How to Vet an Amazon Advertising Agency (Without Getting Burned)

Most brands hire an Amazon advertising agency based on case studies, testimonials, and pricing. Six months later, they’re locked into a contract with mediocre results, zero transparency, and no clear path to improvement.

The problem isn’t that agencies are bad—many are excellent. The problem is that most brands don’t know how to vet them. They evaluate agencies the way they’d evaluate any vendor: features, pricing, references. But agency relationships aren’t vendor relationships. They’re partnerships. And bad partnerships cost you 6–12 months of momentum, $30K–$100K+ in fees, and the opportunity cost of not fixing the real bottleneck in your advertising.

At $10M+ in revenue, choosing the wrong agency doesn’t just waste money—it caps your growth. You need a framework that separates agencies that drive results from agencies that just look good on sales calls.

This post walks through the exact due diligence process top brands use to evaluate Amazon advertising agencies. If you’re considering hiring an agency, use this as your vetting checklist. If you skip these steps, you’re gambling—not making an informed decision.

The Core Problem: Most Brands Optimize for the Wrong Things

When brands evaluate agencies, they typically focus on:

• Case studies: Did they grow revenue for Brand X by 200%?
• Pricing: What’s the monthly fee or percentage of ad spend?
• References: What do other clients say about them?
• Team size: How many people will work on our account?

These factors matter. But they’re not predictive of whether an agency will actually deliver for your business.

Here’s what actually matters:

• Transparency: Will you have full visibility into campaign structure, performance, and decision-making?
• Incentive alignment: Does the agency’s revenue model align with your profitability goals?
• Account-level expertise: Can they diagnose the specific structural issues in your account—not just run generic best practices?
• Knowledge transfer: Are they building your internal capability or creating vendor lock-in?
• Exit strategy: Can you transition away from the agency without losing all campaign data and institutional knowledge?

Most brands don’t ask these questions during the sales process. Then they’re surprised when the agency operates like a black box, optimizes for metrics that don’t matter, or makes it impossible to leave.

The shift: Stop vetting agencies like vendors. Start vetting them like long-term partners. The questions you ask in the first 30 days determine whether you’ll be happy with the relationship 6 months from now.

The Vetting Framework: 7 Questions That Separate Good Agencies from Bad Ones

Here’s the framework top brands use to evaluate Amazon advertising agencies. These questions are designed to surface red flags before you sign a contract.

Question #1: “Can You Audit Our Account and Present Your Findings Before We Sign?”

Why this matters:

Any agency can show you case studies and promise results. But can they diagnose the specific structural issues in your account? This question forces them to prove their expertise before you commit.

What to look for in their response:

• Good agencies will: Request read-only access to your Seller Central or Advertising Console, spend 2–5 hours auditing your account, and present a detailed findings report with specific recommendations.
• Bad agencies will: Decline to audit (“we can’t do that until you’re a client”), provide generic recommendations without seeing your account, or present surface-level observations that could apply to any brand.

Red flags:

• They won’t audit without a signed contract (means they’re not confident in their ability to add value)
• Their audit is just a list of generic best practices (“you should use negative keywords,” “try Sponsored Brands”)
• They promise specific outcomes without understanding your account (“we’ll cut your ACOS by 50%” before seeing any data)

What a good audit includes:

• Campaign structure analysis (keyword cannibalization, duplicate targeting, budget allocation issues)
• Performance benchmarking (how your metrics compare to category averages)
• Waste identification (where you’re burning budget on low-performing keywords or campaigns)
• Prioritized recommendations (what to fix first, what can wait)

Action: Don’t sign with any agency that won’t audit your account first. If they’re confident in their expertise, they’ll prove it before asking for a commitment.

Question #2: “Will We Have Direct Access to Campaign Data and Performance Dashboards?”

Why this matters:

Many agencies operate as black boxes. They manage your account, send you monthly reports, and expect you to trust that they’re making good decisions. This creates vendor lock-in—you can’t evaluate their performance independently, and you can’t transition to another agency or in-house without losing all institutional knowledge.

What to look for in their response:

• Good agencies will: Give you read-only access to your Advertising Console, provide real-time dashboards (Looker Studio, Tableau, or custom reporting), and explain exactly what they’re tracking and why.
• Bad agencies will: Restrict access to campaign data (“we manage that internally”), only provide monthly PDF reports, or claim proprietary tooling prevents data sharing.

