sale is high — but it also requires confidence in your listing, pricing, and conversion rate.

2. Dynamic Bids — Down Only

With Dynamic bids — Down only, Amazon will lower your bid in real time when it predicts a lower probability of conversion.
It will never increase your bid beyond what you set.

When to Use Down Only

This strategy is ideal when control and efficiency are the priority.

Common use cases include:

• Branded keyword campaigns

• Mature products with stable conversion history

• Defensive campaigns protecting existing rankings

• Situations where profitability matters more than scale

Strategic Insight

This is a defensive bidding strategy.
You’re telling Amazon:

“Spend when it makes sense, but protect margin.”

Down only prioritizes cost control over aggressive visibility.

3. Fixed Bids

With Fixed bids, Amazon uses exactly the bid you set, with no real-time adjustments.

When to Use Fixed Bids

Fixed bids are best used when learning and control matter more than automation.

Ideal use cases include:

• New product launches

• Testing new keywords or search terms

• Highly controlled experiments

• Situations with limited or unreliable data

Strategic Insight

Fixed bids are not about scaling — they’re about understanding.

They allow you to:

• Observe true CPC behavior

• Control volatility

• Gather clean performance data

This strategy is often temporary, not permanent.

The Most Important Insight: There Is No “Best” Bidding Strategy

The biggest mistake Amazon sellers make is choosing a bidding strategy by habit, recommendation, or default settings.

There is no universal best option.

The right bidding strategy depends on:

• Your product lifecycle stage

• Your campaign objective (defense, growth, testing)

• Your category competitiveness

• Your tolerance for volatility

Amazon doesn’t reward settings.

It rewards decisions made with context.

Final Thoughts

Bidding strategies are not tactical checkboxes.
They are strategic signals.

Before selecting one, ask:

• What is this campaign trying to achieve?

• What risk am I willing to take?

• What data do I trust right now?

When bidding strategies align with intent, PPC becomes predictable.
When they don’t, performance becomes chaotic.

At Chrizon Agency, bidding strategy is never chosen in isolation — it’s chosen as part of a broader decision-making framework designed to improve long-term results, not just short-term metrics.