Self-Serve Amazon DSP: Four Ways Onto a Seat, and What Each One Costs You

Most guides to Amazon DSP access stop at "self-service or managed service". That split is real, but it hides the questions that decide whether a route works for you: how long until you can launch, who controls the campaigns, how the fees scale, and what you keep if you leave.

This post lays out the four routes we see brands and agencies use, with those questions answered for each.

The four routes at a glance

	Your own account	Amazon managed service	Agency or managed partner	Advertiser access on an existing seat
Who runs campaigns	You	Amazon	The agency	You
Spend minimum	None published	Typically $50,000 (US)	Set by the agency	None at MixShift
Partner fee	None	Managed services fee, percent of media	Usually a percent of media	Flat fee per advertiser at MixShift
How you start	An Amazon Ads account executive	An Amazon Ads account executive	A sales process with the agency	A form and a self-checkout at MixShift
Time to first campaign	Varies	Varies	Varies	Typically one business day at MixShift

The Amazon figures come from the Amazon Ads FAQ. Amazon DSP now lives inside Amazon Ads Agent, where the programmatic controls are called DVA+ with advanced settings. Amazon says pricing for self-service and managed service carried forward.

Route 1: your own Amazon Ads account

You run DVA+ with advanced settings in your own Amazon Ads account. No partner fee. The trade-off is getting started. The Amazon Ads FAQ sends anyone interested in display, video and audio to an account executive, so the timeline depends on that conversation.

Good fit: brands and agencies that already have programmatic history and an Amazon Ads contact.

Ask before you commit: what technology fee will your entity carry? Amazon sets it per entity and discloses it at campaign setup, per its pricing transparency guide.

Route 2: Amazon managed service

Amazon plans and runs the campaigns. You agree a budget, typically at least $50,000 in the US, and pay a managed services fee as a percent of media on top of the technology fee.

Good fit: brands that want Amazon to do the work and can commit the budget.

Ask before you commit: how much control and reporting detail do you get, and what does the managed services fee come to at your planned spend?

Route 3: an agency or managed-service partner

The agency runs DSP for you, usually on its own seat. Most charge a management fee as a percent of media, sometimes with a minimum.

Good fit: brands that want strategy, creative and campaign management, not only access.

Ask before you commit:

Is your advertiser created under the agency manager account or an account you control?
If you leave, do you keep the advertiser, its audiences and its history, or start over?
Does your AMC instance carry your DSP data, and does it stay with you?

These questions matter more than the fee. A good agency will answer them in writing.

Route 4: advertiser access on an existing seat

A provider that holds a DSP seat creates an advertiser for you on it and Amazon invites your team to manage it. You run campaigns directly in the console. There is no spend floor, because nobody is managing a budget for you.

This is how MixShift Amazon DSP access works. Here is what it looks like end to end.

What setup involves

Fill in the form. Advertiser details, the login email for whoever will run campaigns, and a Seller Central merchant token if the brand sells through Seller Central. The merchant token lets Amazon deduplicate sales that both DSP and Sponsored Ads would otherwise claim.
We create the advertiser on the MixShift seat within one business day.
Review and pay. You see the live advertiser record, then confirm the $500 per month subscription through Stripe checkout. No sales call.
Accept the Amazon invite. Once payment clears, Amazon sends the invitation to the login email you gave.
Launch. From form to running campaigns typically takes one business day.

You do not give MixShift access to your Seller Central, Vendor Central or Sponsored Ads accounts. MixShift owns the seat and provisions the advertiser. Your accounts stay yours.

How billing works

You get two invoices. MixShift bills the $500 per month access fee through Stripe. Amazon bills your media, the platform fee and any audience fees directly. The MixShift seat carries a grandfathered 7.5% platform fee, which goes to Amazon.

There is no minimum spend, no percentage of spend and no annual contract. It is month to month, and if you cancel we deactivate the advertiser at the end of the billing period. Agencies can charge their clients whatever they choose on top.

