"Full service" is not a standard, so check the scope rather than the label. The gaps that
matter most are photography and video production, sourcing and quality inspection, and
inventory forecasting. An agency missing all three is a marketing agency describing itself
generously.
The short version
- Full service means nothing without a scope list. Check it item by item.
- Three common gaps: creative production, sourcing, inventory forecasting.
- In-house versus subcontracted changes speed and accountability.
- Ask what is excluded, which is a faster question than asking what is included.
- Compare scope before price. Two quotes can differ threefold for the same real cost.
The scope checklist
I run Flapen with 50 operators managing about 70 brands, 100% in-house with no
subcontracting. Use this to compare candidates line by line.
| Function | Commonly included | Commonly missing |
|---|---|---|
| Listing creation and optimization | Yes | |
| Keyword research and rank tracking | Yes | |
| PPC campaign management | Yes | |
| Amazon DSP | Sometimes | Often |
| Product photography and video | Often | |
| A+ content and storefront design | Sometimes | |
| Product sourcing and negotiation | Usually | |
| Quality inspection and compliance | Usually | |
| Freight and logistics coordination | Usually | |
| Inventory forecasting | Often | |
| Account health and case management | Sometimes | |
| Brand Registry and IP protection | Sometimes | |
| Promotions and deals | Sometimes | |
| Influencer and affiliate program | Often | |
| External traffic strategy | Often |
The right-hand column is where "full service" usually stops. Sourcing, quality inspection, and
inventory forecasting are operations rather than marketing, and most agencies in this category
grew out of marketing.
Why the gaps matter
Each missing function pushes a real problem back onto you.
No photography means the primary image cannot be fixed, and it caps every click your
listing receives. This is the most consequential gap and the most common.
No sourcing or quality inspection means return rate problems get diagnosed and not solved.
A product with a quality defect generates negative reviews and returns that no listing work
addresses.
No inventory forecasting means stockouts, which cost organic ranking that took months and
real ad spend to build.
An agency can be excellent within a narrower scope. What you cannot do is buy a narrow scope
believing it is comprehensive, and then wonder why the constraint never moves.
In-house versus subcontracted
Ask this about every function, not just creative.
Subcontracting is not automatically worse. It becomes a problem in two specific ways: speed,
because each change requires a new brief and quote, and accountability, because nobody named
is responsible when quality drifts.
The question to ask is who physically does the work and where they sit. Ours is entirely
in-house, with sourcing and quality control in Guangzhou and creative production in Dubai,
and the reason that matters is iteration speed rather than prestige.
How to compare quotes
- Ask what is excluded. Faster and more revealing than asking what is included.
- Ask which functions are subcontracted.
- Separate the fee from pass-through costs. Inventory, Amazon fees, freight, ad spend.
- Ask what the fee is tiered by. Product count, revenue, or ad spend.
- Ask the caseload number. Scope is worthless without attention.
Point three is where most confusion lives. Two quotes can differ threefold and be identical in
real cost once creative production and sourcing move columns.
What most agencies will not tell you
"Full service" is a marketing term with no agreed definition, and every agency uses it to
describe whatever it happens to do. That is not deception so much as convention, and it means
the label carries no information.
The scope list above does. Print it, walk a candidate through it, and mark each row as
in-house, subcontracted, or not offered. Fifteen minutes produces a comparison that no amount
of proposal reading will.
The other thing: broad scope with high caseload is worse than narrow scope with real
attention. An agency offering everything while your manager carries twelve brands is offering
a menu rather than a service. Ask both questions together.
Related answers
- Best Amazon marketing agencies for sellers
- Alternatives to top-tier Amazon agencies
- Compare Amazon PPC vs full-service agencies
- Questions about inventory forecasting and ops support
- Hiring an Amazon agency: the complete guide
Walk our scope list row by row and mark what is missing. Flapen.
