How to Switch Amazon Agencies Without Losing Access or Momentum
Most bad agency exits are not fights. They are a missing admin role, an ad account the brand never owned, a folder of design files nobody asked for, and two teams editing the same campaigns in the same week. Here is the order that avoids all four, built from Amazon's own guidance on users, Brand Registry roles and ad manager accounts, checked on October 22, 2026.
Short answer
To switch Amazon agencies safely, first confirm you are the primary user of Seller Central, the Administrator and Rights Owner in Brand Registry, and an admin on your own Amazon Ads account. Then export 12 months of reports, collect creative source files and licenses, and get a written handover note. Bring the new agency in as an authorized partner with only the permissions it needs, run a 30-day overlap with one agreed cutover day, and remove the old agency's users, manager account link and app connections on the last day of service. Watch account health for 60 days.
Ownership First, Notice Second, Cutover Last
The risky part of a switch is not the new agency. It is the gap between the day you give notice and the day the old team is fully out. During that gap, whoever holds the admin roles holds your account. If that is you, the switch is paperwork. If it is the agency, you are asking for your own account back from someone you just let go.
So the order is simple. Confirm you own the three control points (Seller Central, Brand Registry and Amazon Ads) before you say anything. Copy everything you would lose (reports, files, the logic behind running campaigns) while access is still open. Then bring the new team in alongside the old one, move control on one day, and close every door the old team used.
Amazon's sources we used: the Seller Central forum guide on seller account user permissions posted by an Amazon staff account, Amazon's guide to Brand Registry roles (April 23, 2025), the Amazon Ads manager account user guide, and the Amazon Ads announcement of custom access controls (April 22, 2021). Seller Central help pages behind the login could not be loaded, so we quote only what these public pages say.
The 13 Steps, In the Order That Keeps You in Control
Steps 1 to 8 happen before you give notice or in the first days after. Steps 9 to 11 are the overlap. Steps 12 and 13 close the switch. Most brands can do steps 1 to 5 in an afternoon.
Read your contract for the notice period and exit terms
Before you tell anyone, find four things in the agreement: the notice period (often 30 days, sometimes a three-month minimum term), what you owe for the notice month, who owns the creative and the ad account, and any clause about handing over files. Put the last day of service on your calendar. If the contract is silent on files, ask in writing now, while the relationship is still friendly.
List every login, user and connected app the agency touches
Open Seller Central, Brand Registry and the Amazon Ads console and write down every user, every authorized partner and every connected app (software that reads your account through Amazon's approved connections). Include Shopify, Klaviyo, Google Drive, Dropbox and any reporting dashboard. This list is your exit map. Anything not on it is something you will discover after it breaks.
Confirm you are the primary user of Seller Central
Amazon's own guidance says the primary user, also called the account administrator, is the person who registered the account and has access to every page. If an agency employee registered your account, fix that first. You cannot remove the person who controls the account.
Confirm you hold the Administrator and Rights Owner roles in Brand Registry
In Brand Registry, the Administrator role assigns and removes every other role, and the Rights Owner role belongs to the trademark owner. Both should sit on an account inside your company. Amazon advises assigning protection roles only to employee accounts or accounts internal to the brand. If the agency holds Administrator and you do not, ask them to assign it to you before you give notice.
Confirm your company owns the Amazon Ads account
Your advertising account should be one you created, with your own admin user. Agencies usually reach it through a manager account, which is a parent account that groups many clients. Amazon's manager account guide says the advertiser approves the link, and can later remove the agency's manager account, which removes every user inherited from it. If the agency created the ad account under its own login, plan a handover of that login before notice.
Export your reporting history before anyone loses access
Download at least 12 months of Business Reports (sales and sessions by ASIN), Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display campaign reports, search term reports, and Brand Analytics search data if you have it. Some Amazon reports only look back a limited window, so do this now, not after the handover. Save the agency's own monthly reports and dashboards as PDFs too, because those dashboards usually live in the agency's software and leave with them.
Collect creative source files and confirm the license
Ask for the layered design files (PSD, AI or Figma), raw and edited photos, video project files and final exports, fonts, and any stock or music licenses bought for your brand. Check who holds each license. A stock image licensed to the agency, not to you, may need to be relicensed. Read what your contract says about ownership; if it says nothing, ask the agency to confirm in writing which files you may keep using.
Write down what is running and why
Ask the outgoing agency for a handover note: active campaigns and their goal, negative keyword lists, budget rules, scheduled price changes, coupons and deals with end dates, pending A+ or Brand Store submissions, open cases with Seller Support, and anything set to renew. A one-page note saves the next team weeks of guessing.
Bring the new agency in as an authorized partner, not a shared login
Add the new agency through Seller Central's user permissions or authorized partner tools, grant only the permissions its job needs, and link your ad account to its manager account. Amazon's guidance is to give the minimum permissions required and to review them regularly. Never hand over your primary login or password.
