What should I ask an Amazon PPC agency before hiring?

Ask how they set target ACoS, who manages your account day to day, how often bids and budgets change, what reports you get, how the fee is calculated and what the minimum term is. Strong agencies answer with specifics about your margins and a written plan for the first 30 days.

How do I know if a PPC agency is good?

Look for specific answers tied to your numbers, a named team, sample reports and flexible terms. Check references from brands of similar size and category. Be cautious of guaranteed rankings or ACoS figures before an audit, vague reporting and any request for your main login.

What does the check mark on an Amazon Ads partner profile mean?

Amazon Ads says the check mark on a partner directory profile means Amazon has verified at least two associates at that company with relevant product certification and recent campaign management activity. It shows training and activity, not results, so still interview the agency properly.

Should an agency guarantee results?

No reputable agency can guarantee rankings or a fixed ACoS, because auctions, competitors, stock and listings all change outcomes. It can commit to a process, response times, reporting and a review point. Treat guarantees made before anyone has seen your account as a warning sign.

How long should an Amazon PPC agency contract be?

Many agencies ask for an initial term, often around three months, so changes have time to show in the data, then move to month to month. Avoid long lock ins without a performance review point, and confirm the notice period and what happens to your campaigns if you leave.

Questions to Ask PPC Agency Partners: 25 Before You Hire

What changed: 25 interview questions for Amazon PPC agencies and consultants
When: Updated October 2026
Who it affects: Brand owners and sellers shortlisting PPC help
What to do: Ask every agency the same questions and score the answers in writing

Key takeaways

Ask every agency the same 25 questions and score the answers in writing.
The best answers tie targets to your margin after fees and name the people doing the work.
Never share your main login; keep ownership of accounts, data and campaign history.

The six question groups

Experience and fit
Strategy and targets
Campaign management
Team and communication
Reporting and access
Pricing and contract terms

Why the questions you ask matter more than the pitch

Agency sales calls are rehearsed. Case study slides, platform logos and dashboards look similar from one agency to the next. The difference shows up when you ask specific questions about your account and listen for specifics in return: how they set targets, what they would change first, and what happens to your data if you part ways.

Write the questions down before the call, ask every agency the same set, and take notes. Our guide on how to choose an Amazon agency turns those notes into a simple scorecard.

Questions about experience and fit (1 to 4)

Start by checking that the agency has run accounts like yours, not just accounts in general. A good answer names comparable categories, price points and ad spend levels, and admits where its experience is thin.

1. Which categories and price points do you manage most often?
2. What ad spend range do your typical accounts sit in?
3. Are you listed in the Amazon Ads partner directory, and with what status?
4. Why do clients leave you, and what did you learn from it?

Questions about strategy and targets (5 to 9)

This is the most important block. A strong agency sets targets from your margin, not from an industry average. It should ask about your landed cost, fees and price before quoting any ACoS goal, and it should talk about total sales and organic rank, not only ad metrics. If a target ACoS is promised before they have seen your numbers, treat it as a sales line. Our guides to what is a good ACoS and ACoS vs TACoS explain the maths to listen for.

5. How will you set target ACoS for each product?
6. How do you balance launch spend against profitability?
7. How do you split budget across Sponsored Products, Brands and Display?
8. How do you measure the effect of ads on organic rank?
9. What would you change in the first 30 days of my account?

Questions about campaign management (10 to 14)

Amazon describes Sponsored Products as a cost per click, auction based model where you set a maximum bid and pay only when a shopper clicks. That makes bid, budget and search term decisions the daily work of any PPC agency. Ask how often those decisions are made, by whom, and with what rules. Good answers describe a clear campaign structure, a regular negative keyword routine and how stock levels feed into bidding.

10. How do you structure campaigns, and why?
11. How often are bids and budgets changed, and by a person or software?
12. How do you find and add negative keywords?
13. What happens to ads when a product is close to stocking out?
14. How do you defend branded search terms from competitors?

Questions about the team and communication (15 to 18)

Many brands are sold by a senior strategist and serviced by a junior manager with dozens of accounts. Ask directly. A good agency tells you who the named people are, how many accounts each person handles and who covers holidays and sick days.

15. Who works on my account day to day, and what is their experience?
16. How many accounts does that person manage?
17. How often will we meet, and what will each meeting produce?
18. How fast do you respond to urgent issues such as a suppressed listing?

Questions about reporting and access (19 to 22)

You should own your accounts and your data. Seller Central lets the account owner add separate users with limited permissions, and Amazon Ads supports user access for agencies, so there is no reason to share your main login. Ask what you will see each week and month, and whether reports tie ad spend to total sales and profit.

19. What is in your weekly and monthly reports?
20. Can I see a sample report or dashboard before signing?
21. What access do you need, and will you use user permissions rather than my login?
22. If we part ways, what data and campaign history do I keep?

Questions about pricing and contract terms (23 to 25)

How an agency charges shapes what it optimises for. A percentage of ad spend rewards more spend; a share of sales rewards revenue even if margin falls; a flat fee removes both pulls. None is wrong, but you should know which you are buying. Our breakdown of Amazon agency cost compares the models in detail.

23. How is your fee calculated, and does it rise when ad spend rises?
24. What is the minimum term, and what is the notice period after it?
25. What is billed on top of the fee: setup, creative, tools?

What good and bad answers sound like

Good answers are specific to your account, mention your margins, name people and give dates. Weak answers lean on averages, guarantees and jargon. Be wary of any agency that guarantees a ranking position or an ACoS number before an audit, asks for your main Seller Central password, will not show a sample report, or locks you into a long contract with no performance review point.

It is also fair to ask the agency what it would need from you. Strong partners expect input on stock, launches and pricing, because ads cannot fix a listing that does not convert.

Green flag: targets tied to your margin after fees
Green flag: named team and a written 30 day plan
Red flag: guaranteed rank or ACoS before an audit
Red flag: asks for your main login
Red flag: no sample report, long lock in

Answers that tell you something

	Good answer	Red flag
Target ACoS	Set from your margin	Promised before audit
Team	Named people, set capacity	Vague, rotating staff
Access	User permissions	Asks for main login
Reporting	Sample shown upfront	No sample available
Terms	Review point, notice	Long lock in

How to run the interview, step by step

A structured process keeps the comparison fair and quick.

Shortlist three agencies from referrals and the Amazon Ads partner directory
Send your top questions in advance so answers are prepared
Share read only data or an audit so answers are specific
Score each answer from 1 to 5 in the same spreadsheet
Ask for the 30 day plan and fee in writing
Check references from brands of a similar size

1Shortlist
Three agencies from referrals and directory
2Prepare
Send questions in advance
3Score
Rate each answer 1 to 5
4Decide
Compare written plans and fees

Where PPC Spider fits

PPC Spider is an Amazon and marketplace agency, and we are happy to answer all 25 questions on a call. Our Amazon PPC management plans are flat fees from $995 a month, published on our agency pricing page, and target ACoS is set from each product's margin after fees. SpiderOS, our AI platform, monitors bids, budgets, search terms and stock. If you want to test us first, start with a free Amazon audit.

Sources

Amazon Ads: Frequently asked questions (advertising.amazon.com/resources/faq)
Amazon Ads: Partner Network (advertising.amazon.com/partners)
Canopy Management: Top 10 questions to ask your Amazon PPC consultant (canopymanagement.com/questions-to-ask-amazon-ppc-consultant/)

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