Choosing a marketplace agency is harder than choosing an SEO agency for one reason: this agency gets access to your product, your account and your cost structure. A bad choice costs more than the fees — it can cost a suspended account or a batch of stock sitting in a warehouse.
Below are twelve questions worth asking before signing, and the answers that should give you pause.
On experience
1. Which platforms have you worked on, and in which categories? Amazon experience does not transfer to Etsy automatically — the mechanics differ. "All of them" without specifics is a warning.
2. Show me the case closest to my product. Not a client logo wall but an actual project: category, starting point, what was done, what result over what period. A case without numbers or timeframes is a warning.
3. What did you do when a project did not work? The single most informative question. An agency where "every project succeeded" is either new or not being straight with you.
On account control
4. Whose name is the seller account and the brand registered under? The right answer is yours. An account and Brand Registry held by the agency mean you cannot leave and take your business with you. This is the most dangerous item on the list. Details in Amazon Brand Registry.
5. Who has access, and how is it granted? Access should be per-person, not a shared password. When the engagement ends, access is revoked rather than left in place.
6. What do I keep if we part ways? Listings, photography, keyword research, campaigns, reports — these are your assets. Agree it before the start, not at the exit.
On money and results
7. What is included and what is billed separately? Photography, translation, advertising and platform fees are the lines that most often turn out to be outside the contract.
8. How do you measure results? Working metrics: sales, ACoS, listing conversion, inventory turnover. Reporting activity counts instead of outcomes is a warning.
9. What is a realistic timeline to first sales? An honest answer is one to three months depending on category and budget. "Sales from week one" means either misunderstanding or selling expectations.
10. Who pays for advertising and how do I see the spend? The ad budget should be yours and transparent. You want console access, not figures in a slide deck.
On process
11. Who specifically runs the account, and how many other clients do they have? The people in the pitch are frequently not the people doing the work. Asking about workload is uncomfortable and saves a quarter.
12. How often will I get reporting, and in what form? Minimum: a monthly report with numbers and a plan for the next period. The working version is console access plus a short weekly exchange.
Red flags
Guaranteed rankings or sales. Nobody controls the platform's algorithm. Scope of work can be guaranteed; outcomes cannot.
Account or brand held by the agency. The reason businesses lose the channel entirely.
Refusing to give you console access. If you cannot see ad spend directly, you cannot verify it.
Offers to "arrange reviews" or other grey tactics. These violate platform policy, and the suspension lands on you, not the agency.
No questions about your economics. An agency that did not ask about cost and margin cannot manage advertising sensibly.
What to prepare on your side
Before the conversation, have: calculated unit economics, a goal expressed in numbers, a realistic budget split between stock and advertising, and a decision on who owns logistics.
Without those any agency is guessing, and you cannot judge whether their proposal is reasonable. The calculation method is in unit economics for marketplace products.
Frequently asked questions
What does management cost?
The range is wide and depends on scope. What matters more than the figure is what it includes and how results are measured.
Fixed fee or percentage of sales?
Both work. A percentage aligns incentives but requires transparent accounting. A fixed fee is more predictable at launch, when there are no sales yet.
Can I hire a freelancer instead?
You can, and for a single platform it is often cheaper. The risk is holidays, illness and no backup.
How do I know the agency is working?
You see changes in the console, not only in the report.
What if there are no results after three months?
Ask which hypotheses were tested and what the data showed. No answer is not a patience problem — it means no work happened.
Next steps
Our marketplace work is described under marketplace marketing, with platform-specific detail in Amazon promotion, Etsy promotion and eBay promotion.
If you would like to put these twelve questions to us, get in touch via contact Top Team.
