Is Amazon FBA a Waste of Time? My Honest Results

Is Amazon FBA still a viable path in 2026? This video cuts through the noise, offering a realistic perspective on private label and the challenges of selling on amazon. I share my journey of building a new amazon business from scratch, providing insights for anyone looking into how to make money online with an online business. 🏘️ Join the free Grow With FBA community → https://skool.com/growwithfba 🤖 Try BloomEngine free → https://bloomengine.ai The Amazon FBA "is it dead?" debate has gotten exhausting. Half the videos on YouTube are screaming it's the easiest money you'll ever make. The other half are saying the door closed in 2019 and you missed it. Both are wrong. This video is the boring, honest version — from someone who actually has skin in the game right now, not someone selling a 2017 case study from the back catalogue. ▬ WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ▬ ✅ The honest verdict on Amazon FBA in 2026 — what's actually dead vs what's alive and thriving ✅ The 4 things that are genuinely harder than they were in 2017 (and the one massive change that's now in YOUR favor) ✅ Why "Amazon is saturated" is true and irrelevant at the same time — and where the open market actually is ✅ The real numbers from a cold-start brand launched in 2026: $25K monthly revenue, $8K monthly profit, three months in ✅ Who should NOT start Amazon FBA right now (saves people thousands) ✅ Who SHOULD still start — and why the bar is now "are you willing to learn this?" ▬ CHAPTERS ▬ 0:00 The two kinds of FBA YouTube videos (and why both are wrong) 0:28 Quick intro + the verdict up top 0:53 What actually changed since 2017 1:15 #1 — You pay to play now (Amazon PPC from day one) 1:45 #2 — More competition, but not where you think (oak trees vs seeds) 2:23 #3 — Sourcing math is tighter (know your numbers cold) 3:00 #4 — AI changed the game IN YOUR favor 3:47 Why I'm still building Amazon brands in 2026 4:15 The proof — my new brand's real numbers ($25K/mo, 3 months in) 4:47 Who this isn't for (don't waste your money) 5:12 Who should still do it 5:25 What's next + community link ▬ MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO ▬ The old version of FBA that IS dead — and why that's good for serious sellers Why oak-tree markets (the big, obvious products) ARE saturated, and which ones aren't Amazon PPC as cost-of-entry, not optional Landed cost / FBA fees / ad spend — the unit economics you have to know How AI collapses the hours of research/review-mining that used to eat your weekends My new brand's real numbers as proof the model works in 2026 ($25K revenue, $8K profit, month 3) ▬ THE 3 PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NOT START AMAZON FBA RIGHT NOW ▬ 1. You need cash this month — your money gets tied up in inventory before it returns 2. You're not willing to learn your numbers or learn how Amazon ads work 3. You're looking for passive income — this is a business, not a slot machine ▬ THE 1 PERSON WHO SHOULD ▬ If you're willing to treat Amazon FBA like a real business — start small, do the boring research the disciplined way, learn your numbers and your ads, and stay in the room long enough to actually get good — then no, you didn't miss it. You're not too late. The door's still open. It's just the disciplined people walking through it now. ▬ ABOUT DAVE ▬ I've been selling private label on Amazon since 2017. I built and sold my first brand via Empire Flippers in 2025. Along the way I've coached 600+ Amazon sellers through their first products. I'm now building a second brand with a partner — cold start, three months in, doing the numbers I share in this video. I'm also building BloomEngine — the AI Amazon research tool I wish I'd had when I started. Free to try at https://bloomengine.ai. This is not a guru channel. No "$10K/month in 90 days" promises. No Lambo footage. Just the honest version from somebody actively running brands in 2026, who got tired of how much guesswork was involved in Amazon product research and built the tool that fixed it. ▬ WHO THIS CHANNEL IS FOR ▬ Beginners and small brand owners trying to launch their first Amazon product, or trying to make their next one not fail. Honest research methodology instead of guru hype. New videos every Tuesday + Friday. ▬ COMING NEXT ▬ Next video, I'm walking through my 6-point vetting check on a real Amazon product — on screen, in real time, before you spend a single dollar. The exact framework I use to separate the winners from the time-sinks. Subscribe so you don't miss it. #AmazonFBA #PrivateLabel #OnlineBusiness