How to Choose a Faire Agency: 10 Questions to Ask
The short answer
To choose a Faire agency, look past the pitch and check four things: how they find retailers, how they get paid, who owns the retailer relationships, and how they prove which orders they drove. A good Faire agency finds and vets retailers for your brand specifically, invites them through your 0% commission Faire Direct link, keeps every buyer in your account, and reports orders with evidence. The 10 questions below will tell you quickly whether an agency meets that bar.
What does a Faire agency actually do?
A Faire agency runs the day to day work of growing your wholesale channel on Faire, so you can focus on product and fulfillment. Most of that work is finding new retailers and keeping existing ones ordering. The listing itself is the easy part.
A full-service Faire agency typically covers:
- Listings: titles, descriptions and product details written for how buyers search on Faire.
- Finding retailers: identifying independent shops that fit your brand and inviting them.
- Faire Direct outreach: invitations that carry your Faire Direct link, so first orders come in at 0% commission.
- Messaging: welcome offers, open cart reminders, review requests and reorder prompts from your Faire inbox.
- Automations, collections and campaigns: always-on emails, new collections, promotions and a plan for each Faire Market.
- Reporting: which orders came from where, and what the work returned against the fee.
If you are new to the platform, start with what Faire Direct is and how it works, because most of an agency's value depends on it.
How does a Faire agency compare to tools, reps and doing it in house?
An agency is one of four ways to grow on Faire. The others are self-serve outreach software, independent sales reps, and doing the work yourself. The right choice depends on how much time you have and how much control you want over cost and relationships.
| Option | Cost model | Effort for you | Who owns retailers | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faire agency | Flat monthly fee or percentage of sales | Low: approvals, fulfillment, retailer support | You, if the contract says so | Brands that want growth without hiring |
| Outreach tools and software | Per seat subscription, often plus a percentage of sales | High: you find leads, write and send | You | Brands with a team member who has time to run it |
| Independent sales reps | Commission on orders, often with showroom or trade show costs | Medium: samples, line sheets, rep management | Often shared with the rep | Brands in rep-driven categories and regions |
| In house | Salary or your own time | Highest: everything | You | Brands with a dedicated wholesale hire |
For a deeper look at the rep model, read Faire vs sales reps.
What 10 questions should you ask a Faire agency?
Ask these before you sign anything. Each one comes with what a good answer sounds like, so you can compare agencies side by side.
1. How do you find retailers for my brand?
A good answer is specific to you: they research shops that fit your category, price point and style, and vet each one before inviting it. Be wary of an agency that talks about the size of its database. A bought or recycled list sends the same stores pitches from dozens of brands, and buyers learn to ignore them.
2. Do new retailers come through my Faire Direct link?
The answer should be yes. In North America, Faire charges 15% commission on marketplace orders plus a one-time $10 fee on a new customer's first order, but a first order placed through your Faire Direct link is charged 0% commission (Faire Help Center). Outside North America, a new marketplace customer's first order costs 25% (Faire Help Center). Outreach that does not use your link pays Faire for customers you found yourself.
3. How are you paid?
There are two common models, and you should understand both. A flat monthly fee keeps your cost fixed: when sales grow, you keep all of the upside. A percentage of sales feels lower risk at the start, but the cost rises with every order, often including reorders from retailers you would have kept anyway. If an agency takes a percentage, get in writing exactly which orders it applies to and for how long.
4. Who owns the retailer contacts?
You should. Every retailer who orders becomes your customer in your Faire account, and that should not change when the engagement ends. Ask what happens to the contact list, outreach history and any shared spreadsheets if you leave.
5. Will you use my leads for other brands?
A good agency will tell you plainly how it handles this. Many agencies work with several brands, and the same shop may be a fit for more than one. What matters is that they do not take retailers who already buy from you and pitch them a competing brand, and that they avoid putting directly competing products in front of the same buyer at the same time.
6. What will you send in my name, and can I approve it?
Everything that goes out under your brand should match your voice and your offers. A good answer: you approve the templates, offers and campaign plan up front, and you can see what was sent at any time. You should never discover a discount you did not agree to from a retailer.
