What an Amazon agency actually does, and when it's worth hiring one

An Amazon agency runs some or all of a brand's Amazon channel on the brand's behalf. At one end that's only the advertising. At the other it's the whole business: the Seller Central or Vendor Central account, the catalog, account health, inventory planning, promotions and every ad dollar. Most brands that ask "should we hire one?" are really asking where on that range they need help, and whether the help will earn more than it costs.

The scale is why the question keeps coming up. Amazon reported $19.6 billion of advertising services revenue in the third quarter of 2026, up 11% year over year, and said third-party sellers accounted for 61% of its worldwide paid units in the same quarter, according to its October 29, 2026 earnings release. A channel that size, with its own fee schedule, rulebook and ad auction, is a job, not a side task.

What does an Amazon agency do day to day?#

An Amazon agency's day-to-day work falls into four areas, and a full-service agency covers all four. An ads-only agency covers the last one.

The account. Seller Central (the brand sells to shoppers as a third-party seller) or Vendor Central (the brand sells wholesale to Amazon, which resells). The work is account health, policy compliance, case management with Seller Support, Brand Registry, and the paperwork Amazon asks for, such as the commercial liability insurance rule that took effect on November 2, 2026.

The catalog. Titles, bullets, images, A+ Content, variation structure and the backend attributes that decide which searches a product can show up for. It's also cleaning up listings other sellers have edited, and keeping the detail page accurate as packaging and formulas change.

Channel control. Who sells your product on Amazon, at what price, and whether you hold the Featured Offer. It's reseller mapping, minimum advertised price policy, and the demand planning that keeps inventory in stock without paying for months of storage, which matters more since Amazon's 2027 FBA fees, announced November 5, 2026, reset how storage is charged.

Advertising. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, plus Amazon's programmatic display, video and streaming TV buying. It's campaign structure, bids, budgets, negative keywords, Amazon Marketing Cloud analysis and the reporting that ties spend back to profit, not just to attributed sales.

What should stay with the brand?#

A brand that hires an Amazon agency should keep the decisions that define the business and hand over the work of running the channel. In practice that line looks like this:

The ownership row is the one people skip. An agency should never run your account from a login it created and holds. If you part ways, you should keep every account, every campaign and every report without asking anyone for anything.

How much does Amazon itself cost before an agency?#

Amazon's own fees come first, and an agency's fee sits on top. As of November 2026, Amazon's US pricing page lists the Professional selling plan at $39.99 a month, plus selling fees, and a referral fee on every sale that varies by category: 8% in some, 15% in many and more in a few, such as 20% on gift cards. Fulfillment by Amazon fees, storage fees and advertising come on top of that.

Amazon advertising services revenue, Q3 2026

$19.6BAmazon advertising services revenue, Q3 2026Up 11% year over year, per Amazon's 8-K

Third-party sellers' share of Amazon's worldwide paid units, Q3 2026

61%Third-party sellers' share of Amazon's worldwide paid units, Q3 2026Per Amazon's 8-K

Amazon Professional selling plan, per month, as of November 2026

$39.99Amazon Professional selling plan, per month, as of November 2026Plus selling fees, per Amazon's US pricing page

That stack is the context for judging any agency fee. An agency that wins back a point or two of margin through better pricing, fewer stockouts and less wasted ad spend has paid for itself on a large account. On a small one it may not have.

When is an Amazon agency worth hiring?#

An Amazon agency is worth hiring when the gap between how the channel is run today and how it could be run is bigger than the fee. Sell Through's read, from the accounts we take over, is that these five signs predict that gap better than revenue alone:

And the signs it isn't: one capable person already runs Amazon well and has time to do it, spend is small enough that a fee would eat most of any gain, or the real problem is the product or the price, which no agency can fix from the ad console.

Do Amazon's partner badges tell you which agency is good?#

Amazon's partner badges tell you an agency is engaged with Amazon's programs. They don't tell you it will grow your account. Amazon Ads describes its Partner Network as "a self-service hub for agencies and tool providers to manage their business relationships with Amazon Ads," and since April 2022 it has awarded partners one of "two tiers of status, advanced and verified, based on data provided through the Partner Network." Amazon names the criteria, such as product adoption and certification, but its partner-status pages don't publish numeric thresholds.

On the seller side, Amazon's Service Provider Network lists outside firms for work such as account management, advertising optimization, listings and FBA preparation. Amazon calls it "a one-stop shop of vetted third-party service providers," and says each provider sets its own prices.

Both are reasonable places to start a shortlist. Neither replaces three questions: who exactly will work on the account, can we speak to a brand you've run for more than a year, and can we see a real monthly report with the client's name removed.

How should a brand start with an agency?#

A brand should start an Amazon agency relationship with an audit and an agreed scorecard, before any budget moves. The audit shows where the account actually stands. The scorecard says what "working" means, and for most brands that's a total advertising cost of sale target set from real margin rather than a ROAS number, for the reasons in why ROAS is the wrong number for a consumables brand.

1. 01

   Grant access, not a login

   Add the agency as users with the permissions the work needs, in Seller Central or Vendor Central and in the Amazon Ads console. Keep the primary account yourself.

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2. 02

   Audit first

   Ask for findings on the account, catalog, channel control and ads before any recommendation on spend.

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3. 03

   Agree on the scorecard

   Pick three or four numbers, such as TACoS, profit after ads, in-stock rate and Featured Offer share, and the window you'll judge them over.

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4. 04

   Review monthly, decide quarterly

   Monthly reports keep both sides honest. Strategy changes need a quarter of data to judge, so make the big calls then.

The full list of what an audit should check is in what a retail media audit should actually check. If you're weighing an agency for the whole channel rather than ads alone, our Amazon page and our channel control and brand protection service show how we split the work.