FBA prep and account operations are two different purchases. Prep is physical: labeling, polybagging, cartonisation and shipment plans. Account ops is administrative: cases, reimbursements, catalog hygiene and inventory health. Score any provider on both separately, because most are good at one and passable at the other.
The short version
- Two purchases, one invoice, and that is the trap. Ask for the two scopes written separately.
- Prep quality shows up as chargebacks. Cartonisation and labeling errors are billed back to you months later.
- Account ops quality shows up as recovered money. Reimbursements, resolved cases, and listings that never went dark.
- Score providers, do not audition them. A weighted scorecard beats a good sales call every time.
- Ask what they analyze before deciding stock levels. Sales rank and last month's orders are not a plan.
You are probably here because something slipped
The usual reason a seller starts shopping for this is not ambition. It is a shipment that sat in receiving for three weeks, a stranded listing nobody noticed, or a reimbursement window that closed. Those are all symptoms of the same thing: nobody owns the boring half of Amazon.
So evaluate for the boring half. Below is the scorecard I would use, with weights. Score each candidate from 1 to 5, multiply by the weight, and total it. The point of weighting is that it stops a strong salesperson from winning on charisma.
| Criterion | Weight | What a 5 looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Named owner for your account | 20 | One person, named in the contract, who answers directly and knows your catalog without a briefing |
| Prep accuracy and chargeback record | 15 | They volunteer their error rate and explain how they measure it |
| Case handling and reimbursement discipline | 15 | A documented cadence for auditing lost and damaged inventory, not an ad hoc effort |
| Inventory planning inputs | 15 | Forecasts built from multiple demand signals, with a written restock rule |
| Catalog hygiene | 10 | Proactive monitoring of suppressions, variation breaks and content loss |
| Turnaround time on receipt | 10 | A committed hours-to-shipment number, and evidence they measure it |
| Transparency of pricing | 10 | Per-unit and per-shipment costs listed, with no bundled unknowns |
| Exit terms | 5 | Your inventory, your account, your data, released on short notice |
Anything scoring under 60 out of 100 is a provider you will end up managing yourself. Two candidates within five points of each other are effectively tied, so choose on the named owner and move on.
The prep questions that separate providers
- What is your receive-to-shipment turnaround, in hours, and how do you measure it? A provider who cannot answer has never been held to it.
- How do you handle a unit that arrives damaged from the factory? The answer should describe a documented process with photographs and a decision rule, not a conversation.
- Who pays for a chargeback caused by your labeling error? Get this in writing before the first shipment.
- Do you cartonise to Amazon's requirements or to whatever fits? Poor cartonisation is invisible until the fees arrive.
- What happens when Amazon changes a requirement? You want a provider who tells you, not one who finds out through a rejected shipment.
The account ops questions
- What is your cadence for auditing lost, damaged and overcharged inventory? Reimbursement windows expire, and expired windows are pure loss.
- Who monitors listing health daily, and what is the alert path? Ask for the response window on a suppressed listing, in hours.
- What triggers a restock recommendation? If the answer is only sales rank and last month's orders, they are steering by the rear-view mirror.
- How is catalog hygiene handled during a peak season? Peak is when variation breaks and content loss cost the most, and when most providers are thinnest.
That third question is where I would spend the most time. Our own research standard for any product decision is about 90 data points, covering market size, growth trajectory, return rate, segment dynamics and the rating gap against incumbents. Restock and stocking decisions deserve the same depth: seasonality, return rate, competitor stock position, ad plans and lead time, not a single sales number. Ask a candidate what they analyze besides reviews and volume. The quality of that answer predicts almost everything else.
What most agencies will not tell you
Prep is a commodity right up until it is not. The per-unit price is easy to compare, so that is what gets sold, and it is a fraction of the total cost of getting the job wrong. A cheap prep partner with a labeling error rate that produces chargebacks and unplanned removals is more expensive than an accurate one at twice the unit price, and you will not see the difference for a quarter.
The second thing: reimbursement recovery is often sold as a percentage of what is recovered. That structure rewards volume of claims rather than discipline, and aggressive claiming carries account risk. Ask how claims are validated before they are filed.
The third: many providers will happily bundle prep and account ops into a single monthly number because the bundle hides which half is weak. Ask for both scopes priced separately even if you intend to buy both. If the provider resists, that is your answer.
Related answers
- Global Amazon marketplace expansion help
- What does a good Amazon account audit include
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- Amazon store management outsourcing pros and cons
- Amazon agency pricing and economics: the complete guide
Score us on the same card and tell us where we lose. Start with the free audit at Flapen.
