9 Signs Your Amazon Agency Isn’t Working

Most brands don’t decide to leave an agency in one moment. It builds. The reports keep looking fine, the bill keeps coming, and the business doesn’t feel any different. Here are the signs we hear about most from owners on their first call with us.

1. Ad spend keeps rising, and revenue doesn’t

The agency’s answer to every problem is more budget. If TACoS is climbing and sales are flat, the ads are covering for something else. See why ad spend keeps rising while sales stay flat.

2. The reports show ROAS, not profit

You get dashboards full of ad metrics but nobody can tell you profit per product after fees and cost of goods. Reporting you can’t reconcile against your books isn’t reporting.

3. Branded campaigns carry the results

The best-looking numbers come from people searching your own brand name, who were going to buy anyway. See branded vs. incremental sales.

4. You can’t name who works on your account

New account manager every few months, and each one has to relearn your catalog. If you can’t name the people doing the work, that’s a problem.

5. Unauthorized sellers aren’t on their radar

Strangers are undercutting your price on your own listing, and the agency treats it as outside its scope. Price control affects every other number they report. See how to remove unauthorized sellers.

6. There’s no sequence

Every month is a list of tasks with no clear order or goal. A good agency can tell you what it’s doing first and why.

7. You don’t own the accounts or the work

The ad account, Brand Registry or creative files sit with the agency. That makes leaving harder than it should be.

8. You find out about problems before they do

Suppressed listings, stockouts or a new seller undercutting you, and you’re the one who noticed. See why your listing is suppressed.

9. The contract is doing the work

The main reason you’re still together is the lock-in or the exit fee, not the results.

What to do about it

Have the direct conversation first. Ask for profit by product, the names of the people on your account, a written plan for the next 90 days, and what they’re doing about unauthorized sellers. A good agency will answer quickly.

If the answers aren’t there, plan the exit. Secure ownership of your accounts, export your data and creative, and overlap with the next agency so nothing goes dark. See how to switch Amazon agencies.

Choose the next one differently. See 15 questions to ask an Amazon agency and how agency pricing shapes results.

Frequently asked questions

Written by

Troy Marchand, CEO

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