Have you ever searched for CBD oil on Amazon? Well, we definitely did.
When you launch a search, hundreds of products show up in the results; but, they’re generally labeled as “hemp oil extract” or “hemp oil” instead of “CBD oil.”
This would definitely leave you puzzled as to whether these are the products you are looking for. Do these products really have CBD in them? Do they actually offer the pain and anxiety relief you are seeking? Can you really buy CBD oil on Amazon? Is it that simple?
To sum it up for you: Yes, you can find CBD products on amazon. But, there is some details you need to be careful about!
CBD School is here to clear up any confusion you may face in case you decide to buy CBD products on Amazon. We want you to get the real deal!
There are so many opportunities to make money out of CBD these days and manufacturers and entrepreneurs are certainly jumping at every opportunity to do so.
Since CBD isn’t regulated, anyone can have some oil in a bottle, label it, and claim it is CBD. Some salesmen even bottle snake oil or subpar products claiming they are CBD. If you think about it: Who can tell? You will fall in their unethical tricks without even knowing
If you decide to buy CBD oil on Amazon, be sure to keep the following in mind.
When you search on Amazon for CBD oil, you’ll find products labeled as “extract of hemp”, “hemp oil”, or “hemp oil extract”. You will never find anything labeled CBD.
Simply put, it is against Amazon’s policy to sell CBD on its website. So, sellers use similar words to be able to be featured and do business.
So, in order to bypass this rule, sellers don’t exactly disclose that there is actually CBD in their products. This is the ruse that many of the biggest names in CBD have been doing for years to stay under the radar of the strict government control.
These different names for CBD oil are not some arbitrary terms that came out of nowhere. Companies who use this term are often advised to do so by their legal teams. There is nothing wrong about this terminology as CBD oil is truly made from a an extract that comes from hemp.
The term is not false and the sellers are not lying.
We are not looking to provide legal advice in this article.
You can talk to a lawyer about what should be the proper labeling for your products, if you feel you might need more official legal advice.
To the unsuspecting consumer, it can be easy to confuse “CBD oil”, “CBD hemp oil”, and “hemp oil” among many other names. To add to the confusion sometimes you will even see “hemp seed oil”.
CBD is extracted from hemp. Most of these items are identical, they just share a different name. However, keep in mind one thing: hemp seeds have no CBD content – at all.
CBD (cannabidiol) is the most abundant non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in cannabis plants. It is abundant in the flowers and leaves, although much lower amounts can still be found in the stems of the plant.
Using various state-of-the-art extraction techniques, CBD is extracted from all these different parts of the plant. Because of its different sources, it is responsible for the countless wellness benefits offered the cannabinoid contains.
While CBD is typically sold as “CBD oil” in stores, it is against Amazon’s policy for companies to sell CBD products. That's when the loopholes appeared to sellers and the origins of things like “hemp oil extract” started appearing. Aliases are always used to twist some words. Haven't you ever read the term “natural” or “clean” on food labels. These two are powerful claims with a lot of controversies and loopholes in them.
Hemp seed oil, on the other hand, is produced from pressing the seeds of hemp plants.
While hemp seeds are super nutritious and an awesome food and supplement, they contain insignificant amounts of CBD and other cannabinoids. The levels are almost close to none.
CBD companies don’t make their CBD products and oils by pressing hemp seeds. They use the whole plant, especially the flowers. Remember, the highest concentration of CBD is found in the flowers of hemp plants.
Hemp seed oil is good for you, but it doesn’t have any CBD – at all; so, it will not be able to offer the widely-supported benefits of CBD.
To keep things simple, just think of the seed oil of the hemp plant as a food product and CBD hemp oil as a supplement. But, can hemp seed oil also be taken as a supplement just like CBD? Sure, we’ve seen concentrated amounts of hemp seed oil in capsules taken like fish oil supplements. Hemp seed oils do have potent properties. They can help people with skin problems like eczema.
Hemp seed oil has many health benefits. These include its high content in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as omega-3 and omega-6.
A study explained that due to the high content in omega-3, hemp seed oil can lower inflammation, which lowers the risks of cancer and heart disease2.
Other studies explained the the effectiveness of hemp seed oil in treating acne, improving eczema symptoms and treating psoriasis1, 3
But for the most part, the majority of the hemp seed oil is consumed as a food or ingredient in recipes.
Here’s the deal. While you can legitimately buy these types of products on Amazon, there are a few things you need to know.
Amazon has a policy on CBD products. According to the Amazon website:
Drug listings must not be for controlled substances or products containing controlled substances, such as: Products containing cannabidiol (CBD), a Schedule I Controlled Substance, including but not limited to Rich Hemp Oil containing cannabidiol (CBD)Products that have been identified as containing CBD . One of the ways sellers get around this is by labeling CBD oil as “hemp oil.”
The loophole exists since Amazon allows the sale of hemp products like hemp seed oil, hemp soap, and hemp clothing but not CBD oils.
So, what is the deal?
The oil extracted from hemp is almost the same thing as hemp seed oil; but, with one important difference: it contains CBD!
Despite all the loopholes and even if amazon sells products that supposedly contain “CBD oil”, you need to be careful since there are no guarantee it does contain what it is claiming.
S0, the product you purchase might claim to contain 2500 mg of “hemp oil”, but there’s a BIG difference between hemp seed oil and hemp oil which is really CBD. So, the 2500 mg of hemp oil does not equal 2500 mg of CBD oil.
In order to make sure that you are purchasing a product containing CBD oil, keep the following things in mind:
Remember that when buying CBD oil on Amazon, it’s most commonly sold under its alias “hemp extract.” So, look for this ingredient in the label. It should be clearly displayed under Supplement Facts on the back. The higher the content of hemp-derived extract in the product, the higher the amount of CBD is.
Most legit CBD oils on Amazon have their content listed in milligram units on the bottle. This refers to how many milligrams of CBD is in the product, which can help you determine your perfect dosage size.
If the serving size under “Supplement Facts” on the label doesn’t have mgs per serving, move on to another product [4]. How are you going to determine the dosage if you don’t know the mgs of CBD per dose?
If the product you are looking at on Amazon says hemp oil, and there’s no mention of “mgs” or milligrams on the bottle, it’s very unlikely that the product contains any CBD. You need to be careful here.
Below is an example of the supplement facts of a bottle of food-grade hemp seed oil.
Healthy and delicious? Sure!
You won't find any CBD in it, though.
If you are not sure whether the product you are considering is really CBD, then, contact the seller and ask about it. While you are at it, also check if they their products have been tested by a 3rd party, whether they really contain actual CBD, and if there is any THC in their CBD oil.
Send the seller a message, they’ll likely get back to you with all the information you need to make an informed decision. Getting in touch with the seller and receiving a lab report is your best way to ensure that the product you want to buy is exactly what you are looking for.
Full-spectrum CBD is a CBD oil or product that does not simply contain pure CBD. It contains all the other naturally occurring plant compounds found alongside CBD, in hemp.
People seek out full-spectrum CBD oil to get the benefits of not just the CBD, but the other compounds as well. This is called the entourage effect and it's well known in the cannabis and CBD communities4.
Sellers of CBD may sell full-spectrum CBD. You need to inquire directly with them to ask them whether the product contains this type of CBD and whether they would be willing to share lab reports. One clue that a product contains full spectrum CBD is that it will have terpenes listed on the bottle among the ingredients. The seller may also use “whole-plant extract” to refer to it.
What’s the biggest visual difference between a bottle of CBD oil and a bottle of food-grade hemp seed oil? The bottle itself!
CBD oils tend to come in concentrated small amounts like 1 to 2 oz in a dropper bottle with a pipette at the top for dosing.
Seed oil from hemp, on the other hand is most often in a bigger bottle of 4 oz or more. It will resemble an olive oil or avocado oil bottle.
Never hesitate to reach out to the seller and ask all the questions you need. Feel free to ask them whether it is CBD oil or hemp seed oil that you are buying.
Remember, your are buying your product from Amazon and it is supposed to be easy and simple; so, don’t overcomplicate things!
If the seller ignores your questions, just move on to another seller who deserves your business more. Absence of communication normally refers to lack of transparency. These are not the sellers you are looking to do business with.
Yes, it is! CBD oil is made by suspending a predetermined amount of CBD in a base liquid for ease of oral administration.
The most common base liquid, or sometimes called “carrier oils” are coconut oil, MCT oil, and hemp seed oil that is often called hemp oil.
Remember that the size and look of the bottle will be your first clue as to whether you are buying actual CBD oil.
If the bottle looks like a small tincture-sized bottle, then that’s probably what it is: CBD oil.
On the other hand, if the bottle looks bigger and taller, and there’s more volume of liquid in it (usually 8 oz or more), that’s hemp seed oil intended for eating. It does not provide any CBD content.
CBD oils, on Amazon, simply look like a bottle of supplement: small bottle with a pipette at the top for drawing up the concentrated liquid, and “Supplement Facts” (not Nutrition Facts) listed on that back of the bottle.
Small tincture bottle with pipettes at the top for concentrated oral delivery
Avoid the hemp seed oils
Milligrams per dose clearly written on the label
CBD product on Amazon is a product intended to be a supplement, not a food or recipe ingredient, although people put CBD oil in just about any food or drink!
Reach out to the seller directly to ask all of your questions and make sure to request 3rd party lab reports for you to examine to see what's really in the products they're selling
Sure you can!
But it’s important to keep everything we mentioned in mind.
Don’t be duped by the countless companies trying to pass off a poor quality product to you as CBD.
Read your labels. Make sure the product you’re looking at contains “hemp extract”. Read reviews from other buyers.
Are you better off buying CBD in a specialty store or directly from a manufacturer online? Yes, probably.
Not only are you not going to be fooled into buying a product without CBD in it, but you’re going to get better service.
You’ll also be in no violation of Amazon’s rules.
But not everyone has access to specialty stores. And not every CBD company will ship to any location in the USA, especially it is does not have medical cannabis laws.
Also, buying things on Amazon is just easy and convenient.
To answer the question “can you really buy CBD oil on Amazon?” once and for all: Yes, you can. It’s just not going to be labeled as CBD and you’ve got to look out for imposters.
While it’s unclear what the future holds for CBD oil (and cannabis products in general) on Amazon, what is clear is that the e-commerce giant will stand by federal law for the time being.
4Russo, E. (2018, December 19). The Case for the Entourage Effect and Conventional Breeding of Clinical Cannabis: No “Strain,” No Gain. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01969/full?szn-session=www.euro.cz
