What Is an Amazon Virtual Assistant? Learn How to Find One

Entrepreneurs worldwide sell on Amazon, striving to beat the competition—your business included. Growing your Amazon business to maximize revenue and profits and stay ahead of the game requires time and attention. Tasks like replying to comments, answering questions, fulfillment, and creating product listings take ongoing diligence.

Consider hiring an Amazon virtual assistant if these and other tasks become too time-consuming.

What is an Amazon virtual assistant?

An Amazon virtual assistant is a remote assistant who helps you manage your fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business. A virtual assistant’s services can be wide-ranging, possibly including everything from routine work like answering customer questions to managing inventory, supplier relations, marketing, and advertising.

Virtual assistants help streamline your operations and handle various tasks essential for your business’s success.

Benefits of an Amazon virtual assistant

An Amazon virtual assistant can save business owners time and money by taking charge of everyday tasks and streamlining operations. With their expertise in various areas, from administrative duties to customer support and digital marketing, they can provide the assistance you need to drive your business forward.

Let’s explore some key benefits you can expect when hiring an Amazon virtual assistant.

• Time savings. An Amazon virtual assistant can take over time-consuming tasks, giving you time to focus on more important aspects of your business.
• Reduced burnout. Running a business can be overwhelming, but an assistant can reduce stress and prevent burnout by sharing the workload.
• Scalability. As your business grows, so do your needs. With an experienced Amazon virtual assistant, you can scale up your operations while focusing on the return on your investments.
• Cost-effective. Engaging a freelance Amazon virtual assistant can be more cost-effective than hiring a part-time or full-time employee. You only pay for the hours worked, which can save you money.
• Flexibility. With Upwork’s global pool of talent, you can find Amazon virtual assistants available 24/7, so you can get the help you need when you need it. Plus, they work remotely, meaning you can access their services from anywhere in the world.
• Improved customer service. An Amazon virtual assistant can improve your customer service by quickly and accurately responding to customer inquiries and complaints.

How to get started with an Amazon virtual assistant

While the benefits are clear, getting started may seem daunting. However, just a few simple steps can help you find and hire the right virtual assistant to take your business to the next level. We offer a step-by-step tutorial to get you started.

1. Sign up for Upwork. Upwork is the world’s work marketplace, where you can find talented Amazon virtual assistants.
2. Search for an Amazon virtual assistant. You can filter by location, experience, and other criteria to find the right match for your business.
3. Browse profiles and view portfolios. Look for experience in areas relevant to your business, such as product descriptions or customer service.
4. Conduct an interview. Use this time to ask about their rates, experience, skills, and availability.
5. Engage the professional. If you feel confident about the candidate, engage them. Agree on the contract terms before moving forward.
6. Add them as a secondary user to your seller account. You’ll need to add your Amazon virtual assistant as a secondary user to your Amazon Seller Central account so they can work on your behalf.
7. Set permissions. Finally, set permissions to control what your virtual assistant can access and do for you on your account.

What does a virtual assistant do?

Before searching for an Amazon virtual assistant, determine your most time-consuming and tedious tasks or those that an expert could do better than you. This can help you decide what experience and expertise you want in an Amazon virtual assistant.

Below are some Amazon virtual assistant services to free your time and allow you to focus on scaling and growing your FBA business.

Customer assistant services

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of a successful e-commerce business. It can also be one of the most laborious tasks. Delegating customer care to an Amazon virtual assistant can provide a service level that helps differentiate your FBA business and boosts customer satisfaction.

Customer response templates

Responding to customer questions is vital, and Amazon gives you only 24 hours before flagging your account. Develop standard responses that apply to most customer inquiries to save time and enable you to respond quickly. Your Amazon VA can create and manage a FAQ database to ensure consistent and prompt responses.

Answering questions

A swift answer can be crucial to a buyer ready to make a purchasing decision. It also builds consumer trust in your business and products. Select a virtual assistant who can easily become knowledgeable about your product and answer questions quickly, courteously, and professionally.

Responding to reviews (both positive and negative)

Choose an Amazon virtual assistant with a strong customer service background to respond to positive and negative reviews. They should swiftly and adeptly respond to negative reviews—ideally within minutes of the review posting.

Consumers expect answers to reviews, both negative and positive. If you don’t respond promptly and completely, customers may think you don’t care.

Matching orders to reviews

Have you ever received a bad review without knowing what went wrong? Matching orders to reviews allows you to identify and contact the customer to resolve the issue.

Following up on negative customer reviews

Don’t panic if you receive a negative review. An experienced virtual assistant can develop a game plan based on your guidelines and respond to them. Is there a solution that may result in an updated, positive review? Did the customer misunderstand something about your product?

