Amazon – It’s one of the largest global distributors of, well, just about everything. 

Online shopping has eclipsed brick and mortar stores in terms of volume partly due to its convenience and partly due to the ubiquity of Amazon. With covid-19 and stay at home orders sequestering people in their homes, leaving them unable to get to their favorite shopping locations, Amazon has done even bigger business. In fact, Amazon saw its profits double during the pandemic. 

A large part of what makes Amazon so successful is its variety. By opening up their platform to a myriad of different industries and sellers, the website can function as a one-stop-shop for basically anything you could need or want. And with services like Amazon Prime, those needs or wants can be at your doorstep in a matter of hours. It’s hard for even the biggest critics of the tech-giant to avoid buying from them with conveniences like that. 

But what about CBD? Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the hottest products in the wellness market today. Can you use Amazon to buy CBD oil? The answer may surprise you.

Amazon's CBD Policy

A simple search of “CBD” into the Amazon search bar pulls up hundreds of products that, at first glance, seem to contain the cannabinoid. But that doesn’t make sense, considering the tech company’s official policy on CBD. On the sellers’ guide page, under drugs and drug paraphernalia, Amazon explicitly forbids CBD from being sold on the platform:

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

Policy vs. Reality

If Amazon has such a clear-cut policy regarding CBD, then why are there so many products that are seemingly teeming with CBD available on the website? There are a few reasons.
For one, manufacturers of hemp seed oil often shorten the name of their product down to hemp oil and purposefully market the product in a way that will trick consumers into buying an item they don’t actually want. Hemp seed oil doesn’t contain any CBD, and therefore, doesn’t break any of the rules outlined in Amazon’s seller guidelines. To learn more about the difference between hemp oil and hemp seed oil, check out our blog here. 

However, not all the CBD products on Amazon are actually devoid of cannabidiol. The Washington Post recently purchased several products found on the platform and independently tested them to see if they contained CBD. Of the thirteen products tested, eleven contained the cannabinoid CBD. 

Certain CBD producers will rebrand their items specifically for the Amazon Marketplace, removing any mention of words like CBD or full-spectrum. That way, the Amazon algorithm that’s designed to remove prohibited substances from the website can’t identify their items as banned. Despite the different labels, the actual product itself is identical to the company's standard product, and therefore still contains CBD.

 

Where to Buy CBD Oil? 

Because of the intentional obfuscation of ingredients that are required to bypass Amazon’s regulations, the quality of the CBD products found on the website is inherently tricky to discern. In almost all cases, it’s better to buy CBD from a different retailer.

One way to go about this is to do a quick google search of “CBD stores near me.” This will pull up a map of different brick and mortar stores that may carry CBD products. Look for pharmacies, wellness centers, and shops that specialize in cannabis. If you live in a state where cannabis has been legalized, your local dispensary is a great place to start. 

You can also purchase CBD products directly from a manufacturer’s website, so long as it’s from a brand you trust. This lets consumers utilize the convenience of online shopping without having to worry about getting ripped off. Before hitting the buy button, always do some research into the company. Reputable dealers will usually have their product’s certificate of analysis (COA) located prominently on their website. The COA assures the quality and potency of the items you may be considering purchasing. At E1011 Labs, we have links to our COA located throughout the site so that it’s easy to find.

Consider Flower Instead

One way to avoid all the confusing language around CBD oil, hemp oil, and hemp seed oil, is to simply opt for CBD-rich hemp flower instead. Not only does it remove the additional barrier of having to constantly verify the product you’re buying is what you actually want, but inhaling hemp flower is actually more effective at delivering CBD into the bloodstream than oils or edibles. 

Our CBD delivery device elon® employs buttonless technology and pairs with disposable stelo™ to make using hemp flower easier than ever before. So our hemp flower is not only easier to acquire and use when compared to CBD oils, but it’s also more effective. That’s a pretty compelling argument for hemp flower, don’t you think?

Order a Starter Bundle today, and see for yourself how sublime hemp flower wellness can be!