Reserve Prices
Reserve prices (also called bid floors) set the minimum acceptable prices for your ad inventory, ensuring premium placements don’t sell below their value.
Why Reserve Prices Are Important
- Revenue Protection: Maintain minimum yield from valuable ad placements
- Market Efficiency: Encourage competitive bidding
- Inventory Optimization: Differentiate pricing between premium and standard slots
Types of Reserve Prices
Sponsored Listings
Set minimum CPM and CPC per product category:
- e.g., Electronics: min $5 CPM, $0.50 CPC
- e.g., Fashion: min $3 CPM, $0.30 CPC
Banner Ads
Set minimum CPM and CPC per specific slot:
- e.g., Homepage hero banner: min $15 CPM, $1.00 CPC
- e.g., Category page sidebar: min $8 CPM, $0.60 CPC
Setting Up Your Reserve Prices
As a marketplace retailer, you work with Topsort’s data science team to establish appropriate reserve prices for your ad inventory. This collaborative approach ensures:
- Strategic pricing that balances revenue protection with fill rate optimization
- Data-driven decisions based on your marketplace’s historical performance
- Contextual validation to ensure pricing changes make sense for your specific market
Configuration Process
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Request pricing review - Contact Topsort to discuss your reserve pricing strategy
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Provide inventory data - Share details about your categories and ad slot performance
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Collaborate on pricing - Work with our data science team to set appropriate floors
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Implementation - Topsort configures the reserve prices in your auction system
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Monitor and adjust - Review performance and request adjustments as needed
Reference Format
When discussing reserve pricing with Topsort, you can reference inventory using these formats:
For Sponsored Listings (category-based pricing)
# CSV file withcategory_id,category_name,cpm_reserve_price,cpc_reserve_priceelectronics,Electronics,8.50,0.75fashion-women,Women's Fashion,5.00,0.45fashion-men,Men's Fashion,4.50,0.40home-garden,Home & Garden,6.00,0.55beauty-personal-care,Beauty & Personal Care,7.00,0.65sports-outdoors,Sports & Outdoors,5.50,0.50toys-games,Toys & Games,4.00,0.35automotive,Automotive,9.00,0.80books-media,Books & Media,3.00,0.25health-wellness,Health & Wellness,6.50,0.60
For Banner Ads (slot-based pricing)
# CSV file withexternal_slot_id,slot_description,cpm_reserve_price,cpc_reserve_pricehomepage-hero,Homepage Hero Banner,15.00,1.20homepage-sidebar,Homepage Sidebar Banner,8.00,0.70category-top,Category Page Top Banner,12.00,1.00category-sidebar,Category Page Sidebar,6.50,0.55product-page-top,Product Page Top Banner,10.00,0.85product-page-related,Product Page Related Products,7.00,0.60search-results-top,Search Results Top Banner,11.00,0.95search-results-sidebar,Search Results Sidebar,6.00,0.50checkout-banner,Checkout Page Banner,13.00,1.10footer-banner,Footer Banner (All Pages),4.00,0.35mobile-sticky,Mobile Sticky Banner,9.50,0.80cart-page-banner,Shopping Cart Banner,8.50,0.75
Implementation
For technical details on how reserve prices integrate with auction logic, see the Integration Guide.