Regulatory Advertising Fees on Amazon

What is this fee?

From September 2021, a fee may be added to the cost of different advertising types on Amazon. “Regulatory Advertising Fees may be applied to your invoice when an ad is served in certain countries and/or for ads purchased by advertisers in certain countries.”, it says in Amazon’s Advertising Support Center.

Why is Amazon introducing this fee?

The fee is linked to the Digital Services Tax (DST) that the EU was planning to introduce. The circumstances have changed slightly in the past weeks and the planned DST will no longer be implemented. We are waiting on an update from Amazon to see if the fees will still have to be paid even if the DST will not be implemented.

Which advertising types are impacted?

The fee is applicable to all advertising types, including Display Managed, Display Self-Service and Sponsored Ads.

To which countries does this apply?

The source of the click is key. If a person located in one of the following countries clicks on an ad on any marketplace, the mentioned fees apply: 

• United Kingdom: 2%
• Italy: 3%
• France: 3%
• Spain: 3%
• Austria: 5%
• Turkey: 7.5%

The % fees are based on the DST rates enforced by participating countries under their local law. DST rates are subject to change and the rates shown are the maximum calculations for each country. Amazon updates the rates as they are informed of legal changes.

How is the fee calculated?

Let’s look at an example Amazon gives: “If you are an US-based advertiser who purchased an ad, and your ad receives a click with a value of $1.00 from a customer located in a country with a DST rate of 3%, you would see a Regulatory Advertising Fee of $0.03 for that click.” 

These fees are added to your invoice subtotal, and it won’t have a retroactive charge. Fees are not accounted for within your campaign budgets and are subject to VAT/GST. Please note: For advertisers located in the UK and Turkey, the charge logic is different. 

Special Cases: The UK and Turkey

Regulatory Advertising Fees are applied differently for the UK, and for Turkey for Sponsored Ads only. Advertisers with a business address in the UK or Turkey will pay a fee regardless of who clicked on their ad. They’ll be charged based on the business address they have, which is in the UK or Turkey, as well as for any click made by a customer located in a DST enforcing country other than the UK or Turkey.

Case Studies

• A person located in DE clicks on an ad in FR: fee of 0%
• A person located in FR clicks on an ad in DE: fee of 3%
• A person located in FR clicks on an ad in FR: fee of 3%
• A person located in UK clicks on an ad in UK: fee of 2%
• A person located in FR clicks on an ad in UK: fee depends on who is invoiced. If the invoice is addressed to a company located in the UK —> 3% (FR) + 2% (UK) = 5%.