Run a 30-day overlap
Give the new team read access first, and keep the old team in place until the notice ends. The new team audits and plans; the old team keeps campaigns live and answers questions. Change nothing major in week one. The 30-day plan in section [04] shows the week-by-week order.
Move control on one agreed day
Pick a cutover date inside the notice period. On that day the new team takes edit rights on campaigns and listings, and the old team stops making changes. Writing the date down stops two teams from editing the same campaign in the same week, which is a common cause of a sales dip during a switch.
Remove the old agency's access everywhere
On the last day of service, remove old users and authorized partners in Seller Central, remove the old manager account in Amazon Ads (Account access, then Manager accounts, then Remove access, per Amazon's guide). Then remove any Brand Registry roles they held, disconnect their apps, and change passwords on any shared tools such as Shopify or email. Then check your list from step 2 line by line.
Check account health and sales for 60 days
Watch Account Health, listing suppressions and the Buy Box daily for two weeks, then weekly. Compare sessions, conversion rate, ad spend and sales against the same weeks before the switch. A small dip in the first month is common while the new team learns the account. A large one usually points to a missed step: a paused campaign, a lost coupon or a broken connection.
Two Teams, One Account: A Week-by-Week Plan
This plan assumes a 30-day notice period. If yours is longer, stretch week 2. If you have no notice period, still give the new team two weeks of read-only access before it changes anything. The goal is that sales never notice the switch.
Signs a Switch Will Be Harder Than It Should
The agency registered your Seller Central account
If an agency employee is the primary user, you do not control the account. Fix this before notice, with Seller Support if needed.
You are not the Brand Registry Administrator
Whoever holds Administrator can remove your access and reassign the brand. This should be someone at your company.
The ad account lives under the agency's login
If the agency created the advertising account itself, you may be rebuilding campaigns and losing history. Ask for the handover in writing.
You were given a shared login
If you or the agency use one shared username and password, there is no way to remove one person without locking out everyone. Amazon says not to share your password.
Reports only exist in the agency's dashboard
If your only view of performance is the agency's software, export it now. The dashboard usually leaves with the agency.
No written answer on file ownership
If the contract says nothing about design files and licenses, a friendly exit becomes a negotiation. Ask while you are still a client.
The new agency asks for your password
Any agency that wants your primary login instead of its own user or partner access is a reason to stop and ask why.
Score Your Readiness Before You Give Notice
Answer each of the 10 lines yes or no. You can give notice when you have eight or more yeses, and the Seller Central, Brand Registry and Amazon Ads lines must all be yes. With six or seven, close the gaps this week. With fewer than six, fix the gaps first, while the outgoing agency still has reason to help.
When Staying Put, or Going Solo, Is the Better Call
Peak season is under six weeks away
Switching in the run-up to Prime Day or the fourth quarter puts a new team on your busiest weeks. Give notice after the peak, or start the overlap early enough to finish before it.
The problem is the listing, not the agency
If conversion is weak because of the main image, price or reviews, a new PPC team buys the same clicks to the same page. Fix the listing first.
You have not told the current agency what is wrong
A written list of three problems and a 30-day deadline costs nothing. Some fixes are a conversation away.
An agency fee would be a large share of your margin
If you are a small seller, the fee can eat most of what the agency adds. Running Sponsored Products yourself with the free guides on this site may beat any agency.
Your account has an open suspension or policy issue
Changing teams mid-appeal splits the history. Resolve it first, or have the outgoing team hand the case notes over in full.
About the Author
Ian Smith
Founder, Evolve Media Agency
Ian has run Evolve Media Agency since 2017 and has spent more than a decade in ecommerce, building and selling his own brands and producing listing content, video and ads for Amazon, Shopify and TikTok Shop brands. He writes every page on this site himself and the prices quoted for Evolve are the prices you pay.
Evolve Media Agency runs Amazon PPC management month to month at $995 a month for up to $10,000 in ad spend, or $1,995 a month up to $50,000, paid 100% upfront, with ad spend billed by Amazon. For the agency's side of the manager account link, see JumpFly's walkthrough (June 14, 2023).
Switching Agencies Questions
How do I switch Amazon agencies without losing access?
What should I get back when I fire my Amazon agency?
Who should own my Amazon Ads account?
What Brand Registry role should an agency have?
How long should the overlap between agencies be?
Will my sales drop when I change Amazon agencies?
Can an agency keep my design files after I leave?
Should I ever give an agency my Seller Central password?
Switching to Us? We Start With the Overlap
Book a free 30-minute call. Bring your list of users, roles and campaigns, and we will tell you what is missing from your exit, what we would need access to, and what the first 30 days would look like, before you give notice to anyone.