What comes with the seat: an AMC instance and AMC Workspaces

Every advertiser on the MixShift seat comes with two AMC pieces:

An AMC instance, cross-source, with the DSP and sponsored ads advertiser IDs attached. It also shows up in the AMC console from Amazon and works over SQL and the API. The default sponsored ads instance from Amazon has no DSP connection, no cross-walk between advertiser IDs, no SQL and no API.
AMC Workspaces, the MixShift AMC app. Sign in once at build.mixshift.ai, connect your Amazon Ads account and confirm the advertiser. Then run Sponsored Ads + DSP Overlap, New-to-Brand Drivers or Path-to-Conversion without SQL, schedule them, and send audiences such as lapsed buyers or ad-exposed non-converters to your DSP advertiser.

That means the first DSP campaign and the first read on what it did can start in the same week. AMC Workspaces is free while in beta and will be priced separately at launch. AMC Workspaces for DSP advertisers walks through the reports and audiences.

What access does not include

Access is access. Beyond the seat, the AMC instance and AMC Workspaces, the fee does not include campaign management, and you do not need to buy anything else to use it. If you do want help running campaigns later, that is a separate conversation you start, not a pitch in the signup flow.

What you keep if you leave

AMC is where your history lives, so this is the part to check on any route. Every advertiser on the MixShift seat gets an AMC instance. An AMC instance can hold more than one DSP advertiser ID, so if you move to a different seat later, your historical advertiser ID can stay attached to your instance next to the new one. The instance and its data stay yours, even if you leave, so your queries and history are not locked to our seat.

If you are moving from another seat now, the form asks. We link your existing DSP advertiser ID to your new AMC instance so the old history stays queryable.

Which route fits which team

A brand with an in-house ads lead and a modest budget: route 4 gets you running this week. Route 1 is worth pursuing in parallel if you expect to scale.
An agency adding DSP for one or a few clients: route 4 per client keeps the cost per advertiser fixed, and you set your own client pricing.
A brand that wants DSP done for it: route 2 or 3. Pay for the management you are getting, and settle the data questions first.
A team that is not sure DSP is right yet: compare it with Sponsored Display first, which has no minimum spend.

Running the seat from Claude or the API

Access on the MixShift seat also works with the MixShift plugin for Claude. The DSP skill pulls campaign and line item reports, including history beyond 90 days, reads campaigns, creatives, approvals and audiences, and builds campaigns and line items in bulk. New builds are always created paused. Every change, including budgets, flights, bids and pacing, is shown as a preview and applied only after you confirm. Creating creatives stays in the console.

Teams that want to script it can use the MixShift Builder Platform, which exposes the same DSP operations over MCP and API with the same preview first step.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get Amazon DSP access without talking to sales?

Yes, with advertiser access on an existing seat. At MixShift you fill in a form, review the advertiser we create, and pay through Stripe checkout. No sales call is required. For display, video and audio in your own Amazon Ads account, the Amazon Ads FAQ points you to an account executive to get started.

How long does it take to get Amazon DSP access?

On the MixShift seat, we create the advertiser within one business day, and from form to running campaigns typically takes one business day. Timelines for your own account, Amazon managed service or an agency vary.

What is the difference between self-service and managed-service Amazon DSP?

With self-service you or your team run the campaigns. With managed service Amazon runs them, typically with a $50,000 (US) minimum and a managed services fee as a percent of media. An agency is a third option where the agency runs the campaigns.

Do I own my DSP data if I use someone else's seat?

Ask every provider. On the MixShift seat, your AMC instance can hold more than one DSP advertiser ID, so if you move to another seat later, your historical advertiser ID can stay attached to your instance.

Can agencies resell DSP access to clients?

Agencies on the MixShift seat pay $500 per month per advertiser and can charge their clients whatever they choose. Contact us for bulk pricing on many advertisers.