I just went through this myself, and I completely agree—the language Amazon uses in these promotional emails is unclear, especially for first-time Amazon advertisers. Frankly, it feels predatory.

Here’s how Amazon Ads Support explained it to me (though not very well):

• You activate a campaign under the promotion, which immediately starts spending.

• From there, Amazon takes up to 14 days to "deposit" the promotional credits (in my case, $1,000—$500 in yours).

• Sellers are responsible for all ad spend before the credits ("promotional clicks") are applied [deposited]. Despite the campaign being activated specifically for the promotion.

The use of the word "apply" in Amazon's messaging is misleading. It suggests a retroactive credit, but in reality, it's more like a deposit—the promo funds aren’t available until Amazon decides to add them to your account (up to 14 days after starting the campaign). This is a crucial distinction, and one that was unclear to me.

In my case:

• I received the promotional email and re-started a campaign on Feb 17 (the first day of the promo).

• I paused it on Feb 20 after spending $1,000, assuming the promo would eventually be "applied" to it **while believing, per my interpretation of the T&Cs, it would not cover anything I had spent on the campaign prior to my re-starting it, which I understood

According to Support, Amazon didn’t deposit the promotional credits until Feb 22—five days after my "qualifying event" of reactivating the campaign, and after I had already spent $1K.

When I questioned why my $1,000 spend hadn’t been adjusted on my invoices, the rep pointed to the fine print:

"Advertisers will be charged for any clicks received before the promotional clicks are applied."

Again, I had interpreted that to mean costs from before the promotion start date, not that Amazon decides when the promotional credits will actually be available (which can be up to 14 days later). If I had known this, I could have set my daily budget to $1 and waited until Amazon decided to make the credit usable.

When I acknowledged that, after a lengthy explanation, I could not refute the T&Cs but pointed out that they were not clear to first-time advertisers, I asked if there was any way we could be comped for this misunderstanding. The support rep responded:

"This is the first time we've encountered this situation [meaning my misinterpretation], and we're very sorry it wasn't clear to you. However, unfortunately, we don't have a way to escalate or apply the credits to any invoices prior to the date the credits were issued to the account."

It's clearly not the first time anyone has been confused by this. To suggest otherwise felt insulting.

Considering the exceptional customer service I get as a consumer on Amazon Prime, I’m really disappointed in this experience as a first-time advertiser on Amazon as a Seller.

Amazon’s "recommended" campaign setting resulted in my $1,000 ad spend driving only $750 in sales. Now, I’m left with a poor experience and no path for recourse.

Case ID: 17453219221

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For reference, here are the exact Terms & Conditions of this promotion:

For select Sellers eligible to advertise for sponsored ads, Amazon will apply a single promotional clicks amount of up to $1000 to the Qualifying Sellers Amazon sponsored ads account, which can be redeemed for sponsored ads.

1. This promotion is only available to Sellers individually invited by Amazon to participate (‘Advertisers’).
2. The Advertiser must resume a paused Sponsored Products campaign, renew an old Sponsored Products campaign, or create a new Sponsored Products campaign within the Promotional Period (the ‘Qualifying Action’).
3. Advertisers will be charged for any clicks received before the promotional clicks are applied and for all advertising that exceeds the promotional clicks amount. Advertisers can suspend or pause their ad(s) any time before the promotional clicks amount is exhausted if they do not wish to receive additional advertising charges. Advertisers are responsible for monitoring promotional clicks usage as Advertisers will not be notified once the promotional clicks amount is exhausted.
4. This promotion will start on 02/17/2025 UTC and will last until 03/19/2025 UTC (the ‘Promotional Period’). Advertisers must complete the Qualifying Action during the Promotional Period.
5. Advertisers can redeem this promotion once during the Promotional Period.
6. Amazon will apply the promotional clicks to the Advertiser’s account within 14 days of completing the Qualifying Action.
7. Any unused promotional credit will expire after 30 days from the date the promotional credit is applied.
8. Advertisers must maintain an advertising account in good standing with Amazon, subject to the terms of the Amazon Advertising Agreement.
9. This offer and the promotional clicks are non-transferable, not for resale and not redeemable for cash.
10. This offer is void where prohibited by law and in the event of fraud, mistake or any failure to satisfy any terms of the offer.
11. The Advertiser’s use of the promotional clicks constitutes the Advertiser’s acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
12. Advertisers must have a valid payment method for advertising fees on file to receive the promotional clicks.
13. Amazon reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to terminate or modify this offer at any time.
14. If the Advertiser’s advertising account is in a different currency to the one in which the Advertiser’s promotional clicks have been awarded, the actual amount of the promotional clicks may be subject to foreign currency fluctuations.
15. The Advertiser is responsible for the payment of any taxes incurred.
16. Limit of $1000 in promotional clicks per advertiser account per marketplace.
17. The currency of the promotional clicks depends on the advertiser account