15 Questions to Ask an Amazon Agency Before You Sign

Most agency sales calls follow the agency’s script. These questions put you in charge of the conversation. Good agencies will answer them easily. If an answer is vague, that’s your answer.

About the people

1. Who exactly will work on my account? Names and roles, not “a dedicated team.”
2. How long have they been with you? High turnover means someone new relearns your catalog every few months.
3. Can I reach the people who set strategy? Or only an account coordinator?
4. Where is the team based, and what hours do they work? A fine answer can be anywhere, as long as it’s honest. See US-based vs. offshore agencies.

About the money

1. How are you paid? Flat fee, percentage of ad spend, percentage of revenue, or a mix. See flat fee vs. ad spend vs. revenue share.
2. Does your fee go up if my ad spend goes up? If yes, how do they handle recommending less spend?
3. What does it cost in total? Including setup, creative, tools and minimums. See how much an Amazon agency costs.
4. What’s the contract length, and what does it cost to leave?

About the work

1. What exactly do you do every month? Ask for the list in writing.
2. Do you handle unauthorized sellers and pricing enforcement? Many agencies don’t. See how to remove unauthorized sellers.
3. What will you do first, and why that order? A good agency has a sequence, not a list.
4. How do you handle my busy season? See seasonal inventory planning.

About proof and ownership

1. How does your reporting tie to my real profit? Can my controller reconcile it against our books?
2. Who owns the accounts, listings, creative and documentation? It should all be yours.
3. Can I call two current clients? Not just read testimonials.

Red flags

• Guaranteed rankings or revenue numbers
• Long lock-in contracts with exit fees
• They need your actual login instead of scoped user access
• They can’t say who will be on your account
• Every recommendation involves spending more

A good sign

An agency that tells you when you don’t need them. Plenty of owners read our free scan and realize it’s a distributor conversation, not an agency problem, and handle it themselves. That’s a fine outcome.

Our answers

We put most of ours on our site: the first 90 days and who we’re wrong for. How we get paid is simple: no setup fee, no retainer, a share of the revenue we manage. Ask us the rest on a 20-minute call.

Frequently asked questions

Written by

Troy Marchand, CEO

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