You've found the perfect item to dropship, and there are plenty of suppliers ready to ship the product to you. Now all you need to do is create a product page and promote it on social media platforms.
That's exactly what you're doing, thinking you're only an inch away from earning a 6-figure income. Then you open your scan, only to hear the sound of crickets in your dashboard. What happened?
My friend, you are dropshipping the wrong item.
An element that should not have been taken into account in the first place, because it is either
- Too big to ship
- Too expensive at source
- Too niche to grow
But, you shouldn't blame yourself because you didn't know better. After all, who really talks about the worst deliverables?
It turns out there are just as many bad products as there are good ones, so acting wisely and avoiding certain products can increase your chances of success as a new store owner.
13 products to avoid dropshipping at all costs
In this article, I will share a list of the 13 worst products to dropship, and explain why you should ban them from your store.
1. Furniture
Although you can sell furniture at a high margin, this product is almost certain to give you headaches.
Indeed, selling furniture breaks a critical rule of thumb for aspiring dropshippers, which is to never dropship anything that the supplier can't send via ePacket and other cost-effective shipping methods.
Channels like ePacket are fast and cheap because they have a size restriction. For example, shipping by ePacket requires a product to weigh less than 2 KGS and have a dimension of 90*60cm.
Since the furniture is unlikely to meet any of these criteria, you will need to choose another shipping method.
In many cases, other shipping routes cost more, sometimes even more than the cost of the item itself. Also, they can take much longer than ePacket to reach your customer.
So if you don't want to spoil the experience, skip the furniture and sell something else.
One idea is to sell pillow covers. Think of covers for sofa pillows, bedroom pillows, etc. These items also fall into the home decor category, but are small enough that vendors can ship them via ePacket.
2. Electric Guitar
The next worst dropship product is the electric guitar.
Why? Because it is too expensive to source and can make it difficult for you to make a profit.
The sweet spot for new dropshippers is to keep items under $100, but you'll rarely find an electric guitar that falls into that price range.
Take a look at this AliExpress page:
As you can see, most vendors charge $200 to $300 for a single unit. Now ask yourself, can I add a high markup on this product? It is impossible because the price is already high.
Your goal should be to find products that cost no more than $100 (including shipping), so after factoring in manufacturing costs, logistics, and ad spend, you end up with a profit. decent.
3. Drinking glass
If you buy products from China, it takes some time for the products to reach the customers.
During logistics, it is possible that the product suffers an external impact, for example when it is loaded onto a delivery vehicle.
This is why glass products should be strictly avoided.
Drinking glasses and other similar items have a high risk of wear and tear and would not look good if the product arrives broken.
A better approach is to find and ship the same type of item in another material. For example, plastic cups are less susceptible to damage than their glass-based counterparts.
But if you still want to sell or try to dropship these items, I recommend talking to your supplier.
Ask them what kind of steps they can take to secure the item. Perhaps they have a reputation for returning fragile items to the customer in excellent condition. Who knows?
4. Supplements
There's nothing stopping you from doing dropshipping supplements , expect that you can't create awesome Facebook ads.
Why, because Facebook doesn't allow users to advertise items that make health claims.
This is a bummer because the most effective supplement advertising is one that includes various claims.
Can you imagine buying a muscle building supplement if it doesn't say "this pill will give you 5 times more gains in a month" or something like that?
To take advantage of Facebook's large database of buyers, you must follow its rules.
If you advertise something and say it will improve someone's mental or physical condition, your ad will be disabled and your entire account could be banned.
After seeing many store owners make this mistake, I have a better alternative to offer, fitness accessories.
Sell them and you can target the same health-focused people, but you won't have any problems when it comes to running a Facebook campaign.
5. Safety helmet
Dropshipping this product means putting yourself in a catch-22 situation.
Sure, it's meant to keep the consumer safe, but what do you think could happen when someone gets into an accident and your product doesn't hold up?
Even worse, what if it breaks completely?
If something happens to this person, you will most likely be sued for selling a defective item. The following fines and penalties can put you in financial difficulty.
This is why I consider hard hats, mouth guards and similar items to be one of the worst items to deliver.
If you still want to sell any of these items, please do proper research and know what you are getting into.
Additionally, some countries have rules in place about what you can sell online. Make sure you're not selling something that was supposed to be sold exclusively through government institutions.
6. General Clothing
You shouldn't expect to make sales with general clothing because it's not as appealing to your audience as it should be.
The reason is that there are already many brands in the market that sell all types of clothing in different designs and designs.
