How to choose an Amazon PPC manager

Handing your Amazon advertising to someone else is a big decision. Ad spend is often one of a seller’s largest costs, and a poorly run account can lose money quietly for months before anyone notices. This guide explains what a PPC manager actually does, what to decide before you start looking, the questions that separate careful specialists from the rest, and the warning signs to watch for.

What an Amazon PPC manager actually does

A good PPC manager (a freelancer or an agency) looks after the advertising side of your Amazon business. In practice that usually means:

• Campaign structure: setting up and maintaining Sponsored Products, and where you are eligible, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, so that budgets and bids can be controlled sensibly.
• Keywords and targets: reviewing the search terms shoppers actually used, adding the ones that convert, and excluding the ones that waste money.
• Bids and budgets: adjusting them towards a goal you have agreed together, such as profitability, growth in a category, or a product launch.
• Reporting: telling you what changed, why, and what they plan to do next, in numbers you understand.
• Joined-up thinking: flagging problems that advertising cannot fix, such as a weak listing, an uncompetitive price, or stock running low.

What a PPC manager cannot do is control Amazon’s auction, your competitors, or shopper demand. Be wary of anyone who talks as if they can.

Decide what you want before you hire

You will get far better proposals if you can answer a few questions first:

1. What is the goal? Profit on existing products, growth in market share, launching new products, or protecting your brand name from competitors’ ads. These goals lead to very different strategies.
2. What are your numbers? Know your profit margin per product before advertising, your monthly ad budget, and your stock position. Your margin sets your break-even ACoS, which is explained in our guide to ACoS vs TACoS.
3. What is the scope? Which marketplaces, how many products, and which ad types. Decide whether you want ongoing management, a one-off audit, or training for someone on your own team.

Questions to ask before you hire

Ask every candidate the same questions, and compare the answers side by side.

1. “How would you structure our account, and why?” Listen for reasoning tied to your products and goals rather than a template applied to everyone. Our guide to structuring Sponsored Products campaigns explains what a sensible structure looks like.
2. “Which numbers will you manage to, and how will you report them?” You want clear definitions (for example ACoS per product and TACoS for the brand) and a regular report you can read without a call.
3. “What will you change in the first 30 days?” A specific plan for an audit and the first fixes is a good sign. Vague promises are not.
4. “Who will do the work day to day?” With agencies, ask who your account lead is, how many accounts they handle, and how much is automated by software.
5. “What access do you need?” The answer should be user permissions in Seller Central or the Amazon Ads console. Nobody needs your password or your two-step verification codes.
6. “How do we end the engagement?” Campaigns should live in your account, not theirs, and there should be a reasonable notice period and a handover.
7. “Can you show examples with products like ours?” Ask what they are allowed to share. Treat outcome figures as context, not as a forecast for your account.

How PPC managers are usually paid

There is no standard price, but most arrangements use one of these models:

• A flat monthly fee: predictable, and it does not reward spending more.
• A percentage of ad spend: common, but it can reward higher spend. Ask how the manager decides when spend should go down.
• A percentage of sales or a performance fee: agree in writing what counts as a sale, the starting baseline, and how organic sales are treated.
• A base fee plus a percentage: a mix of the above.
• One-off fees for an audit, an account rebuild, or a launch.

Whatever the model, check that the fee structure rewards the same thing you care about, and get the scope in writing.

Red flags

Keep looking if a candidate:

• Promises a specific result, such as a ranking, an ACoS figure, or a sales number. Nobody can promise these honestly.
• Asks for your login password or verification codes instead of user permissions.
• Will not explain changes, or reports only with screenshots and no reasoning.
• Pushes for more spend without linking it to your margins.
• Runs campaigns from their own account, or asks for a long lock-in contract.
• Asks nothing about your business, such as margins, stock, or how your listings convert.

What the first 90 days should look like

Every account is different, but a careful manager usually follows a pattern like this:

• Weeks 1 to 2: set up access, audit the account, agree goals, and record a baseline so that progress can be measured.
• Month 1: fix structural problems, add negative keywords, and move budget towards what works.
• Months 2 to 3: test new keywords, targets, and ad types, scale what is working, and review results against the agreed numbers each month.

Results depend on your product, price, reviews, competition, and the time of year, so judge progress against the plan you agreed, not against someone else’s case study.

Get help from a reviewed specialist

SellerHelpDesk lists PPC specialists only after our team has reviewed their profile, and each profile shows exactly what we checked and when. You can compare reviewed Amazon PPC specialists, or describe what you need and we will suggest suitable specialists. Read how we review providers to see what our checks do and do not mean.