7. How do you handle retailer issues?
Agencies can answer routine questions about your range, minimums and lead times. Sensitive topics (orders, shipping problems, returns, refunds and pricing exceptions) should be flagged to you, because those decisions affect your money and your reputation. An agency that issues refunds or changes terms on its own is taking decisions that belong to you.
8. What reporting will I get, and how do you attribute orders?
You should see orders at the individual level, not just a monthly total. Ask how they decide an order was theirs. The honest answer is that they only claim an order when there is evidence, such as a sign-up through your Faire Direct link or a retailer who ordered after their outreach. An agency that claims every new order in your account is grading its own homework.
9. What is the contract and notice period?
Look for month to month terms or a short notice period, and no long lock-in before you have seen results. Check for setup fees, minimum terms, and any clause that keeps paying the agency on orders after you leave.
10. What results should I expect, and when?
A credible agency will set expectations without promising a number. Retailer sign-ups and replies tend to show within weeks, while orders build over a quarter, because independent buyers order when their budget and season allow. Reorders take longer still, and they are the clearest sign the channel is healthy. Our guide on getting reorders on Faire covers why.
What are the red flags when hiring a Faire agency?
Most bad agency experiences trace back to a handful of warning signs you can spot before signing. If you hear two or more of these, keep looking.
- Guaranteed order numbers or revenue before they know your brand.
- Outreach that does not use your Faire Direct link.
- Vague answers on where leads come from, or a pitch built around list size.
- No clear answer on who keeps the retailer contacts when you leave.
- Messages sent in your name without your approval of templates and offers.
- Reporting that shows totals but not individual orders and their source.
- Long lock-in contracts or fees that continue after you cancel.
- A percentage fee applied to every order in your account, including your existing customers.
How does Ginger answer these questions?
We built our service around the answers we would want as a brand. Ginger charges a flat monthly fee, month to month, with no commission and no setup fee. Retailers are found and vetted for your brand every week and invited through your Faire Direct link at 0% commission. Your buyers stay yours, sensitive retailer issues are flagged to you, and a live dashboard traces every order to its source.
If you want to compare us against the questions above, see how Ginger runs this for brands.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a Faire agency do?
- A Faire agency runs the work of growing your wholesale channel on Faire. That usually means optimizing your listings, finding and inviting new retailers through your Faire Direct link, messaging buyers from your Faire inbox, running campaigns and automations, and reporting on where orders came from. You still make the product, ship orders, and handle retailer support.
- Is a Faire agency worth it?
- A Faire agency is worth it when the orders it brings in are worth more than its fee, and when you do not have the time or team to do the outreach yourself. Judge it over at least a quarter, because wholesale buyers order on their own schedule. Ask for order-level reporting so you can calculate the return yourself.
- Should a Faire agency charge a flat fee or a percentage of sales?
- Both models exist. A flat monthly fee keeps your cost fixed, so you keep all of the upside as your wholesale sales grow. A percentage of sales lowers your cost when sales are slow but grows with every order, including reorders from retailers you would have kept anyway, so read exactly which orders the percentage applies to.
- Who should own the retailer contacts when you work with a Faire agency?
- You should. Retailers who order from your brand are your customers, and they should sit in your own Faire account and your own records. If an agency keeps the contact list or will not hand it over when you leave, treat that as a red flag.
- How long does it take to see results from a Faire agency?
- Expect early signals like retailer sign-ups and replies within the first few weeks, and judge order results over a full quarter. Independent retailers buy when their budget, season and shelf space allow, so a single slow month is not a verdict. Reorders, which take longer, are the real measure of a healthy channel.
Want this done for you?
Ginger finds the retailers, runs the outreach, and grows your reorders on Faire and beyond. You make the product, we grow the orders.
Keep reading
What Is Faire Direct? 0% Commission Explained
Faire Direct is your own ordering link on Faire. Here is how it gets you 0% commission, what retailers receive, and how to avoid losing the 7 day offer window.
Faire vs Sales Reps: Which Is Better for Wholesale?
An honest comparison of Faire and independent wholesale sales reps: what each costs, who owns the retailer relationship, and when to use one, the other, or both.