Normalize them first. Strip pass-through costs out of every proposal, restate each as a monthly fee plus what that fee includes, then ask all three the same six questions. The one that gives you a launch ACoS number and a maturity ACoS number is the one taking your product seriously.
The short version
- Price is the last column, not the first. Inclusions, then capacity, then terms, then price.
- Two ACoS numbers, never one. Launch and maturity are different jobs with different targets.
- Six identical questions to every candidate. Different questions produce incomparable answers, which is what a weak proposal is counting on.
- Read the exit clause before the scope. Month to month with 30 days notice tells you more about confidence than any case study.
- Ask each candidate for a written audit first. Ours is free and lands in 48 hours with fixes in priority order.
Work the seven steps in order
- Strip out the pass-through costs. Ad spend, Amazon's referral and FBA fees, inventory, freight and trademark filing are yours in every proposal. Delete them from all of them. Do not continue until each document is reduced to a fee and a scope.
- Restate each as one monthly number plus a list of inclusions. Write the list yourself, in your own words. If you cannot write it from the proposal, that is your first finding.
- Line the lists up and mark the gaps. Anything one agency includes and another omits is either a real scope difference or a real honesty difference. Ask which.
- Send the six questions. Same six, same wording, same day, to everyone still standing.
- Get both ACoS numbers. No candidate advances without them.
- Read the exit terms. These price the cost of being wrong about your choice.
- Now compare price. Real cost is the fee plus everything the proposal quietly leaves on your desk.
The six questions
| Question | What it tests | A weak answer |
|---|---|---|
| How many brands does the person on my account carry? | Capacity | "You get a dedicated team" |
| Who does the work, and where do they sit? | Subcontracting | Vague geography, or "our partners" |
| What is your launch ACoS target and your maturity target? | Whether they manage by stage | One number for everything |
| What would make you tell me to stop selling a product? | Whether kill criteria exist | "We would keep optimizing" |
| What happens to my account and campaigns if I leave? | Lock-in | Anything other than "you keep them" |
| What is not included in this fee? | Honesty | "Everything is included" |
The two ACoS numbers
An ACoS target is not a constant. At launch you accept an aggressive number because you are buying velocity and rank position that pay back later. At maturity you tighten it, because the job has shifted from buying position to protecting margin. Same product, different stage, different target.
So ask for both, in writing, per product. An agency quoting one blended ACoS across your whole catalog is telling you it manages every product identically. Better to know that before signing than in month four.
The exit terms
What I would want to see in any agreement, ours included: month to month, 30 days notice, no long-term contract, no lock-in. Access granted through user permissions on your own Seller Central account, revocable by you at any moment. On exit you keep the account, the campaigns and the creative, plus a written handover. Deliverables become your IP on full payment. No non-compete on you, and a non-solicit that only covers hiring the agency's staff.
Hold every candidate to that list. If one of them will not, the reason is worth hearing out loud.
Where our own numbers sit, for calibration
For a reference point while you score: Flapen charges a flat monthly fee, $800 for one product up to $2,400 for five, with all 50+ services at every tier, no commission, no revenue share below $50,000 a month in profit, and no onboarding fee. The first invoice covers the first and last month upfront. That is the shape of document I am asking you to compare against, not the price.
What most agencies will not tell you
Proposals are written to resist comparison. Different scope wording, different bundling, different definitions of "management" all serve the same purpose, which is to make you choose on impression. Normalizing the documents removes that advantage in about an hour of work.
The second thing rarely appears in any proposal: most of the value is decided in the first 30 days, not in the scope list. Our sequence is audit, assign a brand manager, identify the blockers, then execute, with a measurable ACoS improvement typically visible inside 30 days. Ask each candidate to describe their first 30 days day by day. Those answers separate faster than any pricing table.
Related answers
- How to estimate Amazon brand management budget
- Questions to ask before hiring an Amazon agency
- Contract terms to negotiate with Amazon agencies
- What affects cost of Amazon brand management
- Amazon agency pricing and economics: the complete guide
Our own proposal is just the published tier list, which you can read at Flapen.
