Once marketplaces become a real part of your sales, someone needs to own them. Listings need updating, stock needs syncing, prices need watching and account health needs checking every week. Many businesses run them on spare time for a while, then reach the point where that stops working.
At that point there are two obvious routes: hire a marketplace manager, or bring in an agency. We do this work for other businesses, so you might expect us to say the agency route is always better. It is not. This guide sets out the real costs and trade-offs of both, including the situations where hiring your own person is the right call.
What a marketplace manager actually does
Whichever route you choose, the work is the same. A typical marketplace role covers:
- creating and improving listings: titles, images, attributes and product content
- managing the product catalogue and product feeds as your range changes
- pricing, promotions and keeping an eye on competitors
- keeping stock levels in sync across channels
- monitoring account health and handling policy issues and appeals
- running marketplace advertising, such as Amazon Sponsored Products or eBay Promoted Listings
- customer messages, returns and feedback
- reporting on what is selling and why
- researching and launching new marketplaces
That is a broad set of skills. Keep it in mind when comparing costs, because the real question is not just "how much?" but "who will be good at all of this?"
What a marketplace manager costs in salary
Specialist recruiter 3Search's 2026 salary guide lists UK salaries for a Marketplace Manager at £38,000 to £55,000. A more junior Marketplace Executive is listed at £32,000 to £45,000, and a Senior Marketplace Manager at £52,000 to £70,000.
A second source points the same way. Job site Talent.com, which draws on advertised salaries, puts the median marketplace manager salary in the UK at £40,000, with entry-level roles from around £30,000 and experienced managers up to about £55,000.
Location, experience and the size of your catalogue all move the figure. Someone who has run Amazon advertising at scale, or managed retailer marketplaces, will sit at the top of the range or above it.
The true cost of employing someone
Salary is only the starting point. As an employer you also pay:
- Employer National Insurance. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, employers pay 15% on earnings above the secondary threshold of £5,000 a year.
- Workplace pension. Under auto-enrolment, the minimum employer contribution is 3% of qualifying earnings, which are earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year.
Here is what that looks like at the bottom, middle and top of the 3Search range, using the minimum pension contribution:
| £38,000 salary | £45,000 salary | £55,000 salary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer NI (15% above £5,000) | £4,950 | £6,000 | £7,500 |
| Employer pension (3% of qualifying earnings) | £953 | £1,163 | £1,321 |
| Total yearly cost | £43,903 | £52,163 | £63,821 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest pound and based on the rates above.
Check whether you can claim Employment Allowance. Eligible employers can reduce their annual employer NI bill by up to £10,500. If your business qualifies and is not already using the allowance, it could cover most or all of the NI on a first hire. Check your eligibility on gov.uk before you budget.
Then there are the costs that do not appear on a payslip:
- Recruitment. Advertising, interview time, and a recruiter's fee if you use one, usually charged as a percentage of first-year salary.
- Equipment and software. A laptop, plus the tools a good marketplace manager will ask for, such as inventory sync, repricing, keyword research and reporting software.
- Training and management time. Someone has to set priorities, review the work and keep them developing.
- The ramp-up period. A new hire needs time to learn your products, systems and suppliers before they are fully productive.
Holiday, sickness and cover
Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for someone working five days a week, and employers can choose to include bank holidays in that. Add sickness, training days and the odd resignation, and your one marketplace manager will be away for well over a month a year.
Marketplaces do not pause while they are off. Orders still need dispatching, messages still need answering within the marketplace's expected times, and an account health warning can arrive on any day. With one person in post, you need a plan for who covers, and that is usually you.
An agency has its own version of this question. Ask any agency you speak to who handles your account when your usual contact is away, and how quickly urgent issues are picked up.
Skills coverage
This is where the comparison gets interesting. One person rarely has deep experience in every area listed earlier. Someone excellent at Amazon advertising may never have built a product feed for a retailer marketplace. Someone who knows eBay inside out may be new to TikTok Shop. You hire for the skills you need most and accept gaps in the others.
