Buying CBD from Amazon: 7 Things to Know

How to buy CBD from Amazon

Buying CBD from Amazon? Here are six things you should know before you buy.

CBD oil is an exciting alternative for pain-relief and problems with sleep or anxiety, but marketing tricks can make it hard to know what you’re actually buying online.

Amazon’s own guidelines for Spain clearly say it’s illegal to sell or advertise products containing CBD.

That doesn’t mean you can’t buy high-quality CBD oils, sprays or edibles online in Spain – you can – but you’ll need to navigate marketing tactics to avoid getting tricked or ripped off.

Here are 7 key things you need to know to help you buy the most effective CBD oil on Amazon in Spain.

1. Spanish terms for CBD oil
2. Look for CBD oils where the country of origin isn’t Spain
3. Instructions for use
4. Steer clear of any medical or medicinal claims 
5. Look out for standard percentages
6. Make sure the ml match the price  
7. Look for organic products

We will now get into each topic individually and summarise everything into a conclusion. Just to point out, our company Pure Organic CBD sells on Amazon Spain and after navigating the different options and products available for over a year, this is our assessment.

Terms for CBD Oil (in Spain)

Terms for cannabis in Spain (non-exhaustive): Porros, hierba, maría, hachís, marihuana  – In Spain there are hundreds of words to talk about the extracts and flowers of the cannabis plant.

But the colorful lexicon and association with illicit drugs make it tricky to understand the legal market of CBD on Amazon. Just to be clear, that is not what our company is about!

While there are many CBD oils that do not contain THC. THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis sativa -L and cannabis indica plants. Their manufacturing and sale are still not clearly legal in Spain under certain circumstances.

Not to worry, our products meet the guidelines for legal sale in Spain and the EU. You can read about the legality of CBD in Spain in our blog.

This means CBD companies will use special terms when selling pure and beneficial CBD oils – consumers must know these terms, or they could end up being tricked into buying a totally different product.

For example, cáñamo is the most common Spanish word for strains of the hemp plant – cannabis sativa – that have very low THC levels and from which the majority of CBD oils are derived.

But aceite de cáñamo (aceite being Spanish for ‘oil’) is the term in Spain for hemp oil or hemp seed oil, which is a totally different product.

Hemp oils on their own contain zero cannabinoids. That means if you are looking for the benefits of CBD, steer clear of hemp oils. This is especially present on the UK marketplace. If you see a price that is too good to be true, chances are, it is.

Any Amazon listing that just says aceite de cáñamo without any mention of CBD is unlikely to contain CBD extracts – however, because CBD oil is so pure it typically comes diluted in an oil, which is often sunflower oil, olive oil or even aceite de cáñamo. 

The key is always to look out for CBD in the title of the product listing. Also, read the product reviews, there are loads of cannabis experts on Amazon buying and sampling new products all the time. Many of them are very vocal and offer honest feedback. Avoid the reviews that are short as these are usually generated by the review groups.

The BBC ran a story here, about Amazon sellers buying reviews to help bolster their products so be careful.

Bottom line, when buying CBD from Amazon, be careful of the terminology. Be 100% sure it says CBD.

Look for CBD oils where the country of origin isn’t Spain

Did you know that except for special circumstances, it’s illegal to cultivate and manufacture CBD in Spain.

As mentioned above, Amazon’s seller guides for Spain-based companies clearly state the sale or advertising of products with CBD extracts is prohibited.

There is a way around this however: it is legal for Spain-based companies to sell CBD oils manufactured in other EU countries that allow cultivation of cannabis sativa for CBD oil extraction.

The most common countries cultivating and manufacturing high-quality CBD oils are France, Croatia and Portugal, and especially Switzerland, which although not in the European Union, it has partial access to the EU’s single market.

Amazon listings of CBD oils should state their country of origin (país de origen). Amazon started mandating that sellers disclose this information but from our experience, has yet to regulate it. We’ve found that of the top 10 brands selling CBD on Amazon, only 2 are disclosing the true origin of their products. That means the other 8 are sourcing from China, which is by far an inferior product and unregulated.

