Supplements have not always been an important part of everyday life, but many modern American households have at least one bottle, package, or container of supplements in their home.
The amount of people who buy supplements from online sources is increasing at a rapid rate. Amazon supplement sales account for over 77% of the vitamin market, which is more than all five big supplement suppliers put together.
However, finding safe supplements sourced from clean or primary locations is increasingly difficult to find. Nearly 58% of all Amazon’s supplement sales are from third party sellers, many of which fail to quality control their product, include all ingredients, or contain high volumes of active ingredients that fundamentally affect the human body.
Suspected vitamin overdoses have been on the rise for some time, and with Amazon’s lackluster policy on fraud in supplement products, this statistic is set to rise.
Choosing the right supplement from the safest possible business can be difficult to do online. Here’s how to hack the online supplement business using some common sense, critical thinking, and environmental awareness.
Avoid supplements or suppliers that:
- Do not specialize in the sales or shipment of vitamins.
- Have no presence beyond an Amazon store.
- Have few to no verified reviews, or contain a high volume of fake reviews.
- Guarantee vague outcomes with no specific solutions provided by the supplement.
- Slow shipping times that ensure the seller will be paid before your product arrives.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Refuse to fall for fake supplements by hacking the system with the following pointers:
- Purchase brands that have been certified by the USP or the NSF. These brand verifications should be shown as a seal on the packaging, not just a text scrawl.
- Avoid gummy vitamins if at all possible.
- Check supplement labeling for signs of third party testing.
If supplements are an important part of your lifestyle, it is imperative that you do not leave it up for chance. Protect yourself by hacking through the online supplement business for high quality products at all times.