Choosing an agency for Amazon sellers is a high-stakes decision made with low-quality information. Every agency claims a decade of experience and a proprietary process. These ten questions cut through that, because they are difficult to answer well unless the answers are true.
Before hiring an agency for Amazon sellers, ask who will actually manage your account day to day, whether they specialize in your selling model, how pricing and contract terms work, what is excluded from the scope, how they report on profit rather than just ad metrics, and what happens if performance does not improve.
- Ask who does the work, not just who sells it to you.
- Get scope, exclusions, pricing structure, and minimum term in writing before you sign.
- Judge reporting by whether it shows total sales, TACoS, and margin — not ACoS alone.
- Your Seller Central account and brand must always stay in your name.
- Vague answers, guaranteed results, and refusal to show real work are the biggest red flags.
1. Who will actually work on my account day to day?
You are often sold by a senior person and then managed by a junior one. Ask for the name and experience of the person who will be in your account, and how many other accounts they handle.
2. Do you specialize in my selling model?
Private label, wholesale, and arbitrage are different businesses with different playbooks. An agency that does all three usually does none of them deeply. Ask what share of their clients run your model.
3. What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
Get the scope in writing. The common gaps are creative and photography, A+ Content design, case management, trademark filing, and external traffic. Knowing the exclusions up front prevents the awkward invoice later.
4. How is your pricing structured?
Fixed retainer, percentage of sales, project fee, or a combination are all legitimate. What matters is that you understand the incentive it creates. A percentage of revenue rewards growth but not profitability, so ask how profit is protected. Our breakdown of agency pricing for Amazon sellers covers each model and what it tends to reward.
5. Is there a minimum contract term?
Amazon work needs a runway of a few months to show results, so some commitment is reasonable. A long lock-in with no performance obligation is not.
6. How will you report, and on what metrics?
Ask to see a real report. If it only shows ad spend and ACoS, that is a red flag. You want total sales, TACoS, margin, and inventory health, because ACoS alone can be improved while the business shrinks.
7. What access do you need, and who owns the account?
The Seller Central account and the brand must remain yours. Agencies should work through user permissions, never by taking ownership. Confirm this explicitly.
8. What is your experience with account health and suspensions?
At some point you will face a listing suppression, a policy flag, or a suspension. An agency that has handled reinstatements is worth considerably more than one that has only run ads in calm conditions.
9. What would you do in my account in the first 30 days?
A competent agency can answer this specifically after looking at your account, and will name the actual problems they see. A vague answer means they have not looked. Ask, too, for examples of accounts like yours with real before-and-after numbers — anonymized is fine. Our own are on the case studies page.
10. What happens if performance does not improve?
Ask directly. The answer reveals whether the agency thinks in terms of accountability or in terms of retainers. There is no single right answer, but there is a clear difference between a considered one and a deflection.
What are the red flags when hiring an agency for Amazon sellers?
The answers matter, but so does how they're given. These are the patterns that should make you slow down:
| Red flag | Why it matters | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed rankings or sales numbers | Nobody controls Amazon's algorithm, competitors, or your inventory | Realistic ranges tied to a specific plan and assumptions |
| A pitch before anyone has looked at your account | The plan is generic, not built for your problems | An audit first, then specific findings and priorities |
| Reports that only show ad metrics | ACoS can improve while total sales and profit shrink | Total sales, TACoS, margin, and inventory health |
| Asking to own or control your account | You risk losing access to your own business | User permissions on an account that stays in your name |
| Unclear scope or “it's all included” | Exclusions turn into surprise invoices later | Written inclusions, exclusions, and third-party costs |
| Long lock-in with no performance review | You pay whether or not anything improves | A reasonable term with clear review points |
| Review or ranking shortcuts | Policy violations put your account at risk | Compliant methods only, explained plainly |
What should you prepare before talking to agencies?
You'll get sharper answers if the agency can see what it's walking into. Before your first calls:
- Write down your goal. Growth, profitability, a launch, or fixing a specific problem such as a suspension or a stockout cycle.
- Pull your recent numbers. Total sales, ad spend, TACoS, and margin by month for at least the last six to twelve months.
- List what you'll keep in-house. Sourcing, creative, customer service, or inventory planning — so the scope conversation is concrete.
- Note your current problems. Suppressed listings, account health warnings, restricted categories, or campaigns you suspect are wasting money.
- Decide your budget range. Not to anchor the quote, but so you can tell quickly whether the proposed scope is realistic.
An agency that asks for this information before quoting is usually one that plans to do real work. One that quotes without it is pricing a template.
How to use these
Ask all ten to every agency you shortlist, and compare the answers side by side. The pattern that matters is not who sounds most confident; it is who answers specifically, admits limits, and talks about profit rather than activity.
If you want to put these questions to us, book a free 30-minute call. We will answer all ten, in writing if you prefer.
For context, Embarc Consulting is a private-label-only agency for Amazon sellers founded in 2016. We price by scope after a free audit, and our Amazon account management service page sets out what ongoing management covers.