1. The four ways to get your account managed

• Freelancer or virtual assistant - one person handling listings, basic ads and customer messages, usually part-time.
• Agency (full-service) - a team with specialists for advertising, catalogue, account health, reconciliation and compliance. Amazon's Service Provider Network (SPN) lists vetted ones.
• Amazon's own services - Amazon India offers paid onboarding, imaging and cataloguing through SPN partners, and account management for large brands through its Strategic Account Services programme, which is invitation-based and priced on the brand's scale.
• Software - tools that automate advertising, inventory, pricing, reimbursements and review requests. You still make the decisions; the tool does the daily work.

2. What each one costs in India (2026)

Option	Typical monthly cost	Best for
Freelancer / VA	₹8,000 - ₹25,000	New sellers under ~300 orders a month who need listing and basic ad help
Small agency	₹15,000 - ₹40,000 per marketplace, or 3-8% of sales	Brands doing ₹3-30 lakh a month who want the whole account run
Large agency / brand consultancy	₹50,000 - ₹2,00,000+, often plus % of ad spend	Brands above ₹50 lakh a month with multi-marketplace and export needs
Advertising-only management	₹10,000 - ₹30,000 or 10-15% of ad spend	Sellers who run operations themselves but want PPC handled
Software (all-in-one)	₹1,000 - ₹15,000 (international tools $50 - $500)	Sellers who want control and lower cost, and will read a dashboard
Amazon Strategic Account Services	Invitation only; priced on brand scale	Established national brands

These are ranges we see in proposals sellers share with us; ask any provider for a written scope before comparing numbers.

3. What is included (and what is not)

Two quotes at ₹20,000 can be very different. Check each line:

• Listings - creation only, or ongoing optimisation of titles, bullets, backend keywords and images?
• Advertising - campaign setup only, or daily bid, budget and negative-keyword work? Is ad spend separate (it always should be)?
• Inventory and FBA - shipment creation, restock planning, stranded and suppressed listing fixes?
• Account health - monitoring, policy warnings, and who writes the appeal if something goes wrong?
• Money recovery - FBA fee reconciliation, lost and damaged reimbursements, SAFE-T claims? Many agencies leave this out; for most sellers it pays the fee by itself.
• Reporting - a monthly sales screenshot, or a real profit-and-loss after fees, ads and returns?
• GST and compliance - GSTR-1 workbooks from marketplace data, APOB/VPOB registrations?
• Access - a dedicated manager you can message, or a ticket queue?

4. Percentage-of-sales vs fixed fee

A pure percentage of sales rewards the agency for revenue, not profit - it is in their interest to push ads even when margins are thin. A pure fixed fee has the opposite risk: no incentive to grow you. The fairest structures tie the fee to growth: a fixed base that covers the work, plus a share of the increase in sales, so the agency earns more only when you do. Whatever the structure, make sure ad spend is billed at cost with no hidden mark-up.

5. How to tell if it is worth it

Ask for three numbers every month and compare them to the fee:

1. Advertising cost of sales (ACOS) and total ACOS - did the ad rupee buy more than before?
2. Money recovered - reimbursements, fee corrections and claims actually credited to your account.
3. Hours you got back - honestly estimated. Your time running listings is time not spent on product and supply.

If (growth in profit + money recovered + the value of your hours) is not clearly above the fee after three months, change the provider or the plan.

6. Our pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is a cheaper freelancer good enough to start?

Often yes for the first few hundred orders, as long as someone is also watching account health and reconciliation - the two areas where a cheap setup usually costs more than it saves.

Do agencies charge GST on top?

Yes, 18% GST applies to service fees in India. Registered sellers can claim it as input credit, so compare fees before GST.

Can I pay only for advertising management?

Yes; advertising-only plans exist in the market at ₹10,000-₹30,000 or a share of ad spend. Our advice is to pair it with at least reconciliation, because unrecovered FBA fees quietly erase ad gains.

Is software a replacement for an agency?

For sellers who will read a dashboard and approve actions, a good tool does most of the daily work at a fraction of the cost. Sellers who want zero involvement should pick managed services. We offer both on the same system, so you can move between them.

What does Amazon SPN mean for pricing?

SPN providers are listed and reviewed inside Seller Central, which gives you a second place to check their track record. SPN does not set prices; each provider quotes independently.