Why Increasing Your GMV Max Budget Does Absolutely Nothing

If your budget usage rate is below 50-80%, increasing the budget is almost meaningless. The problem is not the money — the delivery mechanism of GMV Max does not allow the budget to be fully spent before reaching the required ROI threshold.

Mechanism: Budget Is Only Spent When Reaching at Least 80% of Target ROI

According to official documentation, the budget is only fully spent if the campaign achieves at least 80% of the target ROI. Setting the target ROI too high is the most common reason for low budget usage — not because you lack budget, but because the system cannot find enough orders that meet that ROI to spend the money.

Auto Budget Increase: Requires 2 Conditions Simultaneously, Not Just 1

The Auto Budget Increase feature increases the budget by 50% each time, up to 10 times/day — but it only triggers when simultaneously:

• ROI achievement rate ≥ 90%
• Budget usage rate ≥ 80%

Lacking either of the two, the system will not automatically increase it. The budget is reset to the original level the next day. You can manually adjust the budget while the feature is active, but you are only allowed to increase it when the new budget is higher than the current cost × 1.05 — meaning the system blocks you from making “fake” budget increases when you have not spent close to the old limit.

What to Do Instead of Increasing the Budget

According to official recommendations for BAU days: if the budget usage rate is below 50%, gradually decrease the target ROI (by less than 10% each time), instead of increasing the budget. Only when the budget usage rate has reached ≥80% will increasing the budget (~30% each time) have an effect. Do not change the target ROI more than once a day, and observe for at least 3 days before adjusting again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does enabling both Auto Budget Increase and Promotion Day simultaneously cause a conflict?
No, both share the same budget increase logic and can be enabled simultaneously.

Why is budget usage low even though the ROI is close to the target?
Check the actual ROI achievement rate — if it has not reached the 80% mark, the system still holds back the unspent budget to avoid breaking the ROI.

Sources

Official GMV Max guide (updated to July 2026).