Amazon · November 11, 2026

Why Your Amazon Agency Shouldn't Also Be a Seller

Many Amazon agencies still sell their own products. Why that's a conflict of interest, and what to ask before you hand over your account.

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Handing your Amazon account to an agency means handing over a lot more than a login. They see your best sellers, your margins, your ad spend, your conversion rates, your keywords and often your suppliers. That’s exactly the information a competitor would want.

So it’s worth asking a question many brands never think to ask: does your agency also sell on Amazon?

Why so many agencies are also sellers

It’s not a secret. A lot of Amazon agencies were started by people who learned the platform by selling their own products. That experience is valuable. Someone who has launched products, fought hijackers and survived a stockout during Q4 understands the job in a way a pure marketer doesn’t.

The problem isn’t that they used to sell. It’s that many of them still do.

Where the conflict shows up

An agency that also sells doesn’t have to be dishonest for the conflict to matter. It shows up in quieter ways:

• Product ideas. If they see a product doing well in your account, it’s hard to un-see it when they’re choosing what to launch next.
• Keywords and ad data. Your converting search terms and bid levels are a shortcut for anyone selling in the same niche.
• Suppliers. If your agency helps with sourcing or listings, they may learn who makes your product and at what price.
• Attention. When their own brand has a bad week, whose account gets their best people?

None of this requires bad intent. It’s simply hard for anyone to work against their own interests every day.

Questions to ask before you sign

Before you give any agency access to your Seller Central account, ask these four questions directly:

1. Do you, or anyone on your team, currently sell products on Amazon or any other marketplace?
2. Will you ever launch a product in my category?
3. Who on your team can see my account data, and is it ever used for anything other than managing my brand?
4. Are your answers written into the client agreement?

A good partner will answer all four without hesitation. If the answers are vague, treat that as an answer too.

What a conflict-free partner looks like

The ideal is someone with real selling experience who no longer sells. You get the know-how of a person who has built a brand, without the risk of them building one against you.

That’s how we set up Arithmetic. Our team are former 7-figure sellers with over 20 years in ecommerce, and we stopped selling our own products when we started managing brands for others. Our only business is growing our clients’ brands. We call it our No-Conflict Promise. You can read more about us here.

Experience from selling is an asset. Still selling is a conflict.

The bottom line

When you choose who runs your Amazon account, you’re choosing who sees the inner workings of your business. Experience matters, but so does whose side they’re on. Ask the questions, get the answers in writing, and work with someone whose only interest is your growth.