Marketplace ads or your own site
Marketplace ads sit next to a buy button that shoppers already trust, so they often convert at a higher rate than traffic sent to a brand’s own site. The marketplace then takes a referral fee on every order and keeps the customer relationship. Owned-site campaigns pay more per order in media and keep the margin and the customer data. The choice comes down to a few numbers per product: fee rate, ad cost per order, and the owned-site conversion rate at which the two routes earn the same.
Executive findings
- 1
Amazon’s US referral fees vary by category, for example 15% for Home and Kitchen and 17% for clothing priced above $20, with a $0.30 minimum per item, in addition to the $39.99 monthly Professional plan.
Documented: official source. Scope: Amazon US seller pricing page, as of . [1]
- 2
Amazon Sponsored Products are bought per click with a daily budget and no monthly fee, and a product must be eligible for the Featured Offer to be advertised. Amazon lists the programme in 23 countries, including the US, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Japan and Australia.
Documented: official source. Scope: Amazon Ads Sponsored Products page, as of . [2]
- 3
Mercado Libre’s Product Ads are bought per click within a daily budget and are documented for Brazil, Mexico and Chile only.
Documented: official source. Scope: Mercado Libre developer documentation, as of . [3]
- 4
In our illustrative per-order model, the owned site matches the marketplace’s first-order contribution only when its conversion rate reaches 5%, against an assumed 3%.
Illustrative model, not a benchmark. Scope: FOCUSADS worked model with labelled assumptions, not a benchmark, as of
Method and limitations
- Question
- For a given product, does paid media earn more contribution when it sends shoppers to a marketplace listing or to the brand’s own site?
- Written for
- Ecommerce directors, marketplace sellers and CFOs of consumer brands selling through both routes.
- Decision at stake
- How to split the acquisition budget between marketplace ads and owned-site campaigns, product by product.
- Sources
- Amazon’s published US seller fees and Sponsored Products page, Mercado Libre and Allegro advertiser documentation, and Google Merchant Center documentation on free product listings.
- Period
- Fee tables and documentation as published on 2026-10-17. Fees change; use the current table.
- Markets
- Fee figures are for Amazon US only. The method applies to any marketplace that publishes its fees.
- Definitions
- Contribution per order: price minus cost of goods, marketplace or payment fees, fulfilment and shipping, and ad cost per order.
- Ad cost per order: cost per click ÷ conversion rate.
- Equal-contribution conversion rate: the owned-site conversion rate at which both routes earn the same per order.
- Limitations
- Fulfilment costs, click costs and conversion rates in the model are placeholders. Use the marketplace’s own fee calculator and your account data.
- The model ignores organic marketplace sales lifted by ad-driven sales rank, which can favour the marketplace.
- It also ignores the lifetime value of first-party customer data, which can favour the owned site. The repeat-purchase row shows how to add it.
What each route charges
Documented: official source
On Amazon US, a seller on the Professional plan pays a monthly fee and a referral fee on each item sold, set by category. Fulfilment by Amazon adds its own fees, which Amazon’s revenue calculator estimates per product. Sponsored Products then charge per click, with no monthly fee.
On an owned site, the seller pays payment processing and shipping, and the media cost per order depends on how well the site converts. Google Merchant Center can also show products in free listings, which sends some unpaid traffic to the owned site.
Worked model: one product, two routes
Illustrative model, not a benchmark
The model follows one 50-unit product. The marketplace route pays a 15% referral fee and converts clicks at an assumed 10%; the owned site pays 3% in payment fees and converts at an assumed 3%.
| Line | Marketplace ads | Owned-site campaign |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 50.00 | 50.00 |
| Cost of goods | -15.00 | -15.00 |
| Referral fee (15%) or payment fees (3%) | -7.50 | -1.50 |
| Fulfilment and shipping | -6.00 | -6.00 |
| Ad cost per order | -10.00 (1.00 per click at 10%) | -26.67 (0.80 per click at 3%) |
| First-order contribution | 11.50 | 0.83 |
| Owned-site conversion rate for equal contribution | n/a | 5.0% |
| Add: 30% repeat purchase without paid media | +6.45 | +8.25 |
| Contribution including one repeat | 17.95 | 9.08 |
Assumptions
- Referral fee 15% matches Amazon US Home and Kitchen; every other cost and rate is an assumption.
- Repeat orders on the marketplace pay the referral fee and fulfilment again; on the owned site they arrive through email at no media cost.
- Equal-contribution rate: 27.50 − 0.80 ÷ rate = 11.50, so rate = 5%.
Reading the result
FOCUSADS view
Under these assumptions the marketplace earns more per order, even after a repeat purchase. Three inputs can reverse that: an owned-site conversion rate near 5%, a much higher repeat rate, or a category with a higher referral fee. The decision belongs at product level, because the same brand can have products on both sides of the line.
Many brands run both routes. Marketplace ads capture shoppers who start their search on the marketplace; owned-site campaigns build the customer list. The budget split follows the contribution per order of each route, refreshed when fees or conversion rates change.
Before you plan marketplace ads in a new country
Documented: official source
Eligibility rules differ. Amazon requires the product to be eligible for the Featured Offer and excludes some categories. Mercado Libre excludes real estate, vehicles and services from Product Ads and documents Mercado Ads for three countries. Allegro’s sponsored offers need an active seller account with live offers. Check each rule in the marketplace’s own documentation for the country you plan to enter.
What we would test, in order
| Step | Measured by | Counts as success when |
|---|---|---|
| Build the per-order table for your top products with current fee tables and 90 days of account data. | First-order contribution per route, per product. | Each product has a stated preferred route and the conversion rate at which it would flip. |
| Run an owned-site landing-page test on products close to the flip point. | Owned-site conversion rate from paid traffic. | The tested page moves the rate past the equal-contribution point. |
| Track repeat purchases by first-order route for 6 to 12 months. | Repeat rate and repeat contribution per route. | The repeat row in the model uses measured rates. |
Which way each factor pushes
Score each product against these rows before splitting budget.
| Factor | Favours marketplace ads | Favours owned site |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee for the category | Low | High |
| Owned-site conversion rate from paid traffic | Well below equal-contribution rate | At or above it |
| Repeat purchase rate | Low or one-off product | High, with consent to email |
| Where shoppers start their search | On the marketplace | On search engines or social |
| Need for customer data (warranty, subscription, B2B) | Low | High |
| Category eligible for marketplace ads in the target country | Yes | No or unclear |
How this connects to our method: Define economic reality before media spend
References
- Selling on Amazon fees and pricing, Amazon (sell.amazon.com), accessed
- Sponsored Products, Amazon Ads, accessed
- What is Mercado Ads?, Mercado Libre Developers (Global Selling), accessed
- Rozwiązania reklamowe dla sprzedających (Allegro Ads), Allegro Advertising, accessed
- Free listings for products, Google Merchant Center Help, accessed