Most advice on hiring an Amazon agency amounts to “look for experience” and “ask for case studies”. That is not much help when you are comparing three proposals with three different fee structures and no common basis for judging them.
This checklist is more specific. It covers how to choose an Amazon PPC agency on the things that decide the outcome: scope, fee model, DSP capability and who controls the accounts. Each section ends in something you can test against a live proposal.
Define the job before you choose an Amazon PPC agency
An agency can only be judged against a scope, so write the scope first. Decide whether you need full Seller Central management, PPC only, or PPC plus DSP, and list the marketplaces the agency must cover from day one rather than “eventually”.
The scope matters because each option needs different skills. Sponsored ads management is a bidding and structure discipline. Account management adds listings, inventory and compliance. DSP adds audience planning and creative. An agency that is strong at one is not automatically strong at all three, and a proposal that blurs them is hard to price. The scope of Seller Central management is wider than most brands expect, so it is worth deciding what you want handed over.
Then ask whether an agency is the right model at your size at all. A brand with a small catalogue and a capable marketer may be better served by a freelancer or a part-time hire, and the alternatives to hiring an Amazon PPC manager are worth a look before you commit. If you are weighing a full-time hire, the agency versus in-house for growing brands comparison sets out the trade-offs.
An agency is not a fix for a weak product, thin margins or a poor listing. It makes good economics work harder, and it cannot create them.
How Amazon PPC agencies charge, and what each fee model rewards
Every fee model pays the agency to do something slightly different from what you want. You want profitable growth. The model decides whether the agency’s interests line up with that or merely sit near it.
The four fee models and the incentive each one creates
- Fixed retainer. The agency is paid the same whatever happens, so it is rewarded for keeping you as a client and for keeping its own workload low. A good retainer agency still works hard to retain you. A poor one coasts.
- Percentage of ad spend. The agency earns more when you spend more. That is a problem when the extra pound of spend returns less than it costs, because your margin falls while the agency’s fee rises.
- Percentage of sales. The agency is rewarded for volume. Sales are easy to grow by cutting price or bidding aggressively, and neither is guaranteed to leave you with more profit.
- Hybrid. A base fee plus a bonus rewards whichever KPI the bonus is tied to. If that KPI is ACoS, expect ACoS to improve, even if it improves by retreating to branded terms.
AMZ Seller Assistant works on a performance-based fee model, which ties what the brand pays to results rather than to a flat monthly charge. The contract defines the exact basis, and brand owners should read that definition line by line, as they should with any agency. For the mechanics, see how performance-based agency fees are structured.
Whatever the model, one sentence in a proposal matters more than the rate: which sales figure the fee is calculated on.
Fee terms to pin down in writing before you sign
Ad-attributed sales, total sales and returns-netted sales can produce very different bills from the same month of trading, so ask the agency to name the figure and the definition in the contract. Four points need to be written down:
- The sales figure. A fee on ad-attributed sales can pay the agency for branded-search demand your brand already had. A fee on total sales can pay it for organic sales it never influenced.
- Returns. Ask whether returned orders are netted off. If they are not, you pay for sales that reversed.
- Media markup. Ask whether any margin is added to ad spend, and where it appears on the invoice.
- A sample month. Give the agency your own last month’s numbers and ask it to show the fee it would have charged.
The sample month is the fastest test. An agency that is comfortable with its terms will calculate it on the spot, and one that is not will say “it depends”. It also helps to hold the result against what Amazon PPC management costs in the UK, so you can see whether the total is reasonable for your budget.
Amazon DSP capability: what to verify beyond sponsored ads
Amazon DSP is usually used for remarketing, launch awareness and reach beyond search. Sponsored Products reaches shoppers who are already searching or comparing on Amazon. An agency that cannot separate those two jobs is a warning sign, because it will probably pitch DSP as “more of the same”.
If you are still deciding whether you need it, read when DSP makes sense next to sponsored ads first. Then test the agency on the points below.
Who holds the DSP access and how the spend is billed
Ask whether the agency runs DSP through its own access or through a third party. Both can work. The difference is that a third party adds another layer, and another layer usually adds cost.
Then ask which account the spend is billed to. If the media is billed to the agency and passed on to you, any margin on top changes what each pound of DSP spend really costs. A 10% margin on spend, for example, means only about 91p of every pound you pay reaches the media itself. You are entitled to see the markup as a line item, and you should expect the answer in writing.
How the agency plans, measures and briefs DSP campaigns
Attributed sales alone are a poor way to judge DSP, since it often reaches shoppers earlier in their decision. Ask the agency which of these it plans around and reports on:
- Remarketing audiences, such as shoppers who viewed your product and did not buy.
- New-to-brand customers, which show whether DSP is bringing in people who have not bought from you before.
- Reach and frequency, so you can see how many people were reached and how often.
- Incrementality, meaning an attempt to estimate sales that would not have happened without the campaign.
Ask also what it needs from you. DSP, and video in particular, depends on creative, and an agency should tell you early what assets it needs and who produces them.
The most revealing question is whether the agency will tell you not to run DSP. It is the wrong lever when your listing converts poorly, your margin cannot absorb awareness spend, or your catalogue is too small to feed remarketing audiences. An agency that never says no to DSP is selling it, not advising on it.