Order fulfillment and processing services

Order fulfillment and order processing are critical aspects of running a successful Amazon business. By outsourcing these tasks to a virtual assistant, you can ensure timely and accurate order handling while freeing up your time for strategic business activities.

Manually shipping FBA units to customers

When you sell with Amazon, you can send your inventory to Amazon for fulfillment and pay the fees, or you can ship it yourself. If shipping products takes too much time but you’re not ready to offload fulfillment to Amazon, consider hiring a virtual assistant to do the job.

Managing stock and removal orders

Managing stock and removal orders is an essential part of selling on Amazon. As a seller, you may encounter situations where removing unfulfillable merchandise from Amazon’s warehouse or moving inventory to a non-Amazon warehouse becomes necessary.

A virtual assistant understands Amazon’s policies and procedures for managing stock and removal orders to avoid any penalties or issues with your account.

Handling refund/exchange requests

Customers request refunds and exchanges for various reasons. Perhaps the product arrived damaged, or it doesn’t suit their needs. When choosing a virtual assistant to perform these functions, look for someone who knows how to deal with things like partial refunds appropriately.

Confirming fulfilled by merchant (FBM) orders

Confirming fulfilled by merchant (FBM) orders when selling through Amazon is essential. FBM means you’re responsible for shipping the order to the customer, and you must confirm the shipment to receive payment from Amazon.

Amazon won’t pay you for the order if you fail to confirm the shipment, and your account may be penalized or suspended. Promptly confirming your FBM orders can ensure you receive timely payment and maintain a good relationship with Amazon as a seller.

Canceling FBM orders

If you don’t have stock to fulfill an order, you must cancel the order and notify the customer as soon as possible. Failing to cancel an order you can’t fulfill can lead to negative feedback and damage your reputation on Amazon. Also, Amazon may charge you a fee for unfulfilled orders, which can affect your profits.

Managing inventory levels

Proper FBA product inventory management is essential to your success. The goal is to avoid overstocking and tying up too much money in inventory while preventing stockouts that affect fulfillment and lower revenue potential.

Product sourcing and vendor relations services

Amazon sellers can use a few strategies to grow their businesses. One is expanding product selection. It requires upfront analysis, testing, and planning, but product expansion can lead to a significant revenue increase when correctly implemented.

Choose an Amazon virtual assistant with product sourcing and vendor relations experience to handle this.

Sampling, contracting, invoicing, and manufacturing

Finding the right products to sell requires product research and getting samples to test and contrast. Once you select a product, you’ll negotiate pricing and other terms with the manufacturer or supplier and manage invoicing. A virtual assistant can perform some or all of these functions for you.

Private label product sourcing

Private label product sourcing can be a great option when establishing your brand on Amazon. Private label products are items you can label and market under your own brand rather than reselling products under someone else’s brand. This approach allows you to differentiate your products from competitors and build brand recognition and customer loyalty.

Supplier relations

Maintaining strong supplier relationships is critical to managing your supply chain and ensuring the success of your Amazon business. Rather than only reacting when a problem arises, communicating regularly with your suppliers, setting clear expectations, and establishing open lines of communication are essential. An Amazon virtual assistant can help keep up with this communication.‍

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Product listing optimization services

Optimizing product listings is one of the most crucial elements of a successful Amazon store. If you don’t closely follow Amazon’s specific optimization guidelines, Amazon’s ability to fulfill your products or appear in their search results becomes limited.

Amazon listing optimization is an ongoing task requiring a dedicated resource, such as an Amazon virtual assistant.

Creating Amazon product listings

An Amazon product listing is the product page you make for each item you’re selling. It contains product information, titles, and images. Your FBA business’s success hinges on getting this right.

Writing copy for your Amazon listing

Copy that’s unique and attention-grabbing while being concise and informative is one of the keys to a successful FBA business. Look for experienced copywriters who can create this kind of content while focusing on keywords for search engine optimization (SEO)—which we’ll cover later.

Create enhanced (A+) content

Amazon’s A+ Content helps differentiate your product and make your brand stand out in a competitive marketplace. To take advantage of everything A+ Content offers, you must know how to use it and design content that compels visitors to choose and trust you as a seller and brand.

Email marketing copy

Use email to build closer relationships with buyers, boost sales by encouraging click-throughs that lead to conversions, and prompt feedback and positive reviews. You’ll need to develop an email strategy and find a copywriter with the skills to oversee the campaign and accomplish your goals.

Optimize product listings (title, description, images)

Everything you present and how you present it to potential buyers in the Amazon marketplace matters. Optimizing elements of your product listings, such as the title, description, and images, can help you stand out and drive sales.

