Amazon Is Taking Ad Spend From Your Seller Balance [Claws Out Ep. 1]

Amazon started pulling your ad spend straight out of your seller balance on August 1, 2026 no credit card float, no points, no 25-60 day settlement window. In this Claws Out mini-episode Michael breaks down what changed, the new AI image labeling rules you need to follow before your next upload, and why a 3.4 star rating is a bigger threat to your business than any bid you could adjust.Three things, eight minutes, claws out.We'll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights0:00 - What's on Claws Out today0:15 - Amazon now pulls ad spend from your seller balance0:50 - What you actually lose: credit card points and float1:35 - "Based on feedback" - how this change got here2:00 - New AI transparency rules in advertising2:24 - Amazon's rule: photorealistic AI-generated people3:02 - Demo: tagging an AI image in 30 seconds3:41 - Why you should double-check the tag didn't get stripped4:15 - A real listing that got suspended over this4:39 - A 3.4 star rating is not a PPC problem5:25 - The ACoS math: conversion rate does the heavy lifting6:20 - 4 fixes: images, rating, bullets, price7:08 - Your homework + never stop searching🦡 Your Homework1. Open your payment profile and check how your ad spend is being funded.2. Any listing image with a photorealistic AI-generated person needs the keyword "contains-synthetic-performer" in the dc:subject (XMP) field before you upload it. Real people, non-photorealistic art, and images with no people are exempt.3. If your rating is under 4.5, fix that before you touch your bids.🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ https://www.adbadger.com/pricing-product-tour/- Amazon Is Now Deducting Ad Spend From Your Account Balancehttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ads-payment-change-account-balance-deduction/- Break-Even ACoS: The Number That Tells You What You Can Affordhttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ppc-education/break-even-amazon-acos/- ACoS on Amazon: The Complete Guidehttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ppc-education/acos-amazon/- ACoS Is Lying To Youhttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/acos-is-lying-to-you-why-the-most-watched-metric-in-amazon-ppc-is-also-the-most-misleading/- TACoS vs ACoS: Definition, Formula & Calculatorhttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-tacos-definition-formula-calculator-tacos-vs-acos/- Amazon PPC Audit Checklist: 9 Checks + Free Templatehttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ppc-audit-checklist-9-checks-free-template/- Amazon requires sellers to label AI-generated people (Forbes)https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielalinzainescu/2026/07/25/amazon-requires-sellers-to-label-ai-generated-people-in-listing-images/📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook: https://www.adbadger.com/amazon-ppc-checklist/- Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.adbadger.com/newsletter/-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

Today Mike is joined by Dan Head of AMZ Elite, a full-service Amazon consultancy with 20 years of experience, to talk about the thing every AI-curious seller keeps circling: how to stop asking generic AI generic questions.The premise is simple. AI knows a lot about things you don't, but the best operators in any field will laugh at its default advice. The fix is a "second brain" a private, company-specific store of your SOPs, your data, and your hard-won corrections that AI can actually read and act on.Dan walks through what he's built: a news digest that reads his inboxes and YouTube transcripts and boils the week down to two or three pages, an Obsidian vault of markdown SOPs, and a Command Center wired to Amazon that produces a daily triage report the one that caught a campaign spending 4x overnight and flagged the portfolios to drop to a $1 budget after a stock-out. Mike covers how Ad Badger vectorizes its own Google Docs so any team member can query an SOP in plain English from Claude, Google Chat, or ClickUp.You'll also hear the single most useful prompt Dan has ever learned, why summaries alone will cost you the details that matter, and the trap to avoid: don't use AI to invent new work, use it to put work someone is already doing into warp speed.We'll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 HIGHLIGHTS00:00 – Intro with Dan Head of AMZ Elite04:21 – What a "second brain" is, and why default AI advice falls flat08:17 – Dan's news digest: inboxes, YouTube transcripts, Obsidian clips11:32 – The SOP problem in a remote team13:03 – Inside the Command Center and the daily triage report14:52 – What triage caught today: a stock-out and a 4x spend spike15:47 – The simple version: three CSV exports and one SOP17:29 – Saving time, not cutting staff19:32 – Getting a team to actually adopt it21:37 – Obsidian, and a new listing built in 60 minutes25:18 – Giving your AI the keys to do the task27:21 – Keeping SOPs fresh: the 75/125 title change32:53 – Dan's best prompt: drop the bias35:00 – Make your second brain log its own mistakes37:59 – The trap: don't let AI invent work🦡 RESOURCES & LINKS🦡 GET AD BADGERYour host: Michael Erickson Facchin, Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingOur guest: Dan Head of AMZ EliteDan's first appearance: Three Important Weekly Tasks for Amazon PPCActually Useful Use Cases of AI in Amazon MarketingHow to Combine Organic, PPC & Ranking Data with AI to Optimize Every Amazon KeywordHow to Use AI & Spreadsheets to Prevent Amazon Stock-OutsHow to Audit Your Amazon PPC Account Using Bulk Files and Business ReportsHow to Avoid Micromanaging Your Amazon PPC Team📚 Free Amazon Marketing Playbook & Advertising checklistSubscribe to our newsletterReview all our show notesHost and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host: Dan HeadSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

