Most "best Shopify operations agency" articles are rankings. A ranking tells you who the author likes; it cannot tell you who fits your store, because it does not know your store. What does tell you is how a partner answers a handful of plain questions before you sign anything.
These are the seven we would ask if we were hiring an operations partner ourselves. For each one: why it matters, what a good answer sounds like, and how we answer it, with the page where you can check.
First, what an operations partner actually does
An operations partner runs the daily work of the store: orders and the exceptions in them, the customer inbox, product listings, stock and suppliers, and usually the email flows. That is different from a build agency, which designs and develops the store and hands it over, and from a freelancer, who usually covers one task for one person. If what you need is the store run every day, the questions below are the ones that matter.
1. Will the same person work on my store every week?
Store work rewards memory: your return rules, your tone with customers, the supplier who always ships late. A partner who rotates whoever is free each day throws that memory away every morning. A good answer names one person and says they stay.
Our answer: you always get the same person, and they learn your store, your tone and your edge cases. The Hire a VA page sets out how that works.
2. What happens if that person leaves or is out?
People get sick, take holidays and change jobs. The question is whether your store stops when they do. A good answer has a second person who already knows the store, and written procedures so nobody starts from nothing.
Our answer: your store already has a backup who knows it, and the procedures are written down. If a VA does not work out for any reason, we move your store to another trained VA within 48 hours.
3. Can I see what was done, hour by hour?
An invoice for "40 hours of store support" tells you nothing. You should be able to see which task took which hour, so you can tell what you are paying for and where the time goes.
Our answer: every hour is logged in Tarly at the task level, so you see exactly what was worked on and when.
4. Are the procedures written down?
Written procedures are what make the first two answers possible. They are also the difference between a partner who knows your store and a partner who only knows it while one particular person is there. Ask to see an example, and ask who keeps them.
Our answer: every job on your store runs to a written procedure, which is how a second person can step in without the store noticing. About us explains why the business was built that way.
5. What does it cost, and what is the minimum?
You should be able to get a price before a long call, and know the minimum commitment and the notice period. A partner who will not put a number in writing until you have signed is asking you to trust the invoice.
Our answer: a dedicated VA is $4 to $8+ an hour depending on the role, from 5 hours a week, month to month, with two weeks' notice. Store operations and builds are quoted in writing after a 30-minute call. It is all on Pricing.
6. What happens when something goes wrong?
Something will. A listing goes live with the wrong price, a refund goes to the wrong order. The question is who pays for the fix and how fast it happens.
Our answer: errors are corrected within 24 hours at no charge. If you are not satisfied after the first two weeks, you pay only for the hours worked.
7. Can you show me stores you run now?
Ask for real stores, by name, with a link you can open. A partner's own description of its results is worth less than the store itself, and less than what its clients wrote without being asked.
Our answer: fifteen stores are written up on our work, most with a link to the live store, and our reviews are on Reviews, 4.9 from 17 on Fiverr.
Three red flags
- Nobody can tell you who will do the work. If the answer to question one is "whoever is available", the memory problem is built in.
- No record of the hours. If you cannot see what was done, you cannot tell good work from slow work.
- A long contract before any work. Store operations can be tried for two weeks. A partner who needs a year up front is pricing in the risk that you would leave.
Which kind of help fits your stage
If you are weighing a partner against hiring someone yourself, or against a freelancer or a build agency, we have set them side by side, with the source of every figure: hiring in-house, an Upwork freelancer and a Shopify agency.
Ask us the seven questions
The quickest way to judge any partner is to ask these questions on a call and see how plainly they are answered. Book a 30-minute call and ask us all seven. A written quote follows.
