Top 10 Dropshipping Niches to Avoid as a Beginner in 2024

When you’re starting out with dropshipping, it’s important to know which dropshipping niches you should avoid. I have made this article for you to highlight 10 dropshipping niches that you should avoid as a beginner in 2024. By reading this article, you will greatly decrease your chances of your first store being a failure!

With my own experience, I can say that if you’re just starting out with dropshipping, it’s tempting to choose niches like watches, clothing, or generic lifestyle products such as bracelets. However, you should avoid these niches as a beginner because they can be too general, broad, or have a tech-savvy clientele.

But, there are other dropshipping niches to avoid as well. If you are currently looking to start your own dropshipping business and are searching for a niche, then definitely avoid these 10 dropshipping niches.

Let’s get started with the first and foremost; watches!

1. Watches

Selling watches is probably the biggest mistake beginners make when it comes to choosing their first dropshipping niche. 

When you are new to dropshipping, you probably have a general idea that watches are often very expensive items. You start searching on AliExpress for your first dropshipping product, and you will probably come across thousands of different watches that you could buy for just a few dollars.

The common thought after seeing all those cheap watches is:

“WOW, I can buy this watch for just $5! Brands like Rolex are selling many watches for thousands of dollars per piece. Surely, I can make my own luxury brand and sell tons of these watches for a much lower price!”

In almost all cases, these dropshipping stores fail because of several reasons; 

One of them is the fact that the market is extremely saturated. You will have a lot of competition not only from big watch brands but from a lot of dropshipping stores as well. 

Also, successful luxury watch brands such as Rolex often have millions of dollars of marketing budget, a rich brand history, and excellent quality watches. Three factors which give their watches a certain “status” which your new dropshipping store won’t have.

For more information about why NOT to dropship watches, you can refer to this article.

2. Electronics

The niche of electronics certainly isn’t for everyone.

Electronics is a tricky niche for beginners since you could lose a lot of money if your product is not how you expected it to be. With a product in the electronics niche, it is extremely important to make sure that the product is of good quality and easy to use.

As a beginner, you will probably have a limited budget to start your dropshipping store. 

The general advice when choosing a new product to sell is to first buy the product for yourself and test it out extensively. In the electronics niche, this is a necessity! 

A bad product in the electronics niche will cause you a massive headache and lots of money lost with all the refunds you will receive from your customers.

3. Clothing

The reason why the clothing niche should be avoided by beginners is similar to the electronics niche above; you will get lots of refunds!

The reason for this is that a lot of people will order the wrong size, or even worse order multiple and return all but one. Also, it is difficult to visualize how the clothing will look on yourself just from a picture on the internet. So sometimes, people will be disappointed by the real-life look of the clothing piece and ask for a refund.

Online Shopping Stories That Will Make You Laugh

According to CNBC, you should expect a return rate as high as 30 to 40 percent! 

Since you’re dropshipping, you will not have a warehouse where you can store the refunded items, and since the delivery times for new clothing pieces will be long, it can be a nightmare for your customers.

Tip: If you think you're ready and want to sell something related to clothing, check out this list of the best clothing dropshipping suppliers!

4. Copyrighted products

Copyrighted products are products that have been copied from a brand. Examples are (copied) Nike shoes, Fortnite caps, motorsport phone cases, or designer bags.

The reason why you should avoid these products at all costs is that you can get into big legal trouble if companies find out you have been selling their copyrighted items without their consent. (You can learn more about that here)

Also, Facebook does not allow copyrighted items to be advertised on its platform. So, your ad manager account can also be suspended.

5. Health-related products

Products in the health niche can range anywhere from consumable like vitamin and weight loss pills to cremes that promise to keep your skin in good condition.

Selling products in this niche is not recommended for beginners since you have to know for certain that your product can not damage anyone in any way. You are liable for the product that you sell and should, therefore, be extremely careful when trying to sell a product in the health niche, especially consumables.

Also, Facebook has extensive advertising policies about what is forbidden and what not. The picture below shows the main overview of what is allowed in regard to advertising within the health niche.

6. General lifestyle products

This niche can include all sorts of products. The main property of all products in this niche is that they are generic (meaning easy to find in almost all stores).

As an example, I will discuss this bracelet:

Don’t get me wrong, people do buy these kinds of products. But, winning dropshipping products should have a WOW-factor and should not be sold in most stores. 

You could go to almost any fashion store or market, and chances are they will sell a bracelet similar to this. If you can buy one there, why would you buy one online and wait 2 or 3 weeks for it to be delivered?

7. Fragile items

When choosing a product, keep in mind that it has to survive a 2 to 3-week journey across the world. 

Selling a fragile item made from glass increases the chance that the product won’t survive the journey and will arrive at your customers’ address broken. 

It is possible to be profitable with these kinds of items, but please bear in mind that you could have more refunds and angry customers, especially if your delivery times are long. That’s why this is another dropshipping niche to avoid for beginners.

Imagine waiting 3 weeks for a product you bought on the internet, and it arrives broken. Ugh, that is not a great user experience!

8. Heavy or bulky items

One of the most important aspects of dropshipping is your profitability. In order to be profitable, you always have to keep a close look at your costs. 

Heavy or bulky items occupy more room and are less efficient to transport. That’s why the delivery cost for these items will be very high, which causes your margin to shrink.

Take, for example, this plush pillow, which charges an extra 7,45 euros shipping just for the “smaller” 50 cm model. 

Just as with these bulky items, beginners should also avoid choosing heavy dropshipping items. Shipping companies often calculate their shipping prices based on the weight of your product. So bear in mind that you will have to pay extra for shipping if you are planning to dropship heavy items such as fitness equipment.

9. Computer equipment

When selling a product, you should always think about how your target demographic looks like. 

In general, people who buy computer equipment are tech-savvy. They will probably know what dropshipping is, know what AliExpress is, and know that they can cut out the middle man for a better deal.

A beginner should therefore avoid choosing to sell a product in the computer equipment niche since it will be hard to get sales. 

10. Old trending niches

There are two types of niches. Products in the evergreen niche are always in demand and can therefore always be sold. Another type of niche is the trending niche. Here a product is only in high demand for a limited amount of time. 

Sometimes, beginners choose to sell a product which was trending earlier, but not anymore.

A great tool for analyzing the demand for a product is Google Trends. One of the most famous examples of an old trending product is the fidget spinner.

As you can see, the fidget spinner had a massive spike in popularity in 2017. However, the current demand is really low and you will therefore have a hard time trying to sell this product in 2024.

Dropshipping niches to avoid as a beginner: An overview

If that was a lot to take in, then don’t worry!

We have created an amazing infographic for you that you can save for later:

How do you pick the right niche for your dropshipping store?

If you’re wondering now what niche you should pick after seeing all these niches that you should avoid as a beginner, then you’re in luck!

Below you will find three great articles that will help you pick the best niche for your dropshipping store.

One will help you with the research progress on how to find niches, and the other one will help you validate your niche idea if it could be a profitable niche or not.

And if you're completely lost, then don't forget to check out the niche ideas article!

• How to Find the Best Niche for Dropshipping? (7 Methods)
• How to Find out If a Dropshipping Niche Could Be Profitable in 2024?
• The 25 Best Dropshipping Niche Ideas for Your Store in 2024

Conclusion

There you go! Those were 10 dropshipping niches you should avoid choosing if you’re a beginner. 

After reading this article, I hope you have a better understanding of where to look out for when choosing your first dropshipping niche. 

We also made an article about 13 products you should avoid dropshipping, so check it out before you waste your effort on one of those products!

If you know any more niches people should avoid when just beginning with dropshipping or if you have any questions regarding dropshipping, then let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!

Getting Started with Dropshipping in 2024

So, are you ready to get started with dropshipping? Or maybe you have already started, but you’re looking to get some inspiration?

If so, then I suggest reading this complete Shopify dropshipping guide.

It’s a huge article, but it contains everything that you need to know to create your own Shopify dropshipping store in 2024. It’s like a dropshipping course, but then for free!

Reading this article will surely help you to get started and to stay motivated while beginning and continuing your dropshipping journey.

Just don’t forget that success takes time. Keep improving each and every day!

Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store

And here are the articles I suggest you read next:

• 23 Awesome Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples
• How Many Products Should You Have to Start Dropshipping?
• The 6 Best Advantages & Benefits of Dropshipping in 2024
• How to Find Winning Dropshipping Products (13 Research Methods)

And also, if you didn’t create a Shopify account yet (to get your dropshipping store online), then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!