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While the internet is generally the preferred place to shop for CBD oil products, not all storefronts are equal. With Amazon being ubiquitous — so much so that it’s practically synonymous with “online shopping” — you might be wondering specifically about this marketplace.
Are you ready to add some CBD + Amazon smarts to your cart of knowledge? If so, proceed to “check out” the rest of this post….
Well, let’s just say that you shouldn’t be able to. According to Amazon’s vendor policies, selling products containing CBD is forbidden. So, maybe the questions about safety and legality of CBD on Amazon are irrelevant.
You’d think that’d be the end of the line and our post would be short — ending after just seven sentences.
Not quite, though….
Just before starting to write this post, we did searches on the ol’ Amazon website for “CBD,” “cannabidiol,” and “cannabis.” The results were very interesting. Here’s what we found.
Many many many hemp products. This is no surprise, especially if you search on the term “cannabis” as that’s part of hemp’s scientific name (i.e., cannabis sativa).
The majority didn’t mention CBD or cannabis at all, just hemp. A portion of these items features CBD somewhere in their description or packaging — but in the sense of “Zero THC, Zero CBD.”
It feels kinda marktingy when a product gets caught in the CBD haul like a wayward lobster when CBD/cannabidiol/cannabis isn’t mentioned anywhere on the product page.
These sellers didn’t seem to be trying to hide anything or pull some sort of bait-and-switch game. There was definitely truth in advertising on display.
From the level of packaging (and after checking out their company websites), these looked like very small enterprises. Maybe they don’t know the rules? Not an excuse, but perhaps an explanation….
One bath bomb listing had the following “typos” (wink, wink)/euphemisms:
To evade CBDetection, another line of products swapped in foreign characters— like using “Ḃ” in lieu of “B” in CBD, or “ṍ” instead of “o” in oil — and listed completely bogus ingredients (like synthetic leather). Oh, and it used a brand/company name that has nothing to do with health, wellness, or an even remotely adjacent industry.
No joke. (Or should we say: Kno geoc, Nau jṍKe….) Anyone else got the word shyster popping into mind?
A haircare product we saw prominently featured CBD big’n’bold — literally emblazoned in gold foil letters across the front of the label — claiming to have 50ppm of CBD. In the ingredients, though, it only lists Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil.
Typically, CBD oil is derived from the leaves, stalks, and flowers of the hemp plant. On the other hand, hemp oil is made from the seeds and has little to no CBD content. So, this product may or may not really have CBD. If it does — it’s violating Amazon’s sellers’ terms. If it doesn’t — are they trying to mislead or confuse people? Can’t really tell what the intention is here.
These guys — who may sell CBD products elsewhere — are legitimately hawking totally-fine-for-Amazon wares. Stuff like zinc dietary supplements. They just get caught in the CBD search dragnet because of what they’ve chosen to call their businesses. Clever.
Given that you aren’t supposed to be able to buy CBD on Amazon, you might want to truly consider the CBD sellers and products that are available there. Our conclusion is that those sellers and products are suspect.
Because they’ve already shown that they will do something they shouldn’t, it might be unwise to trust their intentions, product quality, business practices, etc. How can you be sure they won’t take it further in that direction? How can you be confident they won’t scam you or send you ineffective or harmful products?
You can’t. Simply put, you probably should not buy CBD on Amazon.
If, in the future, Amazon changes its policies and starts allowing CBD — that’s a different story. One worth revisiting. With permission comes more competition, oversight, and legitimacy of CBD products and sellers.
Yep, that’s the straight truth. At this time, it’s against Amazon’s policies for sellers in the US to offer any products containing CBD. So, the questions of safety and legality are sort of moot.
That said, if you do see supplements, beauty or personal care items, snacks, etc. with (or alluding to containing ) CBD, there’s something off. The item is either violating Amazon’s rules, trying to mislead you, or disingenuously leaning into buzzwords like “CBD” to get your attention (to sell you a non-CBD product).
If you want high-quality CBD products — that are safe and federally-legal — flock to a reputable direct-to-consumer brick-and-mortar or online retailer.
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