Two different businesses use the same name, and the price gap you're looking at is mostly a question of which one is in front of you.
Staffing model: the agency contracts or employs the VA, invoices you monthly, and pays the worker itself. You never see the worker's rate. The spread between your $1,600 and whatever the VA is paid is the agency's revenue, and it pays for recruiting, replacement when someone leaves, payroll handling, and whatever supervision they actually provide.
Placement model, which is what pike's second quote is: the agency screens candidates, hands you one, charges a one-time fee (often around a month of the seat rate), and after that the VA is your contractor and you pay them direct. Cheaper across a year. Every problem after the handoff is also yours.
People loosely call freelancer marketplaces agencies too. Those are search tools with payment processing attached. No training, no replacement, nobody watching the work.
What the $5 an hour listings don't price is your own time. In the first month with a new VA, expect a few hours a week writing instructions, listening to recorded calls, and fixing output. That cost lands on you in either model, and it's usually what decides whether a seat earns its keep.
Settle two things before you sign anything. Whose accounts and passwords the VA works in, and who owns the call notes and CRM records when that person leaves. Get the replacement guarantee in writing, including whether you keep paying during the gap while they refill the seat.
