Darren Campbell’s FBA Brand Builder: broken promises, costly rebrands, & frustrated clients trapped in 12-month contracts. The truth behind the chaos!
The FBA Brand Builder program seems to have a knack for stirring up controversy, and 2024 has been no exception. After hyping up FBA Brand Builder 2.0 as a game-changer back in June, Darren is now dismantling the entire thing, wiping client access to materials, and gearing up for yet another iteration: FBA Brand Builder 3.0, slated for January 2025.
For clients who shelled out £6,500 or more for mentorship and tools, this abrupt shift feels like a betrayal. What makes it worse is that clients sign 12-month contracts without realizing just how much the program can change during that time. Darren’s repeated assurances of "epic" updates and “proven” strategies keep falling flat, raising an obvious question: if it’s so foolproof, why does it need constant fixing?
Here we unpack Darren’s repeated failures, the misleading claims behind tools like Empire Builder, and the program’s reliance on unqualified mentors. For many clients, the issue isn’t the business model—it’s Darren’s inability to deliver on his promises.
Broken Promises, All Over Again
June 2024: The Launch of 2.0
Back in June, Darren hyped up FBA Brand Builder 2.0 like it was the answer to all the problems from earlier versions. He painted a picture of “epic” success, claiming it was the breakthrough everyone had been waiting for:
“We are all working extremely hard right now on this, and it’s going to be epic.” – Darren, June 2024
The pitch? Better tools, smarter strategies, and easier processes. Naturally, clients—many of whom were struggling with the original program—hoped this was finally the solution.
Darren's announcement in June 2024:
December 2024: Tossing It Out
Fast forward six months, and Darren announced via the Mighty App that 2.0 was done for:
“The old Kajabi program will be removed tomorrow as most of it will no longer be relevant to the new program structure and layout.”
Why sell 2.0 as a permanent fix if it’s being replaced so soon?
What happens to clients still trying to finish the program?
And, if 2.0 didn’t work, why trust 3.0?
“We’re funding Darren’s experiments. Every six months it’s ‘new program, new changes.’ But where does that leave the people who trusted the last version?” – Former Client
For those who paid premium fees, the removal of content felt like Darren was ripping the rug out from under them.
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT FAM.
The time has now come.
Tomorrow is the very last day of The FBA Brand Builder in 2024. Our VERY last brand-building coaching call of 2024 is tomorrow night at 6pm by myself, and I will be bringing a close to yet another unbelievable year here at the FBABB. After tomorrow evening, me and the whole team will be sitting down for the next few weeks as a company, working tirelessly on improving the program and adding all your feedback that you have given us to make The FBA Brand Builder 10 times better... and making it more feasible than ever before for you all to build and launch your own brand with us. The old Kajabi program will be removed tomorrow as most of it will no longer be relevant to the new program structure and layout.
It’s now going to open up tens of thousands of new products that we just never ever would have considered before, simply because we were so heavy focused on launching 100+ dollar products only. But this is now going to change the whole game very quickly. This will now bring all you guys who were sitting on the sidelines at the moment straight back into the brand-building game again, ready to run riot in 2025. We are also now going to be lowering the barriers completely. You can now start with 200 units or less for launch, even with a 60 dollar+ product. You don’t need to be ordering crazy amounts to get started anymore. There still needs to be a happy medium here, of course, so that it makes sense for your launch. But we have taken on board everything you have said, and we realized after speaking to most of you that the majority of you would just love to be able to start small and grow your brand at your own pace. Which we honestly couldn’t agree with more. Success is different to everyone.
But here’s the big one which is going to help so many people who are already part of The FBA Brand Builder and people who are yet to join us. You can 100% now launch your business and brand together with us for as little as £5500 capital or even below if you truly want to now.£5500 capital max to cover absolutely EVERYTHING across your full brand-building journey with us to help you build and launch your first product through The FBA Brand Builder. And yes That’s Including Your full product, your shipping, Your full branding, your trademark, brand registry, listing, product research, samples and inspections. You will not need to spend any money on ads out of your own pocket because we will be leveraging your spend from your sales on Amazon.
That is why it’s going to be important to have a 50% profit margin organically at this price point if you choose to now go down this product selection. We have already been working extremely hard over these last 2 weeks to bring all these new connections into our business to now make things so much more feasible than ever for you capital wise. THERE ARE NO HIDDEN COSTS. Everything is laid out in front of you and is now crystal clear for your full brand-building journey with us. And we are still here more than ever to give you all our expertise, mentoring and emotional support along the way. NOWHERE else in the world offers this opportunity to build a real business. I can stand behind that statement heavily.
So Here’s a Very achievable Example on how this can now look launching a 60+ dollar product... 200 units ordered. 10 dollars per unit - 2000 usd - 1600 GBP 5 dollars shipping per unit - 1000 usd - 800 GBP £1800 GBP all in for full inventory and shipping. You will still need to make sure on your margins call in stage 4 that after all Amazon fees before ads, you will have a 50% profit margin or very close to it. Our goal now is to be able to help people build and launch their own brand from scratch with whatever they now feel comfortable with, but also gearing them up for the best position possible at having a successful launch. However having said all this... We also know there are people who don’t want to play it small and slow. And that is totally fine.
