Buying CBD oil on Amazon might seem like a no brainer to someone who is just starting their search, but many people don't fully understand how it works.
So can you buy CBD oil on Amazon? Yes, you can, but here's why you should avoid it at all costs.
CBD oil in general can get pretty pricey, and on first glance there seems to be an abundance of choices, with much lower prices than you've seen so far. Can't get any better than that right?
WRONG.
What a lot of people don't know is that Amazon has a strict policy in place
preventing the sale of any CBD product.
In section i. of their restricted products page, you'll find this:
Listings for products containing cannabidiol (CBD) are prohibited, including but not limited to:
- Full spectrum hemp oil
- Rich hemp oil
- Products that have been identified as containing CBD by LegitScript
So why are there so many listings for it? What's really going on here? Can you buy CBD oil on Amazon? Yes you can, but there are a lot of great reasons not to.
Let's look a little closer at the industry as it stands right now.
Can You Buy CBD Oil On Amazon?
It's no secret that the world has gone a bit CBD crazy. Projected to hit over 20 billion dollars by 2024, everyone is trying to get a slice of that right now.
With so many companies jumping on board, there are more than a few who are trying to capitalize on the craze, no matter the cost to you.
Cannabidiol(CBD) is non-psychoactive, and won't cause a high when ingested, like THC.
It's legal in the US as long as it contains 0.3% THC or less in it, and is being widely used to treat a number of disorders.
If you don't know any better, or haven't done any research of your own before landing on Amazon's site looking for CBD oil, it's easy to be fooled into thinking a product contains CBD when it doesn't.
Cannabidiol(CBD) oil is non-psychoactive, and won't cause a high when ingested, like THC.
CBD can come from either the marijuana plant or the hemp plant, but the majority of all of the legal CBD being sold in the world comes from the industrial hemp plant.
Both plants are in the cannabis family, but with a few crucial differences to them. Hemp is low in THC, and high in CBD, and marijuana is the exact opposite.
Different parts of the hemp plant are used for different things. Hemp oil, or hemp seed oil, is obtained by cold pressing the seeds of the hemp plant, and contains zero CBD.
CBD is harvested from the flowers of the plant, which also contain a number of other cannabinoids.
The words you're looking out for here are hemp seed extract, hemp oil, hemp seed oil...all of which contain zero CBD.
It's easy to get confused about the terms, but hemp seed oil is NOT the same thing as CBD oil.
This confusion is exactly what shady sellers are counting on when when you come across their products.
Let's look at a few ads on Amazon that come up when you search CBD oil.
Looks and seems like it might be a legit product, but when you dig a little deeper into it, this is what you find:
Straight from the seller - Our product is Hemp oil only, and contains no CBD
Yet they are claiming that this product will help with pain, anxiety, epilepsy, and more, when nothing of the sort has ever been established with hemp seed oil.
Let's look at another one, gummies this time.
Everything about this listing, from the description to the comments, would lead someone to believe that they are getting a great deal on this 2 pack of CBD gummies, but closer inspection of the sellers answers reveals zero CBD in the products.
Question:
Are these 3rd party tested?
Answer:
"Hi there! Since there is no THC/CBD in the product, we do not have it third party tested for terpenes and cannabanoids."They even spell cannabinoids wrong.
Over 2000 results come up when you type CBD oil into Amazon. These are just two examples of the stuff you are going to find on there.
Misleading, mislabelled hemp seed oil make up the vast majority of the products.
One of the biggest indicators of fake sellers like this is the price. CBD oil is not cheap, and while you can get some pretty good deals online, it's still going to cost you.
Anything that is listed as low as this is not going to be the real deal. Sellers regularly make outlandish health claims, as well as posting absurd mg amounts on the bottle(think 35,000mg of CBD in a 1 oz bottle....not happening).
Alternatives To Buying CBD Oil On Amazon
There's a few key things to keep in mind when it comes to CBD oil and where to get it from.
- 3rd party testing
- Straight from the company's website
- Where the hemp is sourced from
- Concentration of product
- Reviews
Above all, 3rd party testing needs to be done on the products. Without it you have no way of knowing what is in them.
Always order straight from the actual company's website. Any kind of guarantee they offer is only going to apply to products that are bought directly from them, and not from a 3rd party seller.
The hemp plant is a bio-accumulator, which means it has the ability to suck up any toxins or pesticides from the soil, air, or water around it. Organically sourced hemp is the only option when it comes to CBD.
The amount of CBD in the bottle, and the bottle size as well makes a difference in the end product. 500mg of CBD in a 30ml bottle is going to be more concentrated than the same amount in a 60ml bottle, and will have more CBD per drop.
Always read reviews on products before you buy them. If we didn't look closer at the questions and comments for the above products on Amazon, we never would have known that neither one of them contain any CBD.
What about buying CBD on Groupon or sites like Ebay?
The same goes for buying CBD(or thinking you are), on sites like Groupon or Ebay. There is no way to trace the product back to its original source, and no way of being certain that you are getting what they claim is in the products.
Because the CBD industry is currently unregulated, you need to take extra caution when it comes to any CBD product that you buy.
Right now, there is literally nothing stopping any of these companies from saying whatever they want about their products, and putting anything they please in them.
With news reports of fake CBD becoming more common, don't risk your health or waste your money by ordering something with questionable origin.
While there may be legit companies on some of these sites, the majority of the sellers are wholesalers or distributors, and not the actual company itself.
Where can I find legit CBD oil companies to purchase from?
All of the companies on our recommended list of top CBD brands have been carefully selected for quality, honest practices and transparency, 3rd party thorough testing, customer service, and thousands of positive ratings and reviews.
Have questions? Leave a comment below?
Didn’t know Amazon sells CBD .
They do, but it’s definitely not the recommended way to go about it.