How to choose an Amazon PPC agency in 2026
This guide is for founders and heads of e-commerce at Amazon brands that invest $15,000 or more a month in ads. It compares the kinds of provider you will meet and the ways they charge, then sets out the questions to ask before you sign and the signs that should make you pause.
The short answer
Choose the agency that will put sales and ROAS goals for a fixed date in writing before you pay, that will let you speak with the person who runs your account, and that shows its results with the ad spend beside them. Then look at how each agency is paid, because the way it earns its fee shapes what it will recommend to you.
Why the choice is difficult
The proposals on your desk may read alike. Each promises growth, each lists Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, and each shows a chart that rises. From the outside, an agency that makes your ad spend pay back can look the same as one that is simply good at spending it.
A wrong choice costs more than the fee. A season of ad spend invested on the wrong plan is hard to recover, and so are the months it takes to find out.
The kinds of provider you will meet
Amazon groups the firms in its Partner Network into agencies, which it describes as offering "hands-on management and optimization" of campaigns, and tool providers, which offer software. In practice, you are likely to meet five kinds of provider.
| Provider | Who does the work | How it is usually paid | It suits a brand that | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist Amazon PPC agency | A team that works only on Amazon ads | A percentage of ad spend, a flat monthly fee or a mix of the two | wants senior attention on its ads and runs listings and stock itself | Who runs the account each day, and whether goals are put in writing |
| Full-service Amazon agency | One firm that covers listings, creative, stock planning and ads | A larger monthly fee, and sometimes a share of sales | wants to hand over the whole Amazon channel | How much of the fee and the team's time goes to the ads |
| Large digital agency with an Amazon team | An Amazon team inside a firm that also runs search, social and websites | Often a tiered percentage of ad spend with a monthly minimum | already buys other marketing from that firm | How much Amazon experience the assigned team has |
| Freelancer | One person | An hourly rate or a flat monthly fee | invests less in ads and wants one direct contact | What happens when that person is away or busy with other clients |
| Software, sometimes with a service | A tool that changes bids and budgets by rules, at times with a person attached | A subscription, often with a percentage of ad spend above a threshold | has someone in-house to set the rules and judge the results | Who decides when a rule is wrong for your products |
How agencies charge
Three models cover most of what you will be offered. The first is a percentage of ad spend, usually with a monthly minimum. One specialist agency publishes 7% of ad spend or a minimum of $2,500 a month, and a large digital agency publishes a tiered schedule that runs from 15% of ad spend on smaller accounts down to 10% above $100,000 a month, each tier with its own minimum.
The second is a flat monthly fee for an agreed scope, whatever you invest in ads. Agencies that charge this way tend to set the figure after a call, and one states in its 2026 pricing guide that it takes no percentage of ad spend. The third is a hybrid of a base fee and a variable part. The same guide cites a published example of $2,000 a month plus 3% of Amazon sales above $10,000 a month.
Each model has a fair case, and the guide to agency pricing works out what each would charge at four levels of ad spend. Under all three, the question that matters most is the same: what rule decides when your ad spend goes up?
Questions to ask before you sign
- Who will run my account each day, and may I speak with that person before I sign? The senior person on the sales call is not always the person who makes the changes.
- Which goals will you commit to, in which numbers and by which date? A goal you can hold an agency to names a ROAS and a sales figure for a fixed day, and both sides agree it in writing before work begins.
- When will you raise my ad spend, and on what rule? A clear answer ties every increase to a return you have agreed, such as a ROAS goal.
- What access do you need? Amazon lets an account owner set each user's access to suit their role, so you need never share your own login, and the account stays in your name.
- What will I receive each week, and how much of my time will it take? It is reasonable to ask for a sample report before you decide.
- How do I leave, and with how much notice? The exit terms are easiest to agree before you need them.
- How were the results in your proposal measured? A fair result compares like months with like months and shows the change in ad spend beside it.