You can still go BIG. But we will sit down with you and gameplan what makes sense still if you want to go with a $70, $80, 90, $100 product. Personally, I love the high 100+ product approach simply because of the profit per unit and margins... I know the power it can create very early doors in a new product launch... You all saw it too with my 30-day challenge with Outlantis generating nearly 200k in sales and 78k in net profit with just one product. But again success is different to everyone, and YOU should get to decide what success looks like to you.
But here’s what we’ve realized. Some people just want to have a business up and running and grow it very slowly. Some people just want to have a great launch so that they can get more inventory for order 2. Some people just want to be profitable enough to order double the inventory for order 2. And then there are some people like me who just want the whole fucking world when they launch lol. But that’s just who I am as a person and as a business owner. I am all in with everything that I do, and I know so many other people in here part of The FBA Brand Builder are like me as well. But I now know that’s not everyone’s dream. Which now makes this whole vision together even more clear.
This is now going to change EVERYTHING and help us become the biggest brand-building Company in the world.
- Darren Campbell, FBA Brand Builder
3.0—Rebrand or Damage Control?
Darren’s announcement of FBA Brand Builder 3.0 reeks of damage control. As usual, it’s packed with big promises and zero accountability for past failures. The main selling points?
Lower starting costs (just 200 units to begin).
A “cheaper” upfront fee of £5,500.
No hidden fees—a nod to the years of complaints about unexpected costs.
But after multiple iterations, clients aren’t buying the hype:
“They said the exact same thing when they launched 2.0 earlier this year—‘this will change everything.’ Now it’s ‘no longer relevant.’ How do they keep getting away with this?”
Same Promises, No Progress
Could it be that the general public is catching on to just how poor the training and mentorship in Darren’s program really are?
Let’s face it, charging an extortionate £6,500 for subpar guidance is already a bad look. But here’s the real question: if the same unqualified team stays in place—the team responsible for all the negative client experiences we’ve reported—what difference does a full program update actually make?
To top it off, they have about three weeks (including a holiday break!) to roll this out. If the videos felt rushed and sloppy before, can you even imagine the quality we’ll see by January?
Darren’s claims of lower costs and easier access aren’t groundbreaking—they’re recycled talking points from the program’s earlier days. Nothing meaningful seems to have changed:
“Changing the program doesn’t matter if the people teaching it don’t know what they’re doing. The problem isn’t the blueprint—it’s the people running it.” – Current Client
The Empire Builder Debacle
A Tool Built on Deception
One of the most damning parts of Darren’s program has been the Empire Builder tool. Pitched as a proprietary, one-of-a-kind resource, Darren claimed it was developed exclusively for FBA Brand Builder clients:
“Built by a development team specifically for FBA Brand Builder. You won’t find this anywhere else in the world.”
But the reality? Empire Builder is just a rebranded version of Zonbase—a tool that costs $30/month. Meanwhile, Darren charges clients £99/month (or £999 annually) for the exact same thing.
You can listen to Darren's response from this week's client call here 👇
Dodging Accountability
When confronted, Darren tried to brush it off:
“How is this any different from what you’re doing—whitelabeling a product with your own brand and selling it with a margin?”
Here’s the difference:
Clients are taught to be transparent about their products while adding genuine value through branding. They're also following his 'blueprint'.
Darren lied to clients, branding Empire Builder as proprietary and jacking up the price threefold.
“If Darren had just said Empire Builder was Zonbase with tweaks, I’d respect it. Instead, he lied and tried to justify it when caught. That’s where trust breaks down.” – Former Client
Do you really want to play this game, Darren? We've checked the codebases for your Chrome extension and Zonbase's—they're nearly identical, except for the naming conventions and branding used. FYI - we're much much smarter than you.
Unqualified Mentors
One of the program’s biggest flaws is its mentorship team, which is mostly made up of past clients with little to no Amazon success of their own.
“How can I trust advice from mentors who don’t even have successful businesses themselves?” – Current Client
Instead of offering actionable guidance, these mentors often rely on generic, feel-good advice:
“Trust the process.”
“Success takes time.”
“Take more risks.”
Ask yourself: Does this truly look like a group of experienced mentors building hugely successful brands, or does it resemble a group of kids pretending to be business professionals? Can you afford to take a risk on them giving you the "expert" knowledge you need to succeed?
Client Frustration and Financial Fallout
Many clients joined Darren’s program with dreams of creating better lives for themselves and their families. Instead, they’re left drowning in debt and disappointment:
“The worst decision of my life was going onto the program. I now have to deal with the debt while Darren offers a ‘cheaper’ version. That’s admitting he robbed us.” – Former Client
Darren Campbell’s FBA Brand Builder program keeps collapsing under its own promises. With each new version—2.0, 3.0, and beyond—the story stays the same: big claims, poor execution, and clients paying the price.
For anyone thinking about joining FBA Brand Builder 3.0, the verdict is clear: steer clear.
“They’re just selling a repackaged failure with the same team of amateurs. Darren thinks changing the name fixes everything, but we’re not stupid.” – Former Client