Companies like Zara and H&M produce cheap and expensive clothes, while Uniqlo is a company that makes a lot of noise for providing high quality clothes at an affordable price.
Do you expect people to buy the same type of items from your store when they can easily buy them from a brand name store nearby?
Even if you receive orders, you will have to deal with several issues, such as size and quality, because the clothes on AliExpress and other supplier websites are of higher quality.
So, I strongly suggest that you drop the idea of general clothing dropshipping.
If you want to stick to this niche, find something trending to sell.
7. Counterfeit shoes
You've probably seen them in the list of things you can't promote on social media.
Counterfeit products like the one in the picture have been copied from an official brand.
Drop them and you and the supplier could be in legal trouble.
On top of that, dropshipping counterfeit items can leave your customers disappointed, especially if they expect the item to be real and later find out it's a replica.
Of course, there is a way to do this legally, and that involves getting a license from the brand to officially resell their products (in this case, you need to get a license from Nike).
Because it is almost impossible to obtain a license for new dropshippers, it is better to avoid this product.
This is what you can sell instead, shoes designed with the supplier's own brand.
Many AliExpress suppliers have their own custom brand which is not a brand. Feel free to sell their shoes without worries.
8. Waterproof accessories
It's hard not to include waterproof accessories in this list.
Here's why: In the majority of cases, you don't know if the accessory is waterproof, and even if it ends up being, you don't know how deep it can go underwater.
It is possible that the customer tests the accessory with the product for which it was designed and that the product ends up breaking.
For example, if you are selling a waterproof camera case and it turns out that it is not so safe. How do you think the customer will react when they find out they just lost their hard-earned investment?
That's why it's better to ship regular product accessories than waterproof accessories.
9. Household items
Household items are essentials that can be accessed almost anywhere.
To be successful in dropshipping, you need to sell items that can't be easily found at a brick-and-mortar store.
Would you wait a few weeks for a box of tissues, which is also available in the shop next door?
Probably not.
So don't try to dropship everyday items like a tissue box without providing unique value.
For example, you can sell it instead of a general tissue box.
A tissue box that looks cool? “I'll take one, please. »
If you're going to sell household items, give people a reason to wait longer than if they would have bought it at a nearby store.
10. Dangerous goods
The item in this image is an excellent example of a product with a potentially dangerous nature.
An import agent would likely question these items and may even ban them from entering the country.
Each nation has its own regulations for imports, many of which also apply to online consumer purchases.
There might be restrictions on dropshipping hunting tools, military items and defense products in some countries.
If you're unsure if it's legal and safe to ship a certain product to your customers' country of residence, ask them to confirm this with their local Chamber of Commerce.
If, after confirmation, you still have doubts, it is better to just forget about the article in question and do something else.
11. Cosmetics
If you want dropship products like face powders and makeup brushes, I suggest you think twice.
It's because you know nothing about the quality of the products that will go on your buyers' skin. Like lipsticks, face masks or foundations.
A lot of things can go wrong, for example, buyer may end up with skin irritation or allergic reaction after using your item because their skin may be sensitive to an ingredient you don't even know inside the cosmetic.
As with hard hats, it's best to do your research before ordering a cosmetics bundle.
In other words, don't enter this territory unless you know exactly what the products are made of.
12. Tight Bottoms
You've probably seen hilarious expectation from reality wear posts on Facebook, and that's exactly what could happen if you're shipping tight stockings.
When a shopper has no way to try on a pair of pants before purchase, it can lead to multiple problems for the store owner.
The main problem you will face is the difference between Asian, American and European sizes. Sizes vary from brand to brand, even in the same store. So there is no doubt that the sizes of products delivered directly from China will vary.
Generally, Chinese sizes are one to two sizes smaller than European or American sizes. If you're selling in the United States, you'll need to ask customers to buy a size up.
Although a size chart can help in some cases, most people will naturally order the same size they always do.
One solution is to include a disclaimer that asks them to order a size or two, but that doesn't guarantee the best shopping experience.
The best option is not to ship tight clothing.
13. Cheap Wristbands
The last worst dropship item is the cheap bracelet.
You won't be able to sell them at a high margin because they rarely take out their wallets for fake jewelry.
Also, the low cost of buying this product on AliExpress means that your customer is receiving a very poor quality item.
In addition to that, people already have an idea that cheap jewelry is available to buy on AliExpress. These are a few reasons why I suggest you avoid this product altogether.
Conclusion
That wraps up our list of the 13 worst products to dropship. I hope you found this article useful and avoid selling these items through your store.
I hope you already have other options online. But if you don't, watch this dropshipping product research tutorial.
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