Influencer Agency Fees: Percentage, Retainer, Per-Campaign or GMV Share

1. What are influencer agency fees, and what do they actually pay for?

Agency fees pay for the work of finding, vetting, briefing, contracting and managing creators, reviewing content and reporting, which is separate from the money paid to the creators themselves.

A clean quote therefore has at least two parts: the creator budget (what creators receive) and the agency fee (what the agency receives). If a quote shows one blended number, ask for the split. Without the split you cannot compare agencies, check what share of your budget reaches creators, or judge the fee against the work. Our guide to choosing an influencer agency lists the other questions to ask when you shortlist.

How to choose an influencer agencyInfluencer marketing agency in Vietnam

2. Model one: a percentage of the creator budget

The agency charges a fixed percentage on top of, or out of, the budget it manages for creators. It is the most common model for booking work.

It is simple and scales with the size of the campaign. The incentive to watch: the fee grows when the budget grows, so a larger spend is good for the agency whether or not it is good for you. Ask whether the percentage applies to the creator budget only or also to ad spend, product costs and production, and whether creator fees are passed through at the rate the creator was paid.

• Is the percentage on creator fees only?
• Is it charged on top of the budget or included in it?
• Are creator invoices or rate confirmations shared on request?
• Is there a cap or a floor on the fee?

3. Model two: a monthly retainer

A retainer is a fixed monthly fee for ongoing capacity: a team that plans, books and manages creators every month, regardless of how many creators you book that month.

It suits brands that run creator work continuously. The incentive to watch: a retainer is paid whether or not the work is busy, so you need the scope in writing. Ask what the monthly fee includes, the minimum term, what happens in a peak month, and how you can pause or change scope. Retainers are often combined with a percentage (see the hybrid model).

• What deliverables or hours does the retainer cover?
• What is the minimum term and how do you exit?
• What is out of scope and priced separately?
• How is a peak month handled?

4. Model three: a fixed fee per campaign

A per-campaign fee covers a defined brief, creator list and timeline for one price. It fits launches, promotions and seasonal pushes.

The incentive to watch: a fixed fee rewards the agency for scoping tightly, which is good for cost control but can lead to disputes when the plan changes. Ask for the scope in the quote, what counts as a change, and how a change is priced. An RFP in a fixed format makes the scope explicit before the quote arrives; see our RFP template.

Influencer campaign RFP template

5. Model four: a share of attributed sales (GMV)

Here the agency is paid a percentage of the sales attributed to the creators it manages, usually in affiliate programs on TikTok Shop or a marketplace.

It ties the agency fee to results, which brands like. The incentive to watch: GMV counts what is sold before returns and cancellations unless the contract says otherwise, and it ignores margin. Ask which source of truth is used for attribution, whether GMV is measured before or after returns, and what happens to the fee when an order is cancelled. Our guide to TikTok Shop affiliate explains how attribution works for creators.

TikTok Shop affiliate for KOCs

6. Model five: hybrids

Many agencies combine two models, such as a monthly retainer plus a percentage of the creator budget, or a campaign fee plus a share of sales.

Hybrids can be fair when each part pays for something different: the retainer for the team, the percentage for the booking volume. They are harder to compare, so convert them into one total for a defined scope before you decide (see the worksheet in section 9).

7. A published example, with its source

Most agencies do not publish prices, so a real example helps. LMC, a Vietnam-based agency, publishes its structure on its influencer and creator marketing page, which we read on 16 October 2026. For its brand-directed creator booking service it lists a monthly retainer of 15M VND plus 10 percent of the creator budget, a minimum term of three months for ongoing mode, and says one-off campaigns are scoped per campaign. Prices are in VND and exclusive of VAT. The page states that the 10 percent is a coordination fee on the creator budget, that platform ad spend is not marked up, and that it does not guarantee reach, views or conversion.

For its affiliate program management service, a different model with commission-based creators, LMC lists 5 percent of affiliate-attributed GMV. This is one agency's published pricing, not a market average and not a recommendation; treat it as an illustration of how a hybrid and a GMV share are written down. Pages change, so check the source before you rely on it (lmc.vn/services/influencer-creator-marketing).

8. What should be inside the fee, and what is billed on top?

Two agencies with the same percentage can deliver very different value if their fee covers different things. List what is included before you compare.

Typical items to confirm are below. Ask for each to be marked included, extra or not offered.

• Creator sourcing, vetting and shortlist
• Briefing, contracting and usage-rights paperwork
• Product seeding logistics
• Content review before posting
• Reporting and data handover
• Number of revision rounds
• Ad spend and who pays the platform
• VAT and other taxes

9. A worksheet to compare quotes on the same scope

Give every agency the same scope, then convert each answer into one total cost over the same period.

Example (illustrative budget): suppose the creator budget is 200,000,000 VND over three months. A percentage-only model at 10 percent costs 20,000,000 VND in agency fees. A hybrid shaped like the published example above, a 15,000,000 VND monthly retainer for three months plus 10 percent of the creator budget, costs 45,000,000 + 20,000,000 = 65,000,000 VND, before VAT. A GMV share at 5 percent on 500,000,000 VND of attributed sales (also illustrative) would be 25,000,000 VND. The numbers are only a method: the point is that models with different shapes become comparable once you fix the scope, the period and the totals.

• Same brief and the same period for every quote
• Creator budget and agency fee shown separately
• Total fee including every extra and VAT
• Fee as a share of the total spend
• What you can cancel, and when

10. Red flags in an agency quote

A few patterns deserve a direct question before you sign.

None of them proves bad faith, but each is a reason to ask for clarity in writing.

• One blended price with no split between creators and agency
• Refusal to share creator rate confirmations
• A guaranteed number of views, sales or followers
• Ad spend marked up without saying so
• No definition of GMV or of what counts as a change
• Long minimum terms without a scope review

11. Which model fits which situation?

There is no best model, only a better fit for your situation.

A percentage suits one-off booking work; a retainer suits steady monthly activity; a per-campaign fee suits a clearly bounded launch; a GMV share suits affiliate-led sales with low upfront cost. If you are unsure, start with a bounded campaign, measure, and move to a retainer once the work is steady. Set the total against your overall campaign budget so the agency fee stays in proportion.

Creator campaign budget