•7 Product Types To Avoid When Starting Out Your Amazon Private Label Business•

Product selection is critical to the success of your private label brand. There are several considerations to make when choosing a product. In the last episode of the AM/PM podcast we discussed several ways to come up with product ideas; today we go over which products to avoid, and we also discuss some ninja research tactics that will help you hone in on killer products.

One of the easiest ways to select the right item to private label is to focus your search rather than to keep it wide open. By eliminating some bad categories you will quickly be able to pass on bad ideas and dedicate more productive time to good ones.

A category you should cross off your list immediately is that of bulky and heavy products. When it comes to making money selling on Amazon, size and weight are of crucial importance.

As far as the size of your item is concerned, it is important you choose a product that can fit inside a large standard size box (18” x 14” x 8”). Shipping costs increase dramatically if you exceed that size. An added benefit of small products is that inbound shipping will be lower too.

Weight is equally important. When selecting your product, be sure that the total weight of the unit does not exceed 20 pounds, but make an effort to select products that are much lighter than that.

Amazon considers oversized items all the items that exceed any of these size and weight specs. To be clear, an item can be light as a feather, but if it cannot fit inside a large standard size box, it will be deemed oversized. The same is true the other way around, if the item is small but heavier than 20 pounds, it’s still oversized. To learn more about what Amazon considers oversized items head over to their Product Size Tiers page.

Because of the fact that Amazon has to store millions of products in their multiple warehouses, they put a limit on some seller accounts that determines how much inventory that individual seller can store there at any given time. That limit is significantly higher for regular-sized items than it is for oversized items. You can learn more about the Inventory Storage Limits in the FBA help area.

I’ve tried to make it crystal clear for you, but in case I’ve failed and haven’t been clear enough, I’ll say it point blank: DO NOT start out with oversized items.

Now that we have oversized products out of the equation, let’s talk about other products you might want to avoid. The following list should get you thinking on the right track, but before we go into it I want to stress that the reason we’re avoiding these products is not because they don’t sell well or they don’t make money; what we’re trying to do by avoiding these products is to mitigate the possibility of problems that may arise.

For example: Amazon recently recalled thousands of “hover-boards” because of safety concerns. They gave sellers a deadline to remove the items from their inventory; items that were not removed on time were destroyed. Having to remove inventory or having it destroyed is never a good day for a seller.

Let’s get started with the list. In no particular order, you should try to avoid the following:

Products with Moving Parts

You should avoid selling toys and gadgets with moving parts. Products that have moving parts are more likely to be assembled incorrectly and be broken by the final consumer prompting returns.

~Download the transcript for this episode: https://www.ampmpodcast.com//ep6-7-product-types-to-avoid-when-starting-out-your-amazon-private-label-business/

*Outline of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast:

00:48 Episode Introduction.

01:21 Why you should choose small and light items when you’re starting out selling on Amazon.

03:47 What products you should avoid when you start selling private label products on Amazon.

07:08 How to use the Amazon Best Seller list to find great product ideas.

09:00 How to spy on competitor brands to mine for product ideas.

10: