I Stopped Using Agencies: Here is How I Manage My FBA Team Now
Most sellers hire a VA and never actually decide what good looks like. No targets, no tracking, no way to tell if someone is genuinely sourcing profitable products or just handing over a pile of leads for you to sort through yourself. Here is exactly how I manage an Amazon FBA virtual assistant team, the KPIs I actually use, and why I have never once used an agency to find someone.
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The short version: I run a proper VA tracking system with individual targets, commission on results, and a minimum of five products purchased per day per team member, not five leads. My core KPIs are average margin above 14%, old stock over 90 days kept under 5%, sell through rate at 19%, and refund rate under 5%. I never outsource hiring to an agency, and ProfitPath's new team tracking beta now brings time tracking, tasks, pay, and goals into one place.
Why Most VA Setups Fail Before They Start
If you do not set a target, you can pay someone 40 hours a week and get almost nothing back for it. That is not on the VA. That is on the seller for not setting the bar in the first place.
The single biggest distinction that matters: is your VA giving you leads, or are they actually buying products for you? Leads mean you are still doing the work, sitting there vetting every single one before you spend a penny. Bought products means the job is actually done.
That trust does not happen overnight. On my team, a VA generally moves from sourcing leads to buying products with my money after about 9 to 12 months, once the training and track record are there.
The Real Targets I Hold My Virtual Assistant Team To
Here are the actual numbers, not vague guidance.
Every team member on my sourcing side has a minimum of five products purchased per day, not five leads found, five different new products actually bought. On top of that, each person has their own targets for spend, sales, and profit, based on their previous year's numbers or the team average if they are new.
The KPI targets across the board:
Average margin above 14%
Old stock over 90 days kept under 5% of total stock
Sell through rate target of 19%
Refund rate under 5%
Hit your numbers and you get a commission. Exceed them and the commission goes up, which can add a meaningful amount to someone's monthly pay.
As an example of how the spend target breaks down: a £20,000 monthly spend goal on 160 hours a month, working 5 days a week, comes out to roughly £4,615 a week and £923 a day. Any day under target rolls forward, so nothing gets quietly forgotten.
Why I Never Hand Hiring Over to an Agency
Most sellers take the easy route and go straight to an agency for a VA. The easy road usually becomes the hard one, and the hard one usually becomes easy. Handing over one of the biggest decisions in your business, who gets access to your accounts and your money, to someone else to pick out of a hat is not something I am willing to do.
This person could end up running large parts of your business one day. You are trusting them with real money and, honestly, with your family's income. That is not a decision to outsource.
Setting Up Team Tracking Inside ProfitPath
Once a team member is invited into ProfitPath, you can set exactly what they can see. Admin full access, sourcing only, operations only, whatever fits. This keeps people out of parts of the business they do not need to be in.
From there you set pay and goals per person: hours worked per month, spend target, base hourly salary, lead bonus, and whether unmet daily goals roll over into the next day. Everything from targets to pay now sits in one system instead of scattered across Google Sheets.
Tracking Daily Activity, Tasks, and Payouts
The dashboard shows exactly when someone was working, what they worked on, their top stores, top sources, and top brands. You can compare team members side by side and see review status on what has actually been approved that day.
Tasks can be assigned directly with priority levels, due dates, images, and links. From the VA's side, they start a session, work through their to-do list, reply, and mark tasks done as they go.
Payouts are tracked in the same place, with invoices attached where needed. This replaces the external spreadsheets and separate tools most sellers are stitching together to manage a team.
Admin VA or Sourcing VA, Which to Hire First
Here is a tip most new sellers get backwards. If you are about to hire your first VA and you are leaning toward a sourcing VA, reconsider and hire an admin VA first.
An admin VA can be hired for a few pounds an hour and takes on tasks that fall into three buckets: things you do not want to do, things you should not be doing, and things you do not know how to do. Free up your own hours first, then train someone to source, not the other way around.
How I Actually Hire, No Agency Involved
I post a job listing myself and hire the best available person right now, based on who responds fast and gets through the screening process. No hours spent browsing CVs and getting attached to someone who never replies.
There is no need for a full library of SOPs before you hire either. Record a video of the task, hand it over, get the VA to do it and report back, then have them write the SOP themselves. If they can do the task properly, they can document it.
The cut off point is three months. If it is not working after proper training, cut it there. These are real people with real lives, so it has to click between both sides for it to work long term.
The VA Hiring Playbook
ProfitPath's team tracking tool handles the systems, but it does not teach you how to find and vet the right person in the first place. The VA Hiring Playbook covers screening, interviews, red flags, and training built from five years of hiring VAs and running teams.
Get the VA Hiring Playbook using the code Profit Path 75 for 75% off.
ProfitPath Plans for Team Tracking
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Frequently Asked Questions
What KPIs should I track for an Amazon FBA virtual assistant?
The KPIs that matter most are products purchased per day, average margin, old stock over 90 days as a percentage of total stock, sell through rate, and refund rate. Set these per person based on their history or the team average if they are new. Tie commission to hitting or exceeding these numbers.
Should I hire an Amazon VA through an agency or directly?
Hiring directly means you choose exactly who joins your team instead of handing that decision to someone else. Agencies can be quicker, but the person handling your accounts and your money is a decision worth making yourself. Post the role, screen for fast responders, and train them yourself from day one.
How many products should a sourcing VA buy per day?
A reasonable target for an experienced sourcing VA is five different new products purchased per day, not five leads passed along for review. That target should scale with experience, and a new VA typically needs 9 to 12 months of training before buying with company money unsupervised.
What is the difference between a sourcing VA and an admin VA?
An admin VA takes on tasks you do not want to do, should not be doing, or do not know how to do, and usually costs less per hour. A sourcing VA finds and buys products directly. Most new sellers should hire an admin VA first to free up time before training someone to source.
How do I pay an Amazon FBA VA commission on results?
Set a base hourly rate along with individual targets for spend, sales, and profit. Pay a standard commission when targets are hit and a higher commission when they are exceeded. This rewards results rather than just hours logged, which is the gap most manual tracking systems miss.
Before You Go
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This is Episode 9 of the ProfitPath Deep Dive series.
Previous: Episode 8: The Amazon FBA Order Tracking Software That's Saving Us 30 Hours a Week
Next: Amazon FBA Scaling Mistakes and How to Fix Them
See the full series: ProfitPath Deep Dive
This post is sponsored by ProfitPath. Using my affiliate link supports the channel and helps me keep making content like this for free.