Today Michael welcomes back Priscilla Wagner of Relentless B2C, Marine Corps veteran, and quite possibly the most spreadsheet-brained guest in Badger Nation. She's been on the show for the visibility death spiral, for classifying keywords by how they actually behave instead of by raw console numbers, and for the custom Excel bidding system Michael still talks about. This time she's opening up her forecasting model.The idea: auditing an account that's already running is the easy version. The data is sitting right there. Forecasting is the hard version, because you're projecting spend and revenue off keywords that have zero performance history attached to them. As Michael puts it, the digital marketer in all of us wants to launch big and find out fast but sitting down to plot it out first is what real businesses do.Priscilla walks through the entire build. Tiering roughly 90 competitors by relevancy using Helium 10 and Claude. Bucketing keywords into core, expansion, branded, and broad discovery. Pulling current impression share straight out of the Search Query Performance report, then picking a lift target that's "big enough to read, small enough to test." She also shares the variable Michael had never seen anyone put in a forecast before: click-through rate and conversion rate decay, because your CTR cannot possibly hold steady as your impression bucket multiplies.And there's a real case study in here. One client's forecast surfaced a buy box problem before a single ad went live so the recommendation wasn't a campaign structure, it was "stop selling to resellers first."We'll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 HIGHLIGHTS00:00 – Welcome back, Priscilla Wagner02:54 – Why forecasting is harder than auditing06:19 – "Are ads just stealing our organic sales?"08:45 – Step one: 90 competitors in Helium 1011:06 – Tiering competitors 1 through 416:30 – Picking a realistic target: 1.5% to 8%18:40 – The four keyword buckets19:50 – Reading impression share in Search Query Performance22:00 – Where CTR and CVR come from with no history25:10 – CTR and CVR decay as impressions grow30:30 – Turning keywords into a starting budget31:20 – Case study: fix the buy box before you spend35:00 – What 3% looks like when 8% is too aggressive39:00 – Everyone has a plan until they get punched42:00 – How often to rerun the forecast🦡 RESOURCES & LINKS🦡 GET AD BADGERFind Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingFind Priscilla Wagner at Relentless B2C — MBA, Marine Corps veteran, and full-service Amazon PPC + SEO strategist (LinkedIn)Advanced Amazon PPC Bid Optimization📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes🦡 CREDITSHost and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host: Priscilla WagnerSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

In this episode of our podcast, featuring Mansour Norouzi from Incrementum Digital, we focus on forecasting for Amazon PPC. We discuss moving from a flexible spending strategy to a planned one, and how past trends can guide future spending. Mansour will explain how to use tools like Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer and Category Insights to predict future trends. Join us to learn about the challenges and ongoing learning in Amazon advertising.This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates.We'll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights0:00 - Guest Introduction: Who is Mansour Norouzi?0:37 - Forecasting Focus: What is forecasting in Amazon PPC?2:30 - How complex is Amazon advertising?3:27 - Why never stop learning?5:44 - What does forecasting really involve?8:55 - How to plan financially for advertising?11:47 - How to determine market share?17:46 - Which tools help understand the market?29:25 - How to empower your Amazon strategy?🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGERFind Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingWhere to find Mansour: Mansour NorouziIncrementum DigitalHow Does Tracking Keywords Help PPC?How To Develop A Successful Client Relationship?How To Launch Amazon Products That Customers Actually Want?What Amazon PPC Updates Do You Need For 2024?How Can I Build Tasks To Help My Amazon PPC Campaign?How Can I Best Use The Product Opportunity Explorer For My Amazon PPC Campaign?📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterReview all our show notesCreditsHost and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host: Mansour NorouziSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