Account access transparency: what must stay in your hands
Whoever controls the accounts controls your exit. Agency relationships end, sometimes badly, and the brand needs to be able to walk away with its data, history and listings intact.
Ownership of the seller account, Brand Registry and advertising account
Your brand should own three things in its own name: the seller account, Brand Registry and the advertising account. The agency works inside them, but it should not own them or hold the only login.
Seller Central’s user permissions let the account holder add a named user with defined rights and remove that user later. That is why a shared password is the wrong approach. A shared password cannot be traced to a person, cannot be limited to the tasks the agency needs, and cannot be withdrawn without changing credentials for everybody. Named access can be audited and revoked in minutes.
Named-user permissions, reporting visibility and exit terms
Once ownership is settled, ask who sees what. You should expect the following as standard:
- Read access to the advertising console, so you can look at campaigns without asking for a screenshot.
- A raw data export, not just a polished monthly PDF.
- A record of bid and structure changes, so you can see what was altered and when.
- Exit terms that include a handover pack and the return of your data.
If the agency is reluctant on any of these, ask why. Reports that cannot be checked against the console are claims, not evidence.
Signs of a good Amazon agency
A credible agency asks questions before it quotes. Before proposing ACoS or TACoS targets, it wants your margin, your stock position and the health of your listings, because those numbers decide what the targets can be.
It also explains how it bids in plain terms. You should come away understanding why it raises or lowers bids, not just being told it uses “proprietary technology”.
They start from your margins, not from ACoS alone
ACoS is a ratio, and a ratio can be improved in ways that do not help you. A typical pattern: ACoS improves while total sales stay flat, because spend shifts onto branded search terms that would have converted anyway. Reading ACoS beside TACoS, which is total ad spend divided by total sales, exposes the gap.
So a good agency reports profit-linked KPIs next to ACoS and says openly when something else is holding performance back. That might be a listing with weak images, a price above the category norm or stock that keeps running out. It will also tell you when ads will not pay back at your margin, which is not what most agencies want to say before they have been hired.
Amazon PPC agency red flags to rule out early
Some signals are enough to end the conversation. Each of these can be tested against the proposal in front of you:
- A promised ROAS before it has seen your margins. Ask what return it would need to break even on your product. If it cannot answer, the number was a sales line.
- A request for your Seller Central password. Ask to be set up as a named user instead. A refusal tells you what you need to know.
- A long lock-in. Check the notice period and what happens to your data if you leave. Long terms protect the agency, not you.
- Reporting limited to clicks and impressions. Ask to see a sample report. If it has no sales, ACoS, TACoS or profit context, it is activity reporting.
- Fees or media markups it will not itemise. Ask for the sample-month calculation described earlier.
- DSP offered as a default. Ask when it would advise against DSP. Silence is the answer.
One red flag can be a misunderstanding. Three are a pattern.
Amazon agency vetting checklist: from discovery call to pilot
This section turns the earlier ones into a call script and a scoring method. After the call, score each written proposal from one to five on four things: fee transparency, access, DSP capability and reporting. Keep the scores side by side, because a charming presenter can make a weak proposal feel stronger than it is.
A score will not tell you which agency is best for your category, and it cannot replace a conversation about your own numbers. What it does is stop you choosing on personality.
Questions to ask an Amazon PPC agency on the discovery call
Use these in order, and write down the answers rather than relying on memory.
- Which sales figure is the fee calculated on, and are returns netted off?
- Is there any media markup, and can you calculate the fee on our last month’s numbers?
- Do you run DSP through your own access or a third party, and which account is billed?
- How do you judge DSP beyond attributed sales, and when would you advise against it?
- Will our brand own the seller account, Brand Registry and advertising account, with named-user access only?
- What reporting and raw data will we see, and what is in the handover pack if we leave?
- What do you need to know about our margin, stock and listings before you set targets?
Before signing, agree a pilot period and a 60- to 90-day review against KPIs set in advance. Fix those KPIs in writing, including the profit measure you care about, so that nobody redefines success afterwards.
Brand owners who want to test this checklist on a real proposal can start a conversation about fee structure, account-access model and DSP approach through AMZ Seller Assistant’s account management service.
Frequently asked questions
Is a percentage of ad spend a bad fee model for an Amazon PPC agency?
It is not automatically bad, but it rewards the agency for you spending more, not for you keeping more. If you choose it, set a spend ceiling and agree a profit-linked KPI alongside it. Without those, the agency’s income rises even when your margin falls.
Is it safe to give an agency my Seller Central password?
No. A shared password cannot be traced to a person, cannot be limited to certain tasks and can only be withdrawn by changing credentials for everyone. Add the agency as a named user with defined rights, then remove that user if the relationship ends.
Do I need Amazon DSP from day one?
Not usually. DSP suits remarketing, launch awareness and reach beyond search, and it needs a converting listing, a margin that can absorb awareness spend and creative assets. If those are not in place, fix them and focus on sponsored ads first.
How long should a pilot run before I judge an Amazon PPC agency?
A 60- to 90-day review against KPIs agreed in advance is a sensible window. That gives the agency time to restructure and optimise campaigns, and gives you enough data to see the effect on profit rather than ACoS alone.