Signs that should make you pause
- Be careful with results that show sales without the ad spend that produced them, because sales bought with twice the spend are a different result.
- A before and after measured from an account's worst month, or across a seasonal peak with no comparison to the year before, will flatter almost any agency.
- A fee that rises with your ad spend deserves a written rule for when that spend should rise.
- An agency that asks for your Seller Central password, when a user invitation would do, is asking for more than it needs.
- A long commitment with no written goal leaves you nothing to measure the agency against.
- A partner badge is worth checking, and it is evidence of a different thing. Amazon describes its two partner status tiers, advanced and verified, as based on data provided through the Partner Network, so the badge tells you about the agency's standing with Amazon and little about what it will earn in your account.
How to read the numbers in a proposal
Amazon defines ROAS as the revenue from an ad campaign divided by the amount spent on it. A ROAS of 4 means each $1 invested in ads brought back $4 in sales. ACOS measures the same results the other way round, so an ACOS of 25% is a ROAS of 4.
ROAS counts revenue, and your profit depends on what you keep from each sale after Amazon's fees and the cost of the product. The ROAS goal you agree should therefore be set from your own margins, and an agency should be able to show you how it reached the figure.
You may also wish to ask for total sales, including those that did not come from ads. Ad sales can rise when ads take credit for buyers who would have found you anyway, and total sales show whether the business itself grew.
How Seller Performance answers these questions
We agree your sales and ROAS goals for day 90 from your own account, and you approve them in writing before you pay. We raise your ad spend only when it is meeting the ROAS goal we agreed, and we judge every change by your ROAS and your total sales. You speak with the person who would run your account.
Your first 90 days have one fixed price, which depends on your ad spend. We give it to you in dollars and in writing before you decide, and it does not rise if your spend rises during the 90 days.
A home decor brand in the United States had total sales from August to October 2026 that were 57% higher than in the same months of 2025, and units sold that were 53% higher. September and October are its Halloween season, which is why the comparison is with the year before.
An eight-figure supplement brand opened in Sweden in June 2026. Comparing its first two months with its latest two, ROAS rose from 2.33 to 2.74 while ad spend rose by 15%, and total sales rose by 45%.
If you prepay the 90 days and we miss the goals we agreed, we keep working for free until we hit them. The ad account stays yours. After the 90 days, you may continue month to month and leave with 30 days' written notice.
You give us access on the first day, and nothing else is asked of you afterward. We plan your first improvement for the first week. You receive a short note twice a week and a summary every Friday of what changed, what it earned and what comes next, and none of it needs a reply.
Should you wish to put these questions to us, the first step is a free 15-minute review at a time in the next three days. You share no access to your account beforehand.
Sources
- Amazon Ads Partner Network, Amazon Ads. How Amazon groups its partners into agencies and tool providers, and its partner directory.
- Introducing partner status, our global recognition program for ad partners, Amazon Ads, 28 April 2022. The two partner status tiers, advanced and verified, and what they are based on.
- Custom access controls in the advertising console, Amazon Ads, 22 April 2021. How an account owner can set each user's access to suit their role.
- What is return on ad spend? How to calculate ROAS, Amazon Ads. Amazon's definition and formula for ROAS, and its note that ROAS and ACOS measure the same results.
- Pricing, Clear Ads, pricing page. A published percentage of ad spend: 7% of ad spend or a minimum of $2,500 a month.
- PPC pricing plans for Amazon, WebFX, pricing page. A published tiered schedule: $975 flat up to $5,000 of ad spend, then the higher of a minimum or 15%, 12% and 10% of ad spend as spend rises.
- How much does an Amazon PPC agency cost in 2026?, PPC Jumpstart, updated 9 November 2026. An agency's own pricing guide. It describes flat monthly fees, percentages of ad spend and hybrids, and cites a published hybrid of $2,000 a month plus 3% of Amazon sales above $10,000 a month.