Don’t Sell These Products on Amazon:

Over the years, I’ve wracked up thousands of hours looking for Amazon FBA products to sell, analysing every type of opportunity that I came across – from basic things such as freezer bags, to more unusual ideas such as breast pumps bags. From all the experience that I’ve gained, I’ve been able to develop a pretty good sense of the type of Amazon FBA product that will do well in the long run, and the type that’s very likely to nosedive and cause the seller to lose a tonne of money. (Here’s an article on how to find an Amazon product to sell.)

Understanding what makes a good Amazon FBA product isn’t difficult to understand – brandable, has sales demand, makes a profit and so on. However, understanding whether a good Amazon FBA product is likely to be a success in the long-term – that’s pretty tricky to do as a beginner because it takes years of practice and insights into selling on Amazon in order to achieve. In this article, I’m going to be using some of my insights to run through a couple of Amazon FBA product ideas that are currently gaining popularity, that in my view are only going to lose you money if you decide to start selling them now.

DIY Water Bottles

One of fastest selling products on Amazon is the water bottle. At least $13m worth of water bottles are sold every single month on Amazon, and because of that, Amazon FBA beginners are immediately attracted to selling some form of this product.

The latest variation of the standard water bottle to get a lot of attention from hopeful sellers is the DIY Water Bottle, which is a water bottle aimed at kids because it comes with a huge assortment of stickers that can be used to decorate the bottle however you like.

Now this sub-niche of the water bottle is pretty new and rapidly growing in popularity – and because of that, it’s a product that is appearing on a lot of people’s radars when they’re doing their product research. On the face of it, it might seem like a good idea to sell – a high amount of demand, lightweight, profitable, and a lot of sellers making decent stacks of cash with barely any reviews. But to someone with experience, it’s clear that this niche has got disaster written all over it.

Whilst sellers might look like they’re making a decent amount of cash, I can guarantee that the majority of it is going towards spending amazon advertising, and in reailty they’re probably making a loss as they attempt to gain a position In Amazon’s search results. The actual number of people per month searching for ‘diy water bottle’ on Amazon is tiny, so it’s likely that these sellers are instead trying to target customers searching for ‘water bottle’ instead, which is crazily competitive and very expensive to do too.

But the biggest reason as to why I think this niche is doomed to fail is because a water bottle is a commodity product. Ultimately, the majority of customers don’t really care about branding on a water bottle – they just want something that’s decent quality and serves it’s purpose. And because of that, their purchasing decision is most likely going to come down to one thing: PRICE.

Whoever sells for the cheapest price in this type of niche is going to win the sale, which means that in a few months once the number of sellers has increased – which it will – it’s going to be very very difficult to compete unless you’re able to sell at the cheapest price or you already have a decent rank position, meaning that starting to look at the DIY water bottle niche now is a bad idea and you should stay away unless you want to lose all of your money.

Gel Guns

A product niche that’s recently become more popular on Amazon is a gel blaster gun. These things are aimed primarily at children and young adults, and like with many Amazon FBA products, to those that don’t have experience it seems like it could be a good product.

There’s a decent amount of sales demand from customers. With sellers making between $10 and $100k per month, the price point is above $20 and the profit margin looks pretty good. Despite all of that, starting to sell this type of product now is likely going to result in you losing all of your money and here’s why.

Whilst Amazon’s established sellers of gel guns are making good amounts, if you take a look at what each of them is offering that’s different to each other, it’s hard to properly distinguish other than a slight difference in design. Looking through all of the listings from the position of a customer is pretty overwhelming. Every single design and offer looks slightly different, and because of that, it’s going to be pretty difficult for any new sellers to be able to consistently grab the customer’s attention in order to get sales and a position in Amazon’s search results.

It’s a bit of a unique niche in that everybody’s product offer looks completely different, which in an ironic way, is worse than if it were a niche that was a sea of sameness. Despite every image and offer here being different, there’s no unique way any new seller can stand out, and because of that, launching in this niche – despite high sales and good amounts of profit being made – is likely to result in you losing a load of your money.

Boob Tape

Women’s boob tape is a product that has been used for many years, but despite that, it’s only really recently started to gain a lot of traction and sales on Amazon. 

The product is generating over $600k a month on Amazon, with some sellers taking home around a quarter of a million alone.

Given they’re effectively selling elastic tape which is very cheap to produce, the take home profit for this seller is likely to be in the region of at least $50k per month – not bad for someone that only started selling earlier this year.

Although it’s clear that sellers are making a mountain of cash from the huge amount of demand from Amazon’s shoppers, this is another terrible idea to launch if you’re just getting started, and that’s because it’s a commodity product where customers favour pricing over branding, AND it’s product that’s very difficult to differentiate visually, meaning it’s almost impossible to stand out from the crowd.

Every listing looks more or less the same, and as the niche has become more competitive, we can see that sellers have been forced to compete on the only thing that sets them apart – which is the price point, impacting profits. So if you’re a new Amazon FBA seller considering this niche, keep away, because the ship has already sailed.

Fidget Pens

Everyone remembers the huge craze that was caused by fidget spinners back in 2017.

And if you were an entrepreneur looking to sell products online at the time, there was a good chance that you considered selling them. But if never go round to it, I wouldn’t feel too bad because despite a number of sellers making an absolute fortune, the majority of people that place mass orders from China, ended up missing the boat and being stuck with a load of worthless stock that they couldn’t shift as the trend quickly died out.

And whilst the fidget spinner trend definitely isn’t gaining popularity on amazon, a similar niche is – which is fidget pens.

These things seemed to have come out of nowhere and are generating around half a million on Amazon a month, with the average seller generating around $12k in revenues. And whilst on the face of it, it might look like something that should be more seriously considered than the fidget spinner, I’d still be incredibly weary. Yes, the demand is strong and the profit margin looks attractive, but, just like it’s predecessor, the fidget pen is another commodity product where pricing is favoured over branding, it’s difficult to differentiate, and the reality is, that this is going to be a short lived success even for the established sellers on Amazon because it’s a bit of a fad product. And for that reason, I’d keep well away unless you’re in the business of losing money.

So despite all of those Amazon FBA products looking quite at first glance, if you’re seriously considering selling any of them, I’d advise re-thinking and taking another look at what’s out there. If you are an aspiring Amazon FBA seller and you’d value having somebody look over your product research ideas before you pull the trigger and send money to a supplier, then why not take a look at my Smashers Academy programme, which is a beginner to advanced mentor scheme that aims to teach you everything there is to know about Amazon FBA, guiding you through the process so that you can become a successful seller as quickly as possible.

And if you need help looking over your profit figures for an individual product or even your business, check out Osome an Amazon FBA specialist accountancy firm.

If you want to learn how you can create an Amazon FBA business yourself, then check out my free training where I’ll teach you everything you need to launch your first product on Amazon and scale to $5,000+ in monthly profit.

Or if you’re ready to begin your journey and want to start with the best chances of success, apply to become a member of HonestFBA’s training programme where you’ll receive guidance & support from our team of 7-figure Amazon FBA seller experts whenever you need it.