Questions to ask:

• “Can we log into Seller Central and see campaign structure, keyword targeting, and bid history at any time?”
• “What reporting do we get, and how often? (Weekly, monthly, real-time?)”
• “If we part ways, do we keep all campaign data, keyword lists, and historical performance records?”
• “Do you build campaigns in our Seller Central account or in a separate advertising platform?”

Red flags:

• They won’t give you direct access to your own account (this is your data—you should always have visibility)
• They claim proprietary software prevents data sharing (translation: they’re creating lock-in)
• They only provide summary reports without underlying data (you can’t verify their work)

Non-negotiable: You should be able to fire the agency tomorrow and have everything you need to run PPC in-house or hand it to a new partner. If that’s not possible, they’ve built a dependency—not a partnership.

Question #3: “How Does Your Fee Structure Work, and How Do Incentives Align with Our Goals?”

Why this matters:

Most agencies charge one of three ways: percentage of ad spend, flat monthly retainer, or performance-based fees. Each model creates different incentives—and not all of them align with your profitability goals.

Common fee structures:

1. Percentage of Ad Spend (10–15%)

• How it works: You pay 10–15% of monthly ad spend. If you spend $50K/month, the agency earns $5K–$7.5K.
• Incentive alignment: Poor. Agency revenue increases when ad spend increases—even if profitability decreases.
• When it works: When you’re scaling aggressively and willing to trade margin for growth. Not ideal for brands focused on profitability.

2. Flat Monthly Retainer ($5K–$20K+)

• How it works: Fixed monthly fee regardless of ad spend.
• Incentive alignment: Better. Agency isn’t incentivized to increase spend, but they’re also not penalized for improving efficiency.
• When it works: Best for brands with stable ad spend looking for consistent management and optimization.

3. Performance-Based (Base Fee + Bonus)

• How it works: Lower base fee ($3K–$10K) plus bonus tied to profitability metrics (TACOS improvement, contribution margin growth).
• Incentive alignment: Best. Agency earns more when you become more profitable.
• When it works: Ideal for brands who want true partnership and are willing to structure creative compensation. Rare—most agencies don’t offer this.

The key question to ask:

“If our ad spend decreases by 20% but our profitability improves, how does that affect your fee?”

If their revenue goes down when your profitability goes up, incentives aren’t aligned. You want an agency that gets paid more when you become more profitable—not when you spend more.

Red flag: Any agency that refuses to discuss alternative fee structures or insists on percentage-of-spend regardless of your goals. They’re optimizing for their revenue, not your profitability.

Question #4: “Who Will Actually Manage Our Account, and Can We Talk to Them?”

Why this matters:

You’re evaluating the agency based on the senior strategist on the sales call. But in many agencies, that person won’t touch your account. Instead, you’ll be assigned to a junior account manager with 6 months of experience who’s managing 15 other clients.

What to look for:

• Good agencies will: Introduce you to your actual account manager during the sales process, explain their experience and client load, and give you direct access to them before you sign.
• Bad agencies will: Keep the account manager anonymous until after you sign, avoid questions about experience level, or rotate your account through multiple people in the first 6 months.

Questions to ask:

• “Can I meet the person who will actually manage our account before we sign?”
• “How many accounts does our account manager currently handle?”
• “What’s their experience level and tenure with the agency?”
• “If our account manager leaves, how does the transition work?”

Red flags:

• They won’t tell you who your account manager is until after you sign
• Your account manager is managing 20+ accounts (means you’ll get minimal attention)
• They’ve had high turnover in the last 12 months (means your account will churn through multiple managers)

Action: Insist on meeting your actual account manager before signing. If they’re uncomfortable with that, they’re planning to bait-and-switch you.

Question #5: “What’s Your Process for Campaign Strategy and Decision-Making?”

Why this matters:

You need to understand how the agency makes decisions. Are they running a repeatable playbook that’s proven across dozens of accounts? Or are they winging it based on gut feel and generic best practices?

What to look for:

• Good agencies will: Walk you through their strategic framework, explain how they diagnose issues, show you their decision-making criteria for budget allocation and bid management, and share examples of how they’ve applied this process to similar accounts.
• Bad agencies will: Give vague answers (“we optimize based on data”), rely on proprietary black-box algorithms they won’t explain, or promise they’ll figure it out once they start managing your account.