Today Michael is coming to you solo  recording from summer vacation in Switzerland to share a presentation he built for his friend Elizabeth Greene's seminar on AI-based optimization for Amazon PPC.The idea: AI is great at combining data. And the hardest part of Amazon PPC has always been that your ad console shows you revenue per click, cost per click, and target ACoS  but it never shows you organic rank, impression share, or search query behavior sitting right next to it. Everything on Amazon is "one big ball mashed together," so it's genuinely hard to know where to lean into momentum and where to pull back.Michael walks through the exact four reports to pull, how to feed them to your favorite AI chatbot (Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude), and the prompt that turns all of it into a keyword-by-keyword action list  bid up here, cut back there  even if you've never opened a spreadsheet in your life.Get the exact prompt. The full AI prompt Michael references in this episode, the one that cross-references organic rank, search query data, impression share, and ACoS into one action list  is already sitting inside the free Badger Guide to Amazon PPC Checklist. Look for the section called "PPC with Organic Data and AI" on Row 209. We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Resources & Links00:00 – Intro from summer vacation in Switzerland00:45 – The presentation Michael built for Elizabeth Greene's seminar on AI-based PPC optimization01:30 – Why AI is so good at combining data sources into one PPC "assistant"03:10 – The real problem: Amazon mashes organic, PPC, and ranking into one big ball04:40 – Why goal-setting is still the hardest part of Amazon PPC in 202606:00 – The mastermind presentation (shoutout to Gansa) that started this whole framework07:45 – From manual spreadsheets to AI: what's changed in how Badger builds these reports08:30 – Badger Sheets: what's coming next09:15 – The 4 reports to download: search query performance, brand analytics top-clicked terms, sponsored products search term impression share, and organic ranking data12:00 – Running the prompt and reading your output: strong organic + low ACoS = cut bids13:15 – Your 4 action items to go do this week🦡 Highlights ​​🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingActually Useful Use Cases of AI in Amazon MarketingFree N-Gram Analysis Tool (Google Sheet)How Can I Be The Most Efficient With My N-Gram Analysis?The Exact "Revenue Impact Formula" to Prioritize Your Optimizations📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator and Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno 

Wondering why some Amazon sellers do really well and others don't? In this video, Michael and Destaney Wishon from BetterAMS share their own ups and downs with Amazon ads. They talk about how tricky Amazon advertising can get, why focusing too much on one thing can be a problem, and what basics you need to know. They also discuss whether it's better to handle your ads on your own, use software, or work with an agency.This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates.We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights0:00 - Introduction2:19 - Marketing myopia7:38 - Now harder for solo Amazon sellers?11:40 - Focus on financial literacy17:01 - Michael's view: Amazon ad forecast for brands20:00 - Steps for better Amazon performance23:44 - Should advance Amazon entrepreneurs improve skills?28:17 - Back to basics32:35 - SOP issues37:48 - Destaney's book recommendation🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingOur guest today is  Destaney Wishon of BTR MediaHow Can I Use ChatGPT To Advance My Amazon PPC Campaign?How Should I Analyze My Data for my Amazon PPC Campaign?How Can I Use Amazon’s New Dashboard To Boost My Amazon PPC Sales?Amazon PPC Horrors: 10 Terrifying Mistakes You Might Be MakingHow Can I Reach My Full Potential In The Amazon PPC Space?What Amazon PPC Updates Do You Need for 2024?Are We Still In The Golden Age of Amazon PPC?📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host: Destaney WishonSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator and Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno 

Today, we are joined by the amazing Maryna from the Ad Badger team. If you have ever wondered why your Amazon PPC performance suddenly dropped, even when your bids, keywords, and competitor pricing look perfect this episode is for you.Maryna shares her brilliant workflow for managing massive Amazon accounts that juggle thousands of SKUs. We discuss how to combine three essential Amazon reports into one master spreadsheet to accurately track your inventory levels. But the real magic happens next: we explore how to feed that data into AI chatbots, like Claude or Gemini, to instantly generate beautiful, actionable dashboards.We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights ​​ 00:00 – Intro01:28 - The challenge of tracking inventory for large accounts02:25 - How hidden low stock secretly ruins PPC performance05:35 - The 3 essential Amazon reports you need to download06:03 - Reading the master spreadsheet for stock and inbound data08:28 - How Amazon penalizes your ranking when inventory drops09:21 - Turning spreadsheets into a Claude dashboard14:31 - Spotting restocked SKUs that are ready to be pushed16:41 - Exactly when to pause, trim, or boost PPC budgets🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️- Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising- Today on the show, we’re thrilled to welcome Maryna Nelep, an Amazon PPC manager and proud member of our Ad Badger family!- How to Audit Your Amazon PPC Account Using Bulk Files and Business Reports- You’re Not Out of Stock, So Why Are Your Sales Down?- Why Amazon PPC Bulk Files Are More Powerful Than Ever (And How to Get Started)- 3 Bad Habits in Amazon PPC It’s Time to Break📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook- Subscribe to our newsletter- Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist- Review all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host: Maryna NelepSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

Sean Stone of Spillover Commerce joins Mike to explain why most Amazon sellers fail when they try Meta ads and the fix: anchor your first campaign to a real event, not a generic sale. They break down a live case study: a Father's Day push that turned $8K in ad spend into $38K in sales for a brand whose Shopify site normally got 10 visitors a day. Topics include the offer ingredients you need, reverse-engineering winning ads from the Facebook Ad Library, avoiding creative fatigue, and building a year-round holiday calendar for your product. We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights ​​ 00:00 – Intro02:43 – Why Amazon sellers want off-platform sales04:12 – Amazon's Aug 1 credit card policy as the trigger event08:30 – Why most sellers fail at Meta/Shopify09:44 – Case study: $11M on Amazon vs. $60K on Shopify11:04 – Rented land: Amazon vs. TikTok Shop vs. owning your site12:37 – The strategy: anchor to an event15:52 – Results: $8K spend → $29K generated18:52 – $38K total sales, traffic surge, creative fatigue20:16 – In-house creative vs. influencers22:07 – Reverse-engineering ads via Facebook Ad Library26:51 – Building a repeatable event calendar31:16 – More examples: Yeti's Knicks & Stanley Cup ads33:50 – Outro🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingToday’s guest is Sean Stone of Spillover Commerce 3 Unfair Advantages of the Top 1% of E-commerce BrandsWhy Amazon Brands Are Starting to Use Meta Ads and Shopifyhttps://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ppc-education/why-amazon-brands-are-starting-to-use-meta-ads-and-shopify-the-ppc-den-podcast/ 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host:  Sean StoneSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno 

In this episode, host Mike chats with Shane White from NoBul Partners about practical and highly effective ways to use AI in Amazon marketing. Shane explains his transition from ChatGPT to Claude, highlighting its powerful capabilities in visualizing large datasets and generating client-ready presentations. He also shares a clever hack for training the AI to scrape a client's website to automatically match brand colors and fonts in slide decks. We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights ​​ 00:00 -  Intro02:30 - AI in Amazon marketing03:45 - Claude vs. ChatGPT05:20 - AI data visualization08:15 - Presentation branding hack12:00 - Time-saving benefits15:30 - Merging data sources19:10 - Training AI memory22:45 - Final takeaways🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingOur guest today is Shane White from NoBul Partners 3 Unfair Advantages of the Top 1% of E-commerce BrandsWe Tested AI Video Ads — Here’s What Improved Our ROASAmazon Growth Lessons from an 8-Figure Agency: Audit-Proof Accounts & Client Goal-Setting📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host:  Shane WhiteSenior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

Welcome back to The PPC Den! This episode we're pulling back the curtain on how a real Amazon agency runs behind the scenes from AI to accountability.Michael sits down with Joshua Rawe of AmpliSell to talk about how they personally use AI (spoiler: Claude Opus is the daily driver), why "average" AI output is a trap if you don't already have great ideas, and how they built an ongoing, AI-powered account audit so nothing falls through the cracks between reviews.We also get into the messy reality of client goal-setting: how to pin clients down on revenue vs. margin vs. ACOS before you ever touch a bid and the #1 mistake killing Amazon brands in 2026: not killing dead products and not launching new ones fast enough. Plus, why winning on Amazon today means winning off Amazon first.We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights ​​ 00:00 -  Intro02:30 – Personal vs. offline AI use, LM Studio for local LLMs04:45 – Staying on top of Amazon changes with Claude Opus 4.807:00 – Amazon's title character limit change (75 characters) as a case study08:15 – How information flows from AI digest → Slack → SOP → knowledge base11:00 – Trust, delegation, and not micromanaging the last mile13:30 – The "wasted spend check" problem: audits that never get repeated15:45 – Building an ongoing, AI-run account audit ("audit-proof accounts")18:00 – Client retention goals and the emotional cost of getting fired19:30 – Weekly OKR feedback loops with leadership21:15 – Nailing down client goals: revenue vs. margin vs. ACOS24:00 – Biggest mistake in 2026: not killing bad products / not launching new ones fast enough26:30 – Anker example category expansion vs. one hero product28:00 – AI and copywriting/images: client pushback then client demand29:30 – Highest-leverage activity: advertising + off-channel marketing31:00 – Why Amazon is a demand-capture engine, not demand-creation 🦡 Resources & Links🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertisingOur guest today is  Joshua Rawe of AmpliSell Why AI Will Be Your New Assistant on AmazonWhat’s the Best Way to Manage an Amazon Brand? Exploring Agency Strategies📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing PlaybookSubscribe to our newsletterTransform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklistReview all our show notes-Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson FacchinGuest Co-Host:  Joshua Rawe Senior Producer: Nancy Lili GonzalezPodcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia PodashVideo and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno