Friday Apr 23, 2021
23 | Why Having Your Clients Buy Herbs on Amazon May Not be a Good Idea
An interview with herbalist Lori Wroten
In this week's episode, you'll hear an interview with herbalist Lori Wroten. This is the first time I've had a guest on In the Clinic!
A cautionary tale
I invited Lori to share about a frightening experience associated with the use of an herbal product being sold by a 3rd party vendor on Amazon.
Although we don't have all of the details about what was in the product, this case study provides a cautionary tale about the quality and veracity of products that clients purchase online.
As you'll hear in the episode, it's not always clear on Amazon whether someone is buying a product directly from a merchant or whether it's coming from a 3rd-party seller (someone who is essentially buying the product directly from the manufacturer and then re-selling it.)
Although Amazon is taking steps to cut down on questionable 3rd-party sellers, it is still a bit of a wild card.
How to identify products sold by 3rd parties on Amazon
Note that there are many variations in terms of how products show up on Amazon. It can be difficult to figure out which are from a 3rd party.
If a product is being fulfilled by Amazon, that simply means that the seller sent the product to Amazon to store in their warehouse, and that Amazon will send it to you. As far as I know, Amazon doesn't inspect for quality/authenticity in this scenario.
If you're not sure, the best thing to do is to call the manufacturer to see where they recommend that you buy their authentic products.
Example of product being sold by Oregon's Wild Harvest via Amazon:
Because I already know & trust the quality of OWH, and because this product appears to be coming directly from OWH via Amazon, this seems legit to me. (I'd still rather buy it in a local store, though!)
Example of a MediHerb product being sold by a 3rd party
Here you can see this MediHerb andrographis product is being sold & shipping from "Brooklyn Dealz" (nothing against this company - I know nothing about them!). I'd be much more cautious about purchasing because a) I know that MediHerb is a practitioner-only line, and b) I don't know how BD got this product, how long they've had it, how they stored it, etc.
What can we do?
As practitioners, we need to educate clients about where to buy products safely. Although sometimes prices are cheaper on Amazon, if they're way under what you're seeing elsewhere online it makes sense to use caution & double-check the seller's info.
If anything seems off, contact the company to check that this is a legitimate product.
Also, if you are having clients purchase something online, I highly recommend that you link directly to the specific product you're recommending and/or use a dispensary like Fullscript or Wellevate (linked below) to make sure people are getting the correct & authentic product.
Specifically tell your client that they're welcome to get the product anywhere they like, and also explain why buying from 3rd party sellers is not a good idea.
Please see the resources below (+ some of our ideas in the podcast episode) for ideas about where clients can obtain high-quality supplements.
Resources
Bonus marketing tips
At the end of this episode, Lori tells us how she's built a thriving herbal practice. Be sure to listen to the end to find out how her practice has grown and some of the - quite unusual - strategies she used to spread the word about her work.
I hope you find this episode helpful.
If you have any tips that you share with your clients, please share them below or message me!
Take care,
Camille
--- Send in a voice message: https://intheclinic.com
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