We all like a good deal. But what makes a deal good is getting a great price for a quality product.
When it comes to supplements, it is common to shop around for the best price. However, the unfortunate truth is that those bargain supplements may be absolutely worthless or even dangerous.
If you are someone who turns to Amazon or Ebay or some other vitamin discount marketplace to buy your supplements, you may be purchasing counterfeit products and not even know it.
Do you ever feel like you are wasting your hard-earned money on products that don’t seem to work at all? That’s because they may be fake and not even contain the active ingredients claimed.
Popular marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay are swamped with fake, counterfeit supplements at bargain prices.
Here’s the problem… These fake products look identical to the real supplements. The bottles are the same. The labels are the same. You think you are getting a bargain.
Think again. You’ve been hoodwinked. Scammed. Ripped off. Sad truth is, many of you have been throwing your money away on these fake products for years by shopping for the best deal on Amazon.
You. Can’t. Tell. The. Difference. Between. Genuine. And. Fake. Supplements.
Marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay and discount vitamin houses are merely platforms for third parties to sell their products. There is absolutely no policing of the products sold to guarantee their authenticity. That is YOUR responsibility to assure you are purchasing from a bonafide source.
Crooks love these platforms for selling their fake goods. For them, it’s the wild west with no policing, no one inspecting the products, basically, anything goes. And, it does just that while they rake in the bucks from unsuspecting buyers.
Gary Collins, ex-FDA special agent and forensic investigator for the US State Department of Health, one of the premier health experts in the country regarding the supplement industry, blew the whistle on the fake supplement industry.
He explains that it is almost impossible to shut down these fake supplement scam artists. They create a complicated web of shell companies where they can shut one down and repopen it the next day under a new company name with the same scam products.
In 2015, the New York State Attorney General accused GNC, Walgreens, Target, and Walmart of selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous fake supplements. GNC supplements actually contained ingredients not even listed on their labels. Walgreen’s ginsing supplement only contained rice and garlic. Target supplements tested negative for the main ingredient claimed and only had beans, rice, peas and carrots.
The IACC (International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition) estimates that the legitimate companies behind brand names lose approximately $600 billion annually because of counterfeiting.
The fake supplement industry rakes in $600 billion annually. It is huge and rampant on marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay.
Oftentimes, these counterfeiters will purchase expired nutritional supplements for pennies on the dollar, repackage with new expiration dates and sell at a discounted price. Or, they may raid warehouses or transport trucks and steal products to release on the black market.
Remember, there is no quality control on this black market. They masquerade as the real thing in name-brand department stores we all shop at. You can bet that ANY popular supplement is being counterfeited in China or India or somewhere in the world.
Fake pills rarely have the correct amount of the active ingredient they claim on the label (if any). Lab tests have even shown 10 times more than the correct amount, OR none at all, OR large amounts of sawdust.
Sometimes, they will take real products and mix the ingredients with a filler like cornstarch. Then you end up with a fake blend.
The packaging looks the same. The difference is the discount price to convince you to buy.
That’s the hook, and it works very well with bargain shoppers who only care about the best price. Scam artists know this and use it against you.
Here are a few tips from Gary Collins on how to avoid fake supplements…
- Never buy supplements at Walmart or other big box stores
- Avoid those supplements marked 50% off
- Never buy multi-level products (in his many years, he never found a good MLM deal)
- If it’s cheap, it is likely garbage
- NEVER buy supplements off Ebay
- NEVER buy supplements off Amazon unless it ships directly from the source. If the seller is different than the source on the product, it IS a scam
- Avoid supplements owned by big pharma. They buy out little companies, then change the formula for the worst
- Avoid ALL websites that don’t list a phone number or address. RUN!
- Avoid foreign companies with no phone number or contact info
Here’s the bottom line… High quality ingredients cannot be produced cheaply. If you buy cheap products, you get what you pay for and have no one to blame but yourself.
Trust your instincts. Are you being offered a deal that sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is.
Now, think about all the years you have burned through your hard earned money by being duped on bargain, fake, counterfeit products. It’s enough to make any consumer’s blood boil.
If you think you can’t afford expensive supplements, ask yourself which is wiser–to buy a bunch of cheap, worthless supplements OR to purchase a few select few high-quality products that can really make a difference in your health.
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