Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Amazon PPC Freelancer or Agency

This one’s for a specific reader: you’ve already been running your own Amazon PPC and operations, and it’s become enough of a time sink that you want to hand the manual part off so you can focus on the rest of the business. You’re not starting from zero — you already know the work well enough to know it needs to come off your plate. The question is who you hand it to, and what to actually ask them before you do.

Short answer: ask about the specific person who’ll manage your account (not just the company’s track record), how many accounts they’re currently juggling, what their process and reporting actually look like, exactly how they’re priced and for how long you’re locked in, and for case-study detail rather than headline numbers. Then check your own side too — realistic expectations, product data ready to hand over, and enough stock to actually sell into any growth.

If you haven’t yet decided whether you want a freelancer or an agency in the first place, I’ve covered that trade-off separately in Freelancer vs. Agency. This article assumes you’ve made that call, or are close to it, and picks up from “okay, now what do I actually ask them.”

Start with who’s actually doing the work

Ask about experience at two levels: the company’s overall track record, and — separately — the specific person who’ll be on your account day to day. These aren’t the same thing.

With an agency, account managers are hit or miss, and you often don’t find out who you’re actually dealing with until after you’ve signed. You’re mostly taking the word of whoever ran the sales call. With a freelancer, this is simpler by construction — you’re speaking directly to the person who’ll do the work, so there’s no gap between the pitch and the delivery.

Whichever route you’re leaning towards, ask how many accounts that specific person currently manages. As a rough benchmark: a dedicated PPC manager with decent processes and tooling can reasonably handle around 15 accounts, and an operations-only brand manager somewhere around 12–15. Freelancers vary more, because scope per client varies more — someone might carry only around 8 accounts total if each one is full-scope (PPC plus operations, shipments, listings, content), rather than PPC-only. Account count on its own tells you nothing without knowing what sits behind each account — 8 full-scope clients can be a heavier load than 15 PPC-only ones.

Process, communication, and reporting

Ask about their process for two reasons: to judge whether it’s actually good, and to find out what it expects from you. Some processes assume the client handles certain pieces — creating shipments, for instance — so get that split laid out from day one rather than discovering it later.

On communication, agree the channel and the cadence up front. Agencies commonly run on Slack; freelancers (myself included) more often work over Upwork or email, though Slack works fine too. Whatever the channel, expect weekly check-ins for the first 2–4 weeks while there’s genuine setup activity, then settle into something steadier: biweekly or monthly is usually enough for PPC-only work, since week to week there isn’t much to report. If operations are in scope, especially at scale, weekly can stay necessary for longer.

Ask what reporting actually looks like in practice. I give clients a live dashboard they can open and adjust date ranges on whenever they like, backed by a monthly call to go through the full picture together. Freelancer reporting tends to be simpler by default, because one person owns the whole relationship end to end. Agency reporting can get more fragmented once PPC and operations sit with two different people or teams — worth asking directly how (or whether) that gets pulled into one coherent view for you.

One specific thing to ask of any report: which campaigns are actually producing the headline ACOS. A catch-all campaign — a low-bid auto running the entire catalogue — reliably flatters a blended account number while doing nothing for rank, so a report worth having separates that traffic out rather than folding it into one figure.

Cost, scope, and contract terms

Pricing structures differ meaningfully between the two:

Pure rev share is genuinely hard on a smaller account — you’re often paying at least £1,000/month before any real Amazon spend, which is difficult to make profitable without a solid growth plan and decent cash flow behind it. Retainer plus rev share can bring your base cost down until growth actually shows up, but it’s worth knowing that the rev share element mostly motivates the agency at ownership level — the individual account manager or PPC manager actually doing the work typically sees none of that upside unless there’s an internal bonus scheme. And the further an account scales, the more likely ongoing rev share ends up costing more than an in-house hire would — worth running that comparison yourself as volume grows, not just trusting it stays cheap.

On scope: most agencies are full-service by default, and that’s spelled out clearly in the contract and the sales pitch. With freelancers it varies a lot more — ask explicitly whether operational work is included or whether it’s PPC only.

