Amazon Virtual Assistant Services

An Amazon virtual assistant is a remote worker who takes on tasks for your Amazon store or your business. Most VAs work from home, and many are based in other countries where the cost of living is lower, which means you can often pay a lower hourly wage than you’d pay an employee based in the US. That doesn’t mean the work is lower quality. Plenty of experienced, well-trained VAs handle everything from customer service to advertising for sellers around the world.

You can hire a VA in a few different ways. Some sellers use a staffing service that already has trained workers ready to go. Others hire a freelancer directly and train them for a specific job. Either way, the goal is the same: hand off repeatable tasks so you can spend your time on the parts of the business that actually need you.

A virtual assistant can take on almost any task inside your Amazon business that doesn’t require you personally to make the call. Here’s a breakdown by area.

• Writing and updating titles, bullet points, and descriptions
• Researching keywords to use in your listings
• Building out A+ Content and enhanced brand content
• Checking listings for errors, missing information, or policy issues
• Matching new products to existing ASINs

• Setting up new ad campaigns
• Adjusting bids and budgets
• Finding new keywords to target and cutting ones that waste money
• Pulling weekly and monthly performance reports
• Watching for sudden changes in ad spend or sales

• Searching online retailers to find profitable products to resell (online arbitrage)
• Checking deals from an online arbitrage leads list against your profit and risk rules
• Looking up sales rank and price history before you buy
• Flagging items that are gated, restricted, or have a history of complaints from brand owners
• Screening out products the account can’t sell due to Amazon’s dangerous goods rules

• Finding new suppliers and brands worth reaching out to
• Contacting suppliers to open accounts and ask about pricing and minimum order sizes
• Applying for brand approval so you’re cleared to sell a supplier’s products
• Negotiating pricing, payment terms, and reorder schedules with suppliers
• Placing and tracking bulk orders, and following up when something’s late or wrong

• Watching inventory levels and flagging what needs to be reordered
• Creating shipment plans for FBA
• Opening and following up on reimbursement cases
• Keeping track of open cases with Amazon support

• Answering buyer messages
• Requesting reviews from customers
• Handling returns and refund requests
• Watching for negative feedback or product reviews that need a response

• Researching new products to sell
• Tracking what competitors are doing with pricing and listings
• Pulling sales and profit reports

These jobs aren’t specific to Amazon. They apply just as much if you’re a seller, a prep center, a 3PL, or any other business that needs extra hands for the day-to-day work.

• Managing email and answering routine messages
• Scheduling appointments and managing a calendar
• Entering data into spreadsheets or bookkeeping software
• Tracking expenses and organizing receipts
• Posting job openings and screening applicants
• Handling onboarding paperwork for new hires
• Scheduling social media posts
• Writing first drafts of emails, posts, or other content
• Organizing files and keeping records up to date

If you run a prep center or a 3PL, a lot of these same jobs show up in your business too. Customer questions still need answers, schedules still need managing, and someone still has to keep the books straight. A virtual assistant can take on that work whether you’re running an Amazon store, a prep center, a 3PL, or another business that supports sellers.

Decide between an agency and a freelancer. A staffing service or agency gives you someone who’s already trained, plus backup if that person is out sick or quits. It usually costs more per hour. A freelancer you hire and train yourself can cost less, but you’re on your own for training, and you’ll need to start over if they leave.

Start with a clear list of tasks. Before you hire anyone, write down exactly what you want done. “Help with Amazon” is too vague. “Answer buyer messages every morning and update inventory counts twice a week” gives a new hire something they can actually do.

Figure out how many hours you need. Many sellers wait too long to hire because they never added up their own hours. Track what you’re spending time on for a week. If you’re spending 15 to 20 hours a week on tasks someone else could do, that’s usually a sign it’s time to bring in help.

Keep your Seller Central account secure. Never hand over your main login and password to a VA. Amazon lets you invite other people into your account through Settings, then User Permissions. This lets you give someone access to just the tools they need, like inventory or messaging, without giving them access to your banking information or the ability to close your account. Each person should have their own login and their own two-step verification, not a login they share with someone else on their team. If you ever need to remove someone’s access, you can do it in a few clicks without changing your own password.

Give it time before you judge the results. Any new hire needs a few weeks to learn how you like things done. Build in time for questions and corrections early on, and you’ll get a much better long-term result.