I’d seen the Amazon basics stationery on the Amazon USA website and had wondered if the quality was any good, but shipping to Australia is super expensive. So when I stumbled across the pens and highlighters on the Australian Amazon website (even better they were on sale for half price!) I purchased some to finally test them out.

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Is the Amazon Basics Stationery Range any good?

To answer that question I consider a few criteria:

• Does the pen or highlighter write / highlight smoothly? (no resistance, ink doesn’t skip, pen glides across the page)
• How vibrant are the colors?
• How many colors in the collection? Is there a good variety? E.g. a light blue and a dark blue, not just a blue
• Are the colors cohesive and pair well together?
• How long does the ink last?

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Amazon Basics Felt Tip Pens

These pens write really smooth with no ink skipping and remind me of the Staedtler Triplus fineliners.

The appearance and shape of the pens are very similar to the Paper Mate Flair, but the Amazon basics write far nicer than the Paper Mate Flairs (a lot of pens write nicer than those, they’re actually my least favorite Paper Mate pen).

Related post: Paper Mate Flair Ultra Fineliner Pens versus Pen + Gear Felt Tip Pens

The mauve / burgundy actually wrote purple (which I prefer!) but the color of the ink doesn’t match the color of the pen – just something to be aware of.

Super nitpicky / minor con. If you store your pens horizontally, the tops of all of the pens are white so it’s a bit harder to tell which color is which.

Related post: How to store planner pens (5 ways – and my favorite method!)

Price: $11.90 AUD on Amazon Australia, $9 USD on the Amazon USA website but currently on sale for $5.50 USD

There is a 24 pack but it has many repetitive colors (e.g. 6 of the 12 additional colors are different shades of pink), so you’re spending more and not getting much more variety of colors.

Do I recommend these pens? Yes

Amazon Basics Erasable Highlighters

These highlighters come in a pack of 12. My fault for not checking properly, but it’s actually 6 different colors with 2 highlighters of each color not 12 different colors in the pack.

Most packs of highlighters, pens etc. tend to come in colors that pair well together, which is why I tend to use one brand / collection to create my planner spreads as the colors already look good together. That’s not the case with this set, the colors in this collection are not cohesive.

The neon yellow does not pair well with any of the other colors in the set, and I don’t need two similar shades of pink in the same set. Where is the green, or an orange?

These highlighters do not erase by heat, but rather by using the other end of the highlighter. It doesn’t matter which white end of a highlighter you use with which color, it still erases perfectly.

If you’re a perfectionist, then this type of highlighter which the ‘magic’ end would probably suit you better than the Frixion erasable. Because if you push too hard with the Frixion, it can mark the page / bend / indent etc. whereas this one erases easily and cleanly (I did a demo in the video above).

I tested these highlighters with ballpoint, gel and erasable pens and had no issues with smearing.

If you do use these with erasable pens, just know that it makes the paper a bit more fragile. So if you erase the highlighter then try and erase the pen as well, it might tear the paper.

Related post: Review of Frixion Erasable Highlighters by Pilot – are they worth the cost?

Price: $14.90 AUD on Amazon Australia (but I purchased them when they were 50% off so I’d just wait for a sale to get a better price), I couldn’t find these on the Amazon USA website at the time of writing this post

Do I recommend these highlighters? No. They erase perfectly but there are other highlighters like this with nicer colors

Ghosting and bleed through

Both the pens and highlighters had ghosting on the back side of the page.

I always use Plum Paper notebooks for my pen and highlighter testing as the paper is 70lb which is a common paper thickness, so to me provides the most comparable results to whatever planner or notebook most people use. A 160 GSM notebook likely wouldn’t have any show through.

How long does the ink last?

I’ve only just purchased these so cannot say how long the ink lasts yet.

If you want pens that are definitely going to last for years, then see this post for my recommendations: Pens with long lasting ink (7 years later and the ink still hasn’t dried out!)

Amazon Basics versus other stationery brands

I think the quality of both of the Amazon Basics stationery is good, I wouldn’t ‘boycott’ it in favour of more well known brands. If felt tip / fineliner pens and erasable highlighters are stationery you’ve been wanting to try but don’t want to spend a lot of money for a brand name, then the Amazon Basics would suit fine.

I really like the felt tip / fineliner pens. The highlighters worked fine, I just wasn’t a fan of the colors.

More pen reviews

• Favorite places to buy planner pens (online)
• Ultimate list of the best planner pen brands and how to choose colors for color coding 
• The best white pens for writing on black paper

More highlighter reviews

• Zebra Mildliner Highlighters review: are they worth the cost?
• 7 Highlighter brands that aren’t neon colors
• 8 Ways to use highlighters for Bullet Journal Spreads

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