Your Amazon agency is working if, after 90 days, your net profit is up, your TACOS is trending down, and your organic sales share is growing. Not your ad sales. Not your ACOS. Not the number of tasks in the monthly report. If profit is flat and the agency is still showing you charts, it is not working.

That is the short answer. Below is the test I would run on any agency, including mine.

Why is it so hard to tell if an agency is working?

Because most agencies control what you see.

They pick the metrics in the report. They pick the time frame. They lead with ad sales and ACOS, because those are the numbers ads can always make look good. Spend more, sell more, report "growth."

Meanwhile the numbers that matter to you as an owner (profit, cash, organic rank) sit in a different part of Seller Central that the report never touches.

So stop reading the report. Pull the numbers yourself.

What 7 numbers should I check?

Compare the 90 days before the agency started to the most recent 90 days. If you are in Q4, compare year over year so seasonality does not fool you.

• 1. Net profit per month. Reports > Payments > Date Range Reports, minus your landed product cost. This is the only number that pays you. If it is flat or down while revenue grows, something is broken.
• 2. TACOS trend. Total ad spend divided by total sales (Business Reports > Sales and Traffic). It should go down over time as organic grows. If it only goes up, the agency is renting you sales, not building a brand.
• 3. Organic share of sales. Total sales minus ad-attributed sales, divided by total sales. A good agency grows this. A bad one shrinks it.
• 4. Organic rank on your top 10 keywords. Brand Analytics > Search Query Performance shows impression, click and purchase share per query. Purchase share going up on your core keywords is the clearest sign of real progress.
• 5. Conversion rate per ASIN. Business Reports > Detail Page Sales and Traffic by Child Item > Unit Session Percentage. If nobody has touched your listings in 90 days, this number will tell you.
• 6. Fees per unit. The Fee Preview report. Has anyone checked size tiers and fee categories? With Amazon moving some ASINs to new fee categories from October 31, 2026, this matters right now.
• 7. Wasted ad spend. Search Term Report, last 60 days. Sort by spend. Count the terms with real spend and zero orders. If it is a long list, nobody is minding the store.

What does "working" look like in real numbers?

Every account is different, but here is what we expect inside a 90-day window when the fundamentals are fixed:

• Month 1: wasted spend cut and fee errors fixed. Profit should move first, even if revenue does not.
• Month 2: listings and creative improved. Conversion rate should move.
• Month 3: organic rank starts building. TACOS should start trending down.

Some real examples from our accounts. ORLO went from 30% TACOS to 5% while revenue grew 25%. Zelmins went from $40K to $75K a month at 20% net profit. Necklifters went from $10K to $50K a month after we fixed listing messaging first. None of those started with "more ad budget."

If your agency has been on the account for 6 months and cannot point to one number like this, that is your answer.

What are the red flags?

• The person who sold you is gone. You signed with a senior strategist. Now a junior you have never met runs your account. This is the most common complaint we hear from brands switching agencies. It is a betrayal of trust.
• Reports, not solutions. A 20-page deck that says TACOS went up is not a diagnosis. What caused it? What are they changing this week?
• Every problem gets solved with more budget. PPC is a tool. If the answer to every question is "increase bids," they are managing ads, not your business.
• They report ACOS, never TACOS or profit. ACOS can look great on branded keywords while the account bleeds.
• Nobody has touched your listings. Ask when the main image, title and bullets were last tested. Silence means no one is working on conversion.
• They react, they don't lead. You find the hijacker. You find the stockout. You find the fee error. If you are spotting problems before your agency does, you are the agency.
• No plan for the next 90 days. Ask for it in writing. Specific actions, specific numbers. If they cannot give it, they do not have one.

How much should an Amazon agency cost?

Ranges vary a lot. One 2026 industry roundup (Ecom Brainly, itself an agency) puts PPC-only retainers at $1,500 to $7,500 a month or 10 to 20% of ad spend, full-service retainers at $3,000 to $15,000+ a month, and revenue-share deals at 3 to 15% of monthly Amazon sales.

Price is the wrong first question. The right question is: what does this agency return per dollar? A $5,000 a month agency that adds $15,000 in monthly profit is cheap. A $2,000 a month agency that keeps you flat is expensive.

Two things to watch in any contract. First, on revenue-share deals, define what "revenue" means. Total sales, or growth above a baseline? Second, a percentage of ad spend pays the agency more when you spend more. That is a bad incentive if you want lower TACOS.

Is an Amazon agency worth it at all?

For a brand doing $20K to $1M+ a month, usually yes, if it is the right one. At that size the founder's time is worth more spent on product, cash flow and supply chain than on bid changes. And most in-house hires at that size are one person trying to cover PPC, listings, creative, fees, inventory and brand protection. Nobody is great at all of those.

It is not worth it if you want a cheap fix, or if you plan to micromanage every campaign. You will be paying for someone to follow your instructions, and you will both be frustrated.

What most agencies get wrong

They sell PPC management. Over-relying on PPC is the disease, not the cure.

The real goal on Amazon is organic rank. Amazon pushes the brands that operate best: high conversion, steady sales velocity, no stockouts, clean listings, efficient campaigns. When all of those beat your competitors, organic rank follows, and TACOS drops on its own.

Most agencies only touch one of those levers. Then they wonder why the account plateaus.

When should I switch agencies?

Give a new agency 60 to 90 days. That is enough time for fixes in waste, fees and listings to show up in profit and conversion. Organic rank takes longer, but the trend should be visible.

After 90 days, if net profit is flat, TACOS is flat or rising, and you cannot get a written plan, switch. Before you do, make sure you own everything: the Seller Central account, the Advertising Console, your brand registry, your creative files and your campaign history. Never let an agency hold your account in their name.

FAQ

How long should I give an Amazon agency before judging results?

60 to 90 days. Wasted ad spend and fee errors should be fixed in the first 30 days, conversion improvements by day 60, and organic rank should be trending up by day 90. If nothing has moved by then, it probably will not.

What metrics should my Amazon agency report?

Net profit, TACOS, organic share of sales, conversion rate per ASIN and organic rank on core keywords. ACOS and ad sales are fine as supporting numbers, but they should never be the headline.

Is a good ACOS proof that my agency is doing a good job?

No. ACOS only measures ad sales against ad spend. It can look great on branded keywords while total profit falls. TACOS and net profit are better tests.

How much does an Amazon agency cost in 2026?

Industry ranges run from about $1,500 a month for PPC-only to $15,000+ a month for full management, or 3 to 15% of monthly sales on revenue-share models (Ecom Brainly, 2026). Judge the fee against the profit the agency adds, not against other agencies' prices.

What is the biggest red flag with an Amazon agency?

When the senior person who sold you disappears and a junior runs the account. The second biggest is monthly reports with no diagnosis and no next actions.

Should I hire an agency or build an in-house Amazon team?

Under roughly $1M a month, an experienced agency usually covers more ground than one or two in-house hires. Above that, many brands run a hybrid: an in-house owner of the channel plus a specialist agency for execution.

Not sure if yours is working?

We run a free Clarity Call. We audit your account (PPC, fees, listings, organic rank), show you what is working and what is not, and give you an ROI projection. If your current agency is doing a good job, we will tell you that too.

Book it at globious.io.