How to have an agency manage your Microsoft Advertising account

Note

We've temporarily placed a limit on the number of accounts you can link. If you encounter any issues, please contact Support or your account representative for assistance.

When an agency manages your account, you give them permission to perform all campaign management tasks, including creating ads, managing keyword bids, and setting budgets.

The process for having an agency manage your account looks like this:

• You and your agency develop a working relationship outside of Microsoft Advertising, which can include signing a contract that specifies the details of the relationship.
• You give the agency your Microsoft Advertising account number.
• Through Microsoft Advertising, your agency sends you a request to manage your account.
• You accept the request, and the agency begins managing your account. You can still sign in at any time and view or edit your account and campaigns.

We strongly recommend that you or the agency create a separate account for you through the Microsoft Advertising sign up process and then have the agency send you a request to link to your account. If the agency creates an account for you under their manager account name, your account will not be able to be unlinked from that agency if you choose to manage the account yourself or have another agency manage it. In that case, you'll have to re-create your account.

Managing your account's relationship with agencies

• Accept or decline an agency request

  When an agency requests permission to manage your Microsoft Advertising account, you will receive an email from Microsoft Advertising. You have 30 days to accept or decline the request in Microsoft Advertising. After 30 days, the request will be declined automatically. To accept a link request and allow someone to manage your account, you must have the role of Super Admin assigned to your username. Here's how to accept or decline the request:

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > All accounts.
  2. Select Accounts Summary.
  3. Select the Requests tab, and then select Received.
  4. Under Actions, choose Accept request or Decline request.

  Only a user with Super Admin permissions can accept or decline a linking request. For more information about managing linked accounts, see Linking to an existing account.

• Choose who pays for your account charges

  Often, the agency takes over as the "bill-to customer" on your account. This means that the agency will pay for all advertising costs in Microsoft Advertising, and then bill you later. If you prefer, you can continue to pay all advertising costs directly to Microsoft Advertising, even if your agency is doing the day-to-day campaign management. Just let the agency know which you prefer before they send you the request.

  Keep in mind that if you have a monthly invoiced account that is managed by an agency, they can create, edit, approve, and cancel insertion orders even if you are the bill-to customer.

• You will receive a refund for prepaid amounts when an agency takes over your bills

  If the agency pays the account charges and you have a prepay account with a balance, we will refund your balance to your original payment method. If for some reason that refund fails, we will send you a check or wire transfer, depending on the country/region of your account. Please keep in mind that the mailing time for checks can take up to 5 weeks. For more information, see About credits, refunds, and adjustments.

• Get help finding an agency

  If you want to find an agency to manage your Microsoft Advertising account, you can check out our directory of accredited Microsoft Advertising partners who are experts in online advertising and campaign management..

• Stop an agency from managing your account

  As the account owner, you can remove a direct manager at any time. Direct managers can also remove other direct managers—except for the account owner. In addition, account owners can remove access from any direct managers on their account.

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Settings and select Direct managers.
  2. Under Actions, select Unlink next to the direct manager whose account access you want to remove.
  3. Enter the Date. This is the date you want to stop managing the account. You can also select Immediately.
  4. Select Unlink accounts.

• Find your account number

  1. In the upper left-hand corner, select the Manager account to view all account names and corresponding account numbers in the drop-down menu.

  OR

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > All accounts.
  2. Under Accounts summary> Performance, account numbers are located next to their corresponding account names in the Account name column.