An agency spreads that across several people and several clients' worth of experience. The flip side is that you get a share of their time, not all of it, and they will never know your products as well as someone who sits next to your warehouse.
What an agency costs
Agency pricing varies a lot. Common models include a fixed monthly fee, a one-off setup fee, a percentage of marketplace sales, a percentage of advertising spend, or a mix. Read the contract for minimum terms, notice periods and what happens to your accounts and listings if you leave.
We do not publish a price list. What we charge depends on the channels you want, how many products you have and how much help you need, and we give a clear quote after a free 20-minute demo, with no minimum term. Whichever agency you speak to, ask for the full first-year cost in writing, including any setup fee, and set it against the £44,000 to £64,000 a year that a full-time hire can cost.
Agency fees are often well below a salary, but it is not a like-for-like comparison. A full-time employee gives you their whole working week. An agency gives you focused, experienced time on the tasks that move sales, but not a person on site every day.
Side by side
| In-house marketplace manager | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly cost | Salary plus NI, pension, tools and recruitment | Monthly fee, usually far lower than a salary |
| Time | A full working week, minus holiday and sickness | A share of a team's time |
| Skills | Deep in some areas, gaps in others | Broader range across marketplaces and disciplines |
| Product knowledge | Builds deep knowledge of your range | Relies on what you share |
| Speed on daily decisions | Fast, they are in the business | Depends on the agreed response times |
| Holiday cover | Needs a plan | Should be built in, but ask |
| Flexibility | Employment contract and notice periods | Depends on the contract terms |
When hiring in-house is the better choice
Here is the honest part. Hiring your own marketplace manager is often the better option when:
- Marketplaces are your main channel and volumes are high. If marketplaces bring in most of your revenue, a dedicated person paying close attention every day can be worth more than they cost.
- Your range changes constantly. Hundreds of new lines a season, frequent price changes or perishable stock need someone in the building who sees it happen.
- Marketplace work is tangled up with other jobs. If the same person needs to talk to suppliers, pick stock or handle wholesale orders, a marketplace-only agency cannot do that part.
- You are spending close to a salary on outside help already. Once agency and freelancer fees approach the cost of an employee, hiring often gives you more for the money.
- You want to build the skills inside the business. An employee's knowledge stays with you, and becomes the base for a bigger team later.
- You have someone to manage them. A good hire still needs direction. If you have an e-commerce or commercial lead who can do that, the role is far more likely to succeed.
When an agency is the better fit
- You are new to marketplaces or selling on one or two, and the workload does not yet justify a full-time salary.
- You want to add new marketplaces and need people who have set them up before.
- You need specialist skills, such as advertising or product feeds, for part of the week rather than all of it.
- You want to be able to scale support up or down without recruitment or notice periods.
The hybrid option
It does not have to be one or the other. Two combinations are worth considering. The first is a junior in-house marketplace executive handling day-to-day orders, messages and stock, with an agency covering strategy, advertising and new marketplaces. The second is using an agency to set up and stabilise your marketplaces, then hiring once the volume justifies it, with the agency's documentation and processes ready to hand over.
Whichever you choose, make sure your marketplace accounts are in your own company's name, that you can remove anyone's access at any time, and that nothing goes live without your approval.
If you want an outside view before deciding, book a free 20-minute demo. We look at your products and the channels you sell on today, and walk through what it would cost. There is no cost and no obligation.
Key takeaways
- 3Search's 2026 guide lists UK marketplace manager salaries at £38,000 to £55,000.
- Add 15% employer NI above £5,000 and at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings: a £45,000 hire costs about £52,000 a year before tools and recruitment.
- Check Employment Allowance, which can reduce employer NI by up to £10,500 for eligible businesses.
- In-house wins on product knowledge, daily speed and building skills. Agencies win on cost, breadth of skills and flexibility.
- If marketplaces are your main channel at high volume, hiring is often the right call. A hybrid can give you both.