Pay Per Click (PPC) data can be confusing!
But we can help you make sense of that info....explaining how Fetcher captures data and why, in some cases, numbers in Seller Central seem to be different than Fetcher's.
And we're also going to show you how to verify that data! So let's get started...
In this article you will find:
- How Fetcher Collects Data
- Knowing What Reports Fetcher is Using
- When Differences Seem to Occur
- Downloading Amazon PPC Reports (Daily Vs. Historical)
- Why is my Historical PPC Data missing and how to capture it manually
1. How Fetcher Collects Data
We want you to have the best picture of your actual profits so collecting as much PPC data as we can is important. There are some limitations set in place by Amazon but we have done our best to work around them. When you sign up to Fetcher, as much Historical PPC as possible will be pulled in for you automatically. For Daily PPC to be pulled in you will need to enable Fetchers' access to Amazons' Advertising API. You can do this from the bottom of your Profile and Settings page or check out this article for more details: How to enable access to your PPC account
The reason we try and collect both is because Daily PPC data is only available for the previous 60 days when the request is made through the API (application programming interface; how we get your data from Amazon).
- Daily PPC: This is the PPC expense based on the spend each day and is attributed to the specific SKU and Campaign. This is also known as 'PPC cost' and is based on the purchase date (when it happened). Fetcher is able to capture this for the 60 days prior to the date you enabled the PPC sync. You will see this daily PPC cost on all relevant tabs in Fetcher including the Product Breakdown tab which will further highlight campaign performance.
- Historical PPC: This is the total PPC expense for an entire invoice period for all campaigns and is shown as one number, not broken down by SKU or Campaign. You will only see this cost on the Dashboard and Profit/Loss Statement since it is not collected at the SKU or Campaign level. It's also known as 'PPC cost', and is shown on the posted date when Amazon processed the payment for PPC services (posted date is Amazon’s accounting date). We use historical PPC data to include PPC expenses older than 60 days, since this is the farthest we can go back and get Daily PPC cost. The 60 day timeframe is a limitation set in place by Amazon.
2. Know What Reports Fetcher is Using
In your Profit & Loss (P&L) statement, depending on your specific situation and your PPC data we received from Amazon, you will see one of the following three messages:
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Accounts with Historical & Daily Reports
If your account has both Historical and Daily PPC, the message will read:
"PPC costs dated up to [mth/day/yr] are calculated from your invoice payments to Amazon for PPC services."
This message means that all 'PPC Cost' before January 10th 2018 will be Historical PPC and you will see this cost about every 2 weeks when your invoice periods close. After January 10th you will see 'PPC Cost' each day and the cost will be recorded at the SKU level on the Product Breakdown Tab and Sales and Profit tab. You will see this Daily PPC going forward as long as you have your Fetcher account.
If you receive this message it means you can use your PPC spend report to compare your PPC data for the past 60 days from the day of sign up.
And for PPC data older than 60 days, you can use your Transactional report to check those dates and amounts. (Details on how to get these reports below).
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Accounts with Historical Reports Only
If the account only has Historical PPC, the message will read:
"Each month's total is calculated from your invoice payments to Amazon for historical PPC services."
This means Daily PPC collection has not been enabled in Fetcher and we do not have access to your Advertising account. You will still see this as 'PPC Cost' but it will just be the total you paid to Amazon for all PPC for that invoice period and will not be attributed to a specific SKU or Campaign, but to the account as a whole.
If you receive this message, it means you can compare your entire PPC expenses from Fetcher to your cost of advertising totals in the Transactional report.
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Accounts with Daily Reports Only
If the account only has daily PPC, the message will read:
"The earliest PPC data that we received from Amazon is from [DATE]"
This message means that Fetcher did not find any Historical PPC from your invoice payments from September 10th 2017 and forward Daily PPC will be shown.
If you receive this message, it means you can compare your entire PPC expenses from Fetcher to your PPC spend report from Amazon. These Daily PPC costs come directly from Amazon's Advertising API and are attributed to the SKUs and Campaigns the cost comes from.
3. When Differences Seem to Occur
After signing up with Fetcher and enabling access to the Advertising API from the Profile and Settings page, we will collect data from your Daily PPC spending. For any dates past that 60 day time frame, we have to retrieve data from your Invoice payments for PPC services. These invoices are the Historical PPC expenses based on posted date, not daily spend.
Due to the nature of these two reports, it might appear as though the numbers don't match.
To verify your PPC data, you can always download the following reports to compare your numbers...
4. Downloading Amazon PPC Reports
This is how you can download the PPC reports that you can check and compare to make sure your PPC data is being displayed in Fetcher correctly.
Daily PPC:
Fetcher collects Daily PPC from the date that you enabled access to the Advertising API, gathering the past 60 days of PPC data. Daily PPC totals can be found on your PPC Spend report from Seller Central by going to:
Reports - Advertising Reports - Performance Over Time
Make sure the following are selected:
Report Type: Performance Over Time
Data Unit: Daily
Report Period: Past 60 Days
After you have created the report you can download it and compare day by day to Fetcher's PPC cost.
Historical PPC:
Since Historical PPC comes from your invoice statements, the way to retrive this information is a bit different than the Daily PPC data above.
Follow the steps below or watch this quick video:
Reports - Payments - Transaction View Tab
On the Transaction View tab ensure these filters are set:
Filter View By: Service Fees
Custom Date Range: The date range you wish to compare
Then click "Update" and once the report has finished you can download the file. Then open the text file using Excel or Google Sheets.
You can then filter the "Payment Detail" column to show only the "Cost of Advertising". You can then use the dates and amounts shown to compare to what Fetcher is reporting.
5. Why is my historical PPC missing and how to capture it manually.
If you just signed up for Fetcher, then only seeing part of your historical PPC data is completely normal!
We use Amazon's most reliable advertising API (Application Program Interface) to calculate your PPC Spend and PPC Sales, but Amazon only offers 60 days of Daily PPC data. We do our best to capture your Historical PPC data from your invoice payments to make up for this but occasionally all of the historical PPC is not able to be captured.
If you have compared your Historical PPC totals to Fetcher and some cost of advertising totals are missing you can add them in as an "Other" expense manually.
Follow the instructions above to retrieve those totals and then add them into your "Other" expense section here:
