Marginly is not an OTTO Partner Connect alternative but builds on it: through OTTO's official API, which you authorize in Partner Connect. Partner Connect remains the source for your data, for authorizations, payouts and everything outside advertising. For Sponsored Product Ads, Marginly adds a working layer on top: start campaigns from proposals, change many bids at once, review search terms every Monday and spot outliers every morning.
Updated: November 6, 2026 · Sources at the end of the page
The rows come from our experience with OTTO Partner Connect in day-to-day agency work. What Partner Connect does is stated the way OTTO describes it; below the table, each row says what it means day to day.
| Task | OTTO Partner Connect | Marginly |
|---|---|---|
| Create campaigns | Booking under Services: name, period, budget, products and bid per campaign | From seven templates or as a ready-made proposal, start several at once |
| Change bids | Per product in automatic campaigns, per keyword in manual campaigns | Any number at once, by percentage, fixed value or via Excel |
| Search terms | Search term analysis for research and steering | From all manual campaigns, rated against your target every Monday |
| Negative keywords | Exact or phrase, in automatic campaigns only | Exclude money burners in one run or slow down their bid |
| Alerts | Metrics in the SPA detail report; OTTO does not describe alerts | Every day against the two weeks before, on your dashboard in the morning with an explanation |
| Bid automation | Intelligentes Bieten and a forecast report with CPC bid recommendations | Recommendations with reasons, autopilot within fixed limits |
| Multiple accounts | Up to nine additional users per account; OTTO does not describe an overview across accounts | Up to nine accounts in one listAgency plan |
| Margin per SKU | Payouts with fees and commissions offset, revenue under Analytics | Not included |
As of November 6, 2026. Partner Connect column: OTTO sources below, retrieved November 6, 2026. Marginly column: features in use today.
What this means day to day
In Partner Connect you book each campaign under Services: set name, period and budget, pick products and a CPC bid, review, finish. Every night Marginly drafts campaigns for items without an active campaign, one manual and one automatic campaign per product. You review, deselect and start all selected ones at once; for your own campaigns the wizard presets type, budget and bid from seven templates.
In Partner Connect you adjust bids per product (automatic campaign) or per keyword (manual campaign with keyword targeting). In Marginly you select any number of rows and change them by a percentage or to a fixed value, or you download campaigns, items and keywords as Excel, edit them and upload the file again. Errors such as a bid below €0.20 show up per row before anything goes to OTTO.
OTTO names the search term analysis in Partner Connect as a source for keyword research and as the basis for targeted campaign steering. Every Monday Marginly reviews the actual searches from all manual campaigns: searches with sales become their own keyword, expensive searches without a sale are excluded or get a lower bid. You set the ROAS and the number of orders from which a search is taken over. Marginly does not receive searches from automatic campaigns through the API.
At OTTO you set negative keywords in automatic campaigns only, as exact or phrase. Marginly collects the expensive searches without a sale from all manual campaigns and excludes them in the automatic campaigns in one run, or slows down their bid. Exclusion only starts after enough clicks; Marginly calculates the threshold from your conversion rate.
At OTTO you read ROAS, clicks, CPC and ad spend in the SPA detail report. Every day Marginly compares ad spend, ROAS, click-through rate and cost per click for each campaign with the two weeks before and sorts outliers into three levels. In the morning they are on your dashboard, with an AI explanation in plain language of what probably happened.
According to OTTO, Intelligentes Bieten (OTTO's smart bidding) adjusts CPC bids automatically and based on data, and the forecast report shows items with potential and recommends CPC bids. Every morning Marginly checks each campaign against your target and gives a reason for every recommendation; you apply them one by one or in bulk. You switch on the autopilot only if you want it: at most 20% per change, never pause, never raise a budget. OTTO makes the forecast report available to all partners; Marginly does not show its bid recommendations.
In Partner Connect you can create up to nine additional user logins for your account so colleagues can sign in. On the Agency plan Marginly shows all connected accounts in one overview with ad spend, revenue, ROAS, open recommendations and anomalies. You grant access per account, and reports come as PDF with your agency's logo and address.
In Partner Connect you see your payouts under Finances, with OTTO's fees and commissions offset, and your revenue under Analytics. Marginly shows ad spend, ad revenue, ROAS and ACoS per campaign and item. Marginly does not calculate a margin per SKU after returns, commission and cost of goods.
Marginly only works on Sponsored Product Ads. For everything else, and for part of the advertising work, Partner Connect remains the tool.
OTTO does not name a separate price for Partner Connect; it is the partner area for registered marketplace partners. You book Sponsored Product Ads there yourself, with no monthly or upfront fee.
Products and stock, orders, shipping and returns, customer enquiries, payouts and booking further services and advertising run in Partner Connect. Marginly only works on advertising.
Access to Partner Connect: OTTO grants it to registered partners only, and you create up to nine additional users yourself. You also authorize Marginly there, and that is where you revoke its access.
Payouts with OTTO's fees and commissions offset and your customers' purchase receipts are in Partner Connect. OTTO also bills booked services this way.
OTTO makes the forecast report with a traffic light rating and CPC bid recommendations available to all partners, and the search term analysis sits in Partner Connect. OTTO lists no API for these analyses, so Marginly shows neither.
The Partner Connect help desk offers articles and video tutorials, including the SPA guide on strategy, campaign setup and optimization, and direct contact with OTTO.
Marginly saves time when working on your ads takes time. If it does not, Partner Connect is enough.
Then save the €99 a month and stay with Partner Connect.
Either way, you pay the click costs and the marketplace fees (base fee and commission) to OTTO. Marginly comes on top and does not replace any OTTO fee.
OTTO Partner Connect
No separate price
OTTO does not name a separate price for Partner Connect. OTTO bills Sponsored Product Ads per click, with no monthly or upfront fee; the minimum CPC is currently 20 cents.
Marginly
from €99 a month, net
Seller €99 a month net for one OTTO account, Agency from €179 a month net with two accounts. Once activated, you test for 14 days free of charge, without a payment method.
The statements about Partner Connect and OTTO's APIs come from these 8 OTTO pages; the otto.market and advertising.otto.de pages are in German.
Marginly is in closed beta. Join the waitlist; once activated, you connect your OTTO account and test for 14 days free of charge, next to Partner Connect.