Questions to ask a marketplace agency: nine to bring to your first call
Hiring an agency for your Shopee, TikTok Shop or Lazada store? These are the questions to ask a marketplace agency on the first call, what a good answer sounds like and how we answer each one.
The questions to ask a marketplace agency cover who does the work, what it covers, what access it needs, how long you are tied in, how it is paid and what you will see each month. Ask every agency the same nine, then compare. Good answers are specific: names and roles, a sub account, a fixed fee and a report that ends in profit.
The nine questions to ask a marketplace agency
- Who works on my store day to day?
- Is it more than ads and discounts?
- Do you need my main account login?
- How long am I locked in?
- Who answers when I message you?
- Do you take a percentage of my sales on top of the fee?
- Will I see profit, or only sales?
- What data do you check before you spend my budget?
- What do you promise, and what happens if you miss?
Approach: who works on my store day to day?
The people who pitch to you are not always the people who run your store. Ask who plans the month, writes listings, answers chat, sets up promotions and runs ads, and who your daily contact is. Listen for names and roles; a team name alone is no answer.
How Lokaworks answers: one team for strategy, listings, promotions and ads, and for chat in Tier III, with one daily contact for you.
Scope: is it more than ads and discounts?
Ads and discounts are two levers out of many, and the quickest to show as sales, profitable or not. Listen for listings, search and chat too: pages that sell, products buyers can find, and replies that close orders. Ad budget should go to listings that are ready to sell, the case for a store audit before running ads.
How Lokaworks answers: the whole store. Listings, search, chat, promos, ads and affiliate: creators who promote your products for a commission on each sale.
Access: do you need my main account login?
Your main login holds the keys: the store settings, the bank account for payouts and the right to add or remove users. Shopee lets a store owner create a sub account, a separate login with only the permissions you choose; TikTok Shop and Lazada have similar user settings. Listen for a sub account.
How Lokaworks answers: no. We work from a sub account. Your main account stays yours, and you can remove our access at any time.
Contract: how long am I locked in?
Three lines in a service agreement decide how easy it is to leave: the minimum term (the shortest time you must pay for), the notice to leave and the cost to leave early. Get all three in writing, from any agency, us included.
How Lokaworks answers: you are not locked in. No minimum term; stop at any time. Billed quarterly at 10% off, or monthly; a stopped quarterly plan runs to the end of the quarter paid for.
Communication: who answers when I message you?
Ask who replies, and when. A flash sale (a short sale at a lower price), a product running out or a competitor cutting a price cannot wait a week. Listen for the team running your store, not a salesperson. A good reply checks the margin of a flash sale first, then books the slot.
How Lokaworks answers: the team that runs your store, on WhatsApp, during business hours.
Fees: do you take a percentage of my sales on top of the fee?
Many agencies charge a fixed monthly fee plus a cut, a percentage of your sales. The cut comes from sales, not profit, so it grows with every sale, even those that lose money. Take a fixed fee of IDR 3.000.000 and a cut of 5%.
| Month | Sales | Fixed fee | Fixed fee plus a 5% cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| A month | IDR 100.000.000 | IDR 3.000.000 | IDR 8.000.000 |
| A bigger month | IDR 200.000.000 | IDR 3.000.000 | IDR 13.000.000 |
The cut is the sales of the month times 5%.
At IDR 100.000.000 of sales, the cut is IDR 5.000.000 and the store pays IDR 8.000.000. Double the sales and the cut doubles to IDR 10.000.000: the bill reaches IDR 13.000.000, whether the extra orders made money or not. Redo the sum with your own figures.
How Lokaworks answers: no. One fixed monthly fee for each tier, with no cut of your sales; the tiers and their prices are on our services page. Ad spend is yours, paid directly to the platform.
Reporting: will I see profit, or only sales?
Sales is the first line of a month, not the last. Fees, ad cost, vouchers and product cost all come off it. Listen for fees, ad cost and margin, the share of sales you keep as profit: net profit divided by sales.
| One month | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sales | IDR 412.6m |
| Fees, ads, vouchers and product cost | IDR 350.7m |
| Net profit | IDR 61.9m |
| Margin | 15.0% |
Net profit divided by sales: 61.9 divided by 412.6 is 15.0%.
This is the month from our post on the monthly report: IDR 412.6 million of sales, less IDR 350.7 million of costs, leaves IDR 61.9 million of net profit, a margin of 15.0%. A report that stops at sales shows the first number only.
How Lokaworks answers: a monthly report with fees, ad cost and margin per marketplace, plus a weekly recap from Tier II.
Data research: what data do you check before you spend my budget?
Ask what they read first, and listen for search volume and margin. Search volume, how often buyers search a phrase each month, shows whether there are buyers. Margin shows how much each sale can spend on ads and discounts before it loses money.
- Competitor revenue
- Store A 46.4%, Store B 25.2%, your store 19.9%, Store C 8.6%
- Best sellers
- Noise cancelling earbuds from a rival, a 20W charger, a 1m data cable
- Search volume
- 48,200 searches a month for kabel data type c
- Your own margin
- TWS Earbuds Pro at 24.0%, below zero under a big voucher
Laid out as our reports show them.
Act on the last line: 24.0% looks healthy, yet under a big voucher every order of that product loses money.
How Lokaworks answers: competitor revenue, best sellers, search volume and your own margin.
Accountability: what do you promise, and what happens if you miss?
A sales number can be hit with discounts: cut prices and raise ad spend, and sales can rise while profit falls. Ask how a promise is measured and what happens if it is missed, and listen for what it will cost you.
How Lokaworks answers: we do not promise sales numbers. We show what we did and what it cost. Our post on agencies that guarantee sales explains why.
What to do before your first call
- Note last month from Seller Centre: sales, ad spend and income after fees.
- Ask every agency the same nine in order, one column of answers per agency.
- Before you sign, get the minimum term, the notice and the cost to leave in writing.
- Compare the answers side by side. A vague answer is an answer too.
To see where your store stands first, take our two minute store check.
Questions sellers ask
How much does a marketplace agency cost?
Agencies usually charge a fixed monthly fee, a percentage of sales, or both. Compare quotes on a strong month, since a percentage grows with sales, and ask whether ad spend is in the fee. Ours is one fixed monthly fee, with ad spend paid directly to the platform.
Is it worth hiring an agency for my Shopee store?
It depends on the work your store needs and your time. Count your monthly sales, your margin after fees and ads, and the hours a week the store takes. An agency is worth a look when that work outgrows your time and your margin can carry the fee.
Should I hire an agency or an in house marketplace admin?
An admin on your payroll does the daily tasks you assign, such as uploads, orders and chat. An agency brings several skills for one fee, such as ads, research and reporting. The two can work together: one person on your side approves promotions and budgets, the agency does the rest.