Keyword research for each product listing (and getting keywords into the copy)

Keywords are words and short phrases that searchers use for search queries. Amazon uses keywords to determine which listings appear at the top of their marketplace search results. Including top keywords and phrases in your product listing helps searchers easily find your product.

Optimizing backend keywords

Backend keywords appear at the end of your Amazon listing. Amazon uses them to help the right products appear in relevant search results.

Optimizing images

We’re a visual society that relies heavily on images when shopping online. High-quality images help you stand out from the competition and affect your sales and Amazon rankings.

A/B testing product images and copy

How do you know which images and copy will generate the most sales? Consider using A/B testing, which shows two page variants to predefined visitor segments during the same time frame to determine which version drives more conversions.

Drop-shipping and fulfillment services

As an FBA business, you must adhere to Amazon’s guidelines to get credited for your sales, maintain your FBA status, and ensure a positive customer experience. You can lose your FBA designation if your products go out of stock.

Although getting the designation back is possible, losing your status means your product isn’t included in Amazon’s search results. This can impact your revenue.

Sending FBA inventory

Sending FBA inventory can be time-consuming. Offloading this task to a virtual assistant frees up your time so you can focus on what you do best: growing your business.

Shipping

Shipped items require shipping labels and Amazon barcodes. Downloading these for each unit is another tedious task you can delegate to an Amazon virtual assistant.

Tracking and confirming receipt

Know where your shipment is along the route and when the items are delivered. You can ask Amazon to investigate if the buyer doesn’t receive an order.

Inventory management

Proper inventory management ensures enough stock to meet customer demand while minimizing the risk of overstocking, which can lead to inflated storage fees and other costs. Regularly review your inventory levels and sales data to determine which products are selling well and which ones may require additional marketing efforts or discounts to move.

Advertising and marketing services

If you aim to build brand awareness and boost sales and revenue, Amazon advertising and external advertising options might be right for you. These include Google Ads, social media ads, and Microsoft Advertising.

Set up ad campaigns

Whether you use Amazon ads or create ad campaigns using an external advertising option, an Amazon virtual assistant with the expertise required to create and monitor these campaigns can help you increase conversions and maximize your ad spend.

Keyword research

We previously highlighted the importance of keywords and optimizing backend keywords. Ensuring your Amazon virtual assistant inputs negative keywords into your campaign is also important so shoppers don’t see your product when using specific keywords in search queries.

Setting up Amazon audiences

Setting up Amazon audiences is important in creating effective Amazon advertising campaigns. Create custom audiences to target buyers in the right segments based on factors like past purchases, demographics, and interests. This approach can help you reach customers most likely interested in your products and improve the return on investment (ROI) of your advertising spend.

Analyze campaigns

Analyzing your Amazon advertising campaigns is essential in optimizing your advertising spend and maximizing your ROI. Review reports and metrics on campaign performance to identify which campaigns and ad placements drive the most sales and adjust your advertising strategy accordingly.

Ongoing campaign optimization

While launching new campaigns can be effective, you’ll also want to continually monitor and optimize existing campaigns to ensure they drive the best results. Analyzing your campaign performance data and making incremental changes over time can improve your ad targeting, messaging, and creativity to drive better brand awareness and sales.

Market research and competitor analysis

Market research and competitor analysis are crucial for staying ahead in the competitive Amazon marketplace. Your Amazon virtual assistant can help you gather and analyze data on market trends, customer preferences, and competitor strategies.

Conducting product research

Your virtual assistant can research potential new products to add to your lineup, considering factors such as demand, competition, and profit margins.

Analyzing competitor pricing and strategies

Your Amazon virtual assistant can help you stay competitive and identify opportunities for differentiation by monitoring your competitors’ pricing, product offerings, and marketing tactics.

Tracking market trends

Staying informed about industry trends and changes in consumer behavior is essential for long-term success. Your Amazon virtual assistant can compile regular reports on market trends relevant to your niche.

How much do Amazon virtual assistants earn?

The hourly rate for an Amazon virtual assistant depends on experience and skill set. Freelance virtual assistants typically charge $10 to $20 per hour on Upwork. However, this rate may vary based on location, expertise, and task complexity.

The cost of hiring an Amazon virtual assistant depends on your business’s specific needs. With flexible rates and the ability to hire on an hourly basis, businesses of all sizes can find an assistant who fits their budget.

Find an Amazon virtual assistant through Upwork

FBA businesses have many tasks to perform. The advantages of using an Amazon virtual assistant are substantial.

Businesses with a considerable amount of work across a wide range of tasks requiring different skill sets may decide to contract multiple virtual assistants. Regardless of the number of Amazon virtual assistants you need to run your FBA business, picking the right one to meet your needs is important.

Upwork has the largest pool of proven, remote Amazon FBA assistants you can hire for all the tasks outlined in this guide and more.