Questions to ask:

• “How do you decide which campaigns to prioritize for optimization?”
• “What’s your process for keyword research and negative keyword management?”
• “How do you balance short-term profitability with long-term growth?”
• “Can you show me an example campaign structure you’d recommend for a brand like ours?”

What good answers sound like:

• “We segment campaigns by intent: branded, exact match proven keywords, broad discovery, and product launch. Each has different ACOS targets and optimization cadences.”
• “We run weekly search term reports and negative anything that hasn’t converted in 60 days or exceeds ACOS threshold by 50%.”
• “We track TACOS, not just ACOS, because we optimize for total account profitability—not just ad-attributed revenue.”

Red flag: If they can’t clearly articulate their process or show you examples of how they’ve applied it, they don’t have a proven methodology—they’re learning on your dime.

Question #6: “How Do You Handle Communication and Reporting?”

Why this matters:

The single biggest complaint about agencies is poor communication. You send a question on Monday. You get a response on Friday—maybe. Or you only hear from them during monthly review calls, and they go radio silent the rest of the time.

What to look for:

• Good agencies will: Define communication cadence upfront (weekly updates, monthly strategy calls), set response time expectations (24–48 hours for email, same-day for urgent issues), and give you multiple channels to reach them (Slack, email, scheduled calls).
• Bad agencies will: Keep communication vague (“we’ll stay in touch”), only schedule quarterly check-ins, or make you chase them for updates.

Questions to ask:

• “How often will we have calls, and what format do they take?” (Weekly tactical? Monthly strategic?)
• “What’s your typical response time for questions or urgent issues?”
• “What reporting do we receive, and how often?” (Real-time dashboards? Weekly summaries? Monthly deep dives?)
• “Can we reach you outside of scheduled calls if something urgent comes up?”

Test this during the sales process:

• Send a detailed question via email and see how long it takes them to respond
• Ask for clarification on something they said and gauge their patience and thoroughness
• See if they proactively follow up or if you have to chase them

Remember: Their behavior during the sales process is their best behavior. If they’re slow or unresponsive now, it only gets worse after you sign.

Question #7: “What Happens If We Want to Leave?”

Why this matters:

No one asks this question because it feels adversarial. But it’s the most important question. A good agency will make it easy to leave because they’re confident you won’t want to. A bad agency will make it nearly impossible because they’ve built lock-in.

What to look for:

• Good agencies will: Have 30–90 day termination clauses, provide full campaign data and documentation upon exit, and offer transition support to ensure continuity.
• Bad agencies will: Lock you into 12-month contracts with no early termination, withhold campaign data after you leave, or make it impossible to export historical performance records.

Questions to ask:

• “What’s the contract length and termination clause?”
• “If we decide to part ways, what data and documentation do we keep?”
• “Do you provide transition support to help us move to another agency or in-house?”
• “Are campaigns built in our Seller Central or in a separate platform you control?”

Red flags:

• 12-month contracts with no early termination option
• They claim to “own” campaign data or strategy documentation
• They build campaigns in their own advertising platform instead of your Seller Central

Non-negotiable: You should be able to fire the agency with 30–90 days notice and have everything you need to transition smoothly. If they’re creating dependencies that make it hard to leave, that’s a business model problem—not a partnership.

The Reference Check: What to Ask Former (and Current) Clients

Most brands ask for references and accept generic testimonials at face value. That’s not a reference check—it’s a rubber stamp.

Here’s how to actually vet an agency through references:

Questions to ask current clients:

• “How responsive is your account manager? Do you get answers within 24–48 hours?”
• “Do you have full visibility into campaign data and performance, or is it a black box?”
• “What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had working with them, and how did they handle it?”
• “Would you recommend them to a brand at our stage and scale?”

Questions to ask former clients (if you can find them):

• “Why did you leave?”
• “Was it easy to transition away, or did they make it difficult?”
• “If you had to do it over again, would you hire them?”

How to find former clients:

• Check the agency’s website for case studies and testimonials from 2–3 years ago. Google those brands and see if they’re still clients.
• Look at the agency’s team on LinkedIn—if they’ve had high turnover, track down former employees and ask about their experience.
• Join Amazon seller communities (Facebook groups, Reddit, forums) and ask if anyone has worked with the agency.

Red flag: If all the references are glowing with zero criticism, they’re either cherry-picked or coached. Good references will mention challenges the agency had to overcome—that’s more credible than “everything was perfect.”

Red Flags That Should Disqualify an Agency Immediately

Some red flags are deal-breakers—no matter how good the agency looks on paper. If you see any of these, walk away:

Red Flag #1: They Promise Specific Results Before Seeing Your Account

Examples: “We’ll cut your ACOS by 50% in 60 days,” “We’ll double your revenue in 90 days,” “We guarantee a 300% ROAS.”

No competent agency makes guarantees without understanding your account, category, competition, and margin structure. If they’re promising outcomes without data, they’re either lying or reckless.

Red Flag #2: They Won’t Share Campaign Data or Performance Dashboards

If an agency claims proprietary tools prevent data sharing, or they restrict access to your own Seller Central account, they’re creating vendor lock-in. This is a business model, not a technical limitation.

Walk away. You should always have full visibility into your advertising data.

Red Flag #3: They Require 12-Month Contracts with No Early Termination

Long contracts with no exit clause signal that the agency isn’t confident you’ll want to stay voluntarily. They’re forcing commitment because they know results might not justify renewal.

Look for 30–90 day termination clauses. Good agencies earn your business every month—they don’t trap you into staying.

Red Flag #4: They’re Evasive About Who Will Manage Your Account

If they won’t introduce your account manager before you sign, or they keep changing the subject when you ask about team experience, they’re planning a bait-and-switch.

Insist on meeting your actual account manager before signing. If they refuse, walk away.

Red Flag #5: They Don’t Track TACOS or Contribution Margin

If an agency only optimizes for ACOS and doesn’t track TACOS (total advertising cost of sales) or contribution margin, they’re optimizing for the wrong outcome.

At $10M+ revenue, you need an agency that understands business-level profitability—not just campaign-level metrics.

The Final Test: Trust Your Gut (But Verify with Data)

After you’ve gone through the vetting framework, there’s one more filter: Does this feel like a partnership or a vendor relationship?

Ask yourself:

• Did they ask thoughtful questions about your business, or did they just pitch their services?
• Were they transparent about what they can and can’t do, or did they oversell?
• Did they challenge your assumptions, or did they just agree with everything you said?
• Do you feel like they understand your business, or are they treating you like every other client?

Good agencies push back. They tell you when your expectations are unrealistic. They ask hard questions. They make you think.

Bad agencies agree with everything, promise the world, and make it feel effortless. That’s a sales pitch, not a partnership.

Trust your gut—but verify with data. If something feels off, it probably is.

The Bottom Line: Vet for Partnership, Not Promises

Hiring an Amazon advertising agency is one of the most important decisions you’ll make at $10M+ revenue. Choose right, and you’ll accelerate growth, improve profitability, and free up bandwidth to focus on strategic priorities. Choose wrong, and you’ll waste 6–12 months, $30K–$100K+, and the opportunity cost of not addressing the real bottleneck.

The vetting framework:

• Question #1: Can they audit your account and present findings before you sign?
• Question #2: Will you have direct access to campaign data and dashboards?
• Question #3: How does their fee structure align with your profitability goals?
• Question #4: Who will actually manage your account, and can you talk to them?
• Question #5: What’s their process for strategy and decision-making?
• Question #6: How do they handle communication and reporting?
• Question #7: What happens if you want to leave?

If an agency passes these seven questions, check references, watch for red flags, and trust your gut. If they fail on any two, walk away—there are always other agencies.

The brands that scale profitably past $10M don’t hire the first agency that sounds good. They do rigorous due diligence, ask hard questions, and choose partners who align with their long-term goals—not vendors who promise quick wins.

At AmzCentric, we welcome this level of scrutiny. We audit accounts before engagement, provide full transparency into campaign data, align our fees with your profitability, and make it easy to leave if we’re not delivering value. If you’re evaluating agencies and want to put us through this framework, we’d be happy to walk through it with you.

But whether you work with us or not, use this vetting framework. The 10 hours you invest in due diligence will save you 6–12 months of regret.