18 CommentsAs a solopreneur or new Amazon seller, you end up wearing several different hats. You source the products, fund the inventory, create product listings, handle logistics, manage your PPC advertising campaigns — the list goes on!
Ecommerce entrepreneurship involves a lot of moving parts. The good news is that you don’t need to do everything yourself. There are many talented freelancers, Amazon FBA consultants, and even large agencies available to help sellers wrangle the mundane or difficult tasks that come with running an Amazon business.
As your business develops, you’ll hit a point at which you’ll need help to continue growing. While most people start their business by themselves, 19% of sellers believe hiring employees or freelancers to help run the business is a major factor in becoming a successful Amazon seller.
When deciding who to hire, focus on your strengths and rely on others to fill in gaps in your knowledge, skills, or time. Work on your business, not in your business.
In this post, we will go over what an Amazon FBA consultant or freelancer is, what they can help you with, and how to vet and hire someone.
What is an Amazon FBA Freelancer?
An Amazon FBA freelancer, virtual assistant, or consultant is someone who uses their Amazon expertise to help other sellers manage and grow their Amazon businesses.
While it’s not difficult to find information on how to handle every single task involved with selling, it can take time to learn everything there is to know. Instead of devoting months to understanding niche aspects of FBA, you can hire a professional who already has the industry experience you want. That way, you can feel confident running your business even if you’re brand new to ecommerce.
Why do successful Amazon sellers become freelancers? The simple answer is that helping others offers experienced Amazon sellers another stream of income to tap—as any smart entrepreneur would do.
When I first started selling almost 6 years ago, I didn’t have anyone to learn from or hire to help me. I just figured selling out on my own.
At this point, I’ve developed the skills necessary to both run my own Amazon business and work as a freelance consultant, helping fellow entrepreneurs write and optimize their listings. I spend a good amount of time working with other sellers and small brands and can speak to the time-saving power of collaboration.
If you don’t have money to hire a consultant right away, that’s fine—I actually recommend taking the time to learn the business. As you develop experience and start to make some money, you can then look into hiring someone to help you expand even further. Who knows, maybe you’ll become a freelancer yourself.
What can an FBA freelancer help me with?
The answer: anything!
When you first get started selling, you’ll face a bit of a learning curve to figure out how everything works—including navigating Seller Central. How do you add a new product? How do you create a new FBA shipment? Where do you update product listings? There are a million questions you could ask yourself—and consultants can help answer all of them.
Here are some things an Amazon freelancer can help you with:
- Write or optimize your Amazon listings
- Upload your listing information to Seller Central
- Set up your seller account
- Help you expand into new marketplaces
- Manage your PPC campaigns
- Conduct keyword or product research
- Source profitable products for you
- Graphic design work for your product images or A+ content
- Product photography
- Provide you with advice or selling strategies
- Manage your entire FBA business
- Answer customer questions and messages
- Handle logistics and FBA shipments
- Hire a virtual assistant (VA) to handle daily, weekly, or monthly recurring tasks
- Fix stranded inventory issues
Even if you know nearly nothing about selling on Amazon, you can still run a profitable business with a little help from professionals.
Should I hire an Amazon FBA virtual assistant or consultant?
The answer depends on the specific tasks you want help with. Are they part of daily operations, or do they involve larger, structural changes to your business?
A virtual assistant is a self-employed contractor who you can hire remotely to assist with administrative tasks, product research, order management, data entry, customer service, and other operations that keep your business running day to day. Hiring a virtual assistant, or VA for short, is a cost-effective way to delegate your time-consuming or recurring responsibilities, so you can focus on big-picture operations.
An FBA consultant, on the other hand, typically works on larger, more complicated projects on a case-by-case basis. This can include developing your PPC advertising plan, optimizing your listings, and helping you strategize around business development. The cost to hire an FBA consultant varies on their experience and the job at hand.
Benefits of hiring an Amazon freelancer
- Saves you time
Hiring a consultant or freelancer to execute routine tasks or handle areas of the business you’re unfamiliar with allows you to focus on more important things for your business—or just the tasks you enjoy doing. Think of the “opportunity cost” of each task at hand. Can your time and energy be better spent on something else that’ll be more beneficial to your business?
- They have the expertise
You don’t need to be a professional writer or photographer in order to have a well-optimized Amazon listing. You can just hire a pro to handle listing optimization so your listing is primed for search and conversions, while you focus on other areas of your business.
- Reasonably priced
Large Amazon marketing agencies or consultants may charge a lot for their services, but you can find plenty of highly talented FBA assistants and freelancers to hire at a reasonable price.
Pricing varies, and freelancers tend to sell their services by the task, or “package,” rather than by the hour.
Think of it as paying for a freelancer’s completed work, experience, and knowledge, not just the time it takes to do the job.
- Saves you money
Sure, you may have to spend some money upfront to hire someone to help you. But their expertise may actually save you a lot of money in the long run. Hiring a professional can prevent you from making costly mistakes like ordering the wrong inventory or spending too much on PPC.
In the case of listing optimization, for example, it’s definitely worth the investment to hire a professional photographer or copywriter. Your own shadowy photos and vague copy can tank your product before it even has a chance to succeed, while professionally optimized listings can boost sales.
How to hire an Amazon FBA virtual assistant or consultant
So, how do you find talented freelancers? Fortunately, there are many platforms where you can hire skilled freelancers for your Amazon business. Here is a list of sites to check out:
Amazon Service Provider Network: Connect with talented freelancers who already know the lay of the land on Amazon. Amazon Service Provider Network vets providers before allowing them to list their services on the network, and can be accessed from within your Seller Central account.
FreeUp: According to the FreeUp website, they only allow the best of the best to become freelancers on their platform. FreeUp interviews and evaluates thousands of freelancers and accepts only the top 1% of talent into their roster. They have a section dedicated to Amazon sellers where you can find help with listings, photography, product sourcing experts, and more.
Freelancer: Find talented and reputable freelancers on Freelancer.com for any type of job needed, across 1800+ skills. Browse portfolios, view freelancer bids after posting a job, and track progress with a time tracker and mobile app.
Fiverr: Budget-friendly with a wide range of price points for services, Fiverr works with project-based pricing instead of hourly rates. They have freelancers that offer standard services, and new ones like ad copywriting, customer support, and data analytics. Choose the best freelancers by looking at their reviews.
Upwork: Find a freelancer for your business on Upwork based on skill level, budget, and speed of delivery. You can also go through Upwork’s Project Catalog and browse through projects that have a clear scope and price. Search for freelancers through their Talent Marketplace, or talk to a Talent Scout to find the right fit for your business.
Do you have questions about a specific freelancer’s services? Don’t hesitate to contact the freelancer before placing an order with them to make sure they understand your needs. And because this is a collaboration, check that their communication style works for you.
Grow your business with an Amazon freelancer
We hope this article gives you a better understanding of what an Amazon FBA freelancer is and how they can help you grow your business.
If you need help with listing optimization, product photography, advertising, or even a strange error in your account, there is always a professional freelancer or Amazon FBA virtual assistant available to assist and advise you.
Do you have questions about hiring an Amazon FBA freelancer or some pro tips of your own to share? Let us know in the comments below!
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