On contract terms: freelancers, especially via a platform like Upwork, often don’t have a formal contract at all — just the platform’s basic terms for an hourly, weekly, or monthly arrangement, and you can typically end it whenever. Agencies more commonly lock you in for a minimum of 3 months with a month’s notice to leave. That’s not automatically a red flag — real Amazon growth can genuinely take longer than 3 months depending on where the account is starting from — but go in knowing the commitment rather than being surprised by it.

Case studies, and who’s actually managing your account

Don’t settle for headline numbers on case studies. Ask for the actual detail: what they did, how they did it, and what specific strategy was behind the result. And check the category match — success in one niche doesn’t automatically transfer to another. What worked for a pet product brand isn’t necessarily the formula for a supplement brand; the operational and PPC dynamics differ enough between categories that a generic case study tells you less than it looks like it does.

If you’re going the agency route, ask to speak directly with the actual account manager and advertising manager before you sign anything — not just the salesperson. I’ve seen this pattern play out with past clients more than once: someone joins an agency, ends up unhappy with the specific person assigned to their account, and that colours their view of the whole engagement, even when the underlying strategy might have been perfectly sound. Salespeople will naturally tell you you’re getting the best people in the building, but the best people can’t realistically be on every account — without solid internal training and progression, account quality varies more than the pitch suggests. Worth naming separately: language barriers are a real, distinct issue too. Someone can be fully competent technically and still struggle to build rapport or get their personality across across a language gap — that’s worth checking for on its own terms, not as a proxy for competence.

Before you start: check your own side too

A few things worth being honest with yourself about before you even start this process:

• Expectations. Salespeople, agency side especially, often pitch big projections backed by flashy case-study content. What worked for one brand isn’t automatically achievable for yours — anchor expectations to your own brand’s actual position, not the pitch deck.
• Your product, objectively. It’s genuinely hard to see your own product’s flaws clearly. Newer brands are often priced higher or carrying fewer reviews than established competitors — that’s a starting-position issue, not a sign the freelancer or agency isn’t doing their job.
• Timeline. Ask about realistic timelines up front, and don’t expect meaningful movement inside 30 days.
• Your data. Have product information ready to hand over — dimensions, barcodes, cost of goods, everything needed for whoever you hire to actually understand your profitability. This isn’t optional for Amazon work.
• Your stock. Make sure you’ve actually got enough of it. Running out of stock early is one of the most common real-world causes of stalled growth — and you’ll still be paying for PPC help that has nothing to sell into.

FAQ

Is it normal for freelancers not to have a contract?

Yes, if you’re working through a platform like Fiverr or Upwork — you’ll have the platform’s basic terms rather than anything in-depth. On Upwork specifically, you’re still protected on payments, and there are dispute centres if anything goes wrong.

How long should I expect to wait before hiring help pays off?

Don’t measure it purely by account growth in that window — factor in the time you get back and what you do with it elsewhere in the business. As a rough guide, give it at least 3 months. You should see an upward trajectory within 30–45 days, though it may only be marginal at that point, since a lot of the early work is building rankings or restructuring the advertising account.

Should I go with rev share, a flat retainer, or both?

Pure rev share can be genuinely hard on smaller companies — often at least £1,000/month minimum before any actual Amazon spend, which is difficult to make profitable without a solid growth plan and decent cash flow. Retainer plus rev share can lower your base cost until growth shows up, but the rev share element mainly motivates the agency at ownership level, not necessarily the person managing your account day to day. As an account scales, ongoing rev share can eventually cost more than an in-house hire — worth running that math as you grow.

How many accounts should a good PPC person be managing?

Roughly: a dedicated PPC manager with good processes and tools can handle around 15 accounts, and an operations-only brand manager around 12–15. Freelancers vary more by scope per client — someone might carry only around 8 accounts total if each is full-scope (PPC plus operations) rather than PPC-only. The number alone doesn’t tell you much without knowing the scope behind each account.

Does the freelancer or agency need experience in my exact category?

It matters more than headline case-study numbers suggest. Ask for the detail behind any case study, not just the result, and check it’s category-relevant — success in one niche doesn’t transfer automatically to another, since operational and PPC dynamics differ significantly by category.

What should I have ready before I start working with someone?

Your product information — dimensions, barcodes, cost of goods, everything needed for them to understand your actual profitability — and enough stock to sell into. Running out of stock early is one of the most common causes of stalled growth, and you’ll still be paying for help that has nothing to sell.