If you are shopping around for CBD and prefer to buy on Amazon, our products are easily viewable here. You will find our whole range for sale and it is shipped by Amazon themselves.

Instructions for use

As CBD oil is not yet approved in Spain as a food supplement, Spanish companies listing their CBD oils on Amazon are required to state their products are for topical use only (uso tópico).

Obviously topical use would defeat the point of high-quality CBD oils, which are typically taken in drops under the tongue to get the best pain-relief and anti-anxiety effects. But there is promise for CBD Topicals which is covered in another blog article here.

But until Spain’s agency for food safety (AESAN) approves CBD oil for human consumption any company that claims their oils are to be taken orally are either not selling CBD oil or not following Amazon’s seller requirements.

Though it seems strange, a Spanish company that states their CBD oil is for topical use only is in fact following the letter of the law, and more trustworthy than those that don’t.

Certain manufacturers of CBD oil in the EU and Switzerland may state their product is compatible with the EU’s Novel Food principles – such as the Spain-based Pure Organic CBD.

The Novel Food status shows a product is safe for consumers and properly labelled, and any CBD company whose application has been officially received can display the Novel Food label on their products.

A Spanish company whose CBD oil shows Novel Food status can generally be trusted as a company that is following the law as much as possible. At Pure Organic CBD, all of our products are Novel Food registered with the European Food Safety Authority. Not only is it necessary for CBD brands to be registered, it also gives customers a bit more protection when buying products.

Steer clear of any medical or medicinal claims

In the same way that CBD oil is not yet approved as a food supplement in Spain, Spain’s agency for medicines (AEMPS) has not yet approved CBD oil for medicinal use in Spain.

(The sole exception is a medicine containing CBD – Epidiolex – approved for severe forms of epilepsy in both Spain and the EU since 2020.)

As such, it’s either disingenuous or illegal for a Spanish company to claim medicinal or nutritional benefits of taking CBD oil on their Amazon product listings.

One way that companies get around this is by making it look like their product (usually hemp oil) contains CBD and then making a range of legal nutritional claims actually based on hemp oil.

Although the medicinal benefits of CBD oil for pain-relief, for anxiety and for sleep issues are proven by numerous studies, it would not be legally correct for a proper company selling CBD oils or edibles in Spain to claim so on an Amazon product listing.

Only buy CBD from Amazon that comes in standard percentages

As mentioned above, CBD oil is typically an extremely potent and pure form of CBD that requires dilution within another oil, such as sunflower seed oil or hemp oil.

In fact, our initial extract yield is ~95% pure and looks like bee’s wax. We then dilute this CBD distillate down using sunflower oil, MCT oil or salmon oil for our CBD for pets.

Most Spanish companies selling CBD oils (aceite de CBD) and edibles will typically dilute their CBD oils in 5%, 10%, 20% or up to 40% concentrations (we are the only company in Spain selling a 40% Full Spectrum CBD oil).

Many companies selling products that look like CBD oils but are in fact hemp oil or another similar product might list uncommon percentages, such as 33% or even 100%.

You will never find a 100% CBD oil, so whatever CBD products you are buying on Amazon in Spain you will need to buy one diluted and therefore know about percentages.

The higher the percentage, the higher the concentration of CBD oil present in each drop, and consequently the higher both the price and the strength of the CBD oil.

If there is no percentage listed at all, double check that you are actually buying CBD oil.

Look out for the number of milliliters on the CBD Tincture (Bottle)

When looking to buy CBD from Amazon, the price can vary wildly, from under €10 to over €100 per bottle.

After looking at the percentage of CBD on the product, be sure to factor that into the size of the bottle. This is important because some sellers will put a big number like 2000mg on the packaging, only to find later that this is actually a 6% product.

This means you will be using more product per serving and buying product more often. Also, the results will be far different than if you took a higher concentration product. These are just marketing gimmicks all designed to get customers to realise some benefit while spending the most for it.

By contrast, here at Pure Organic CBD, we always sell in 10ml bottles. This allows customers to know exactly what they are getting in terms of percentage. It also helps with dosing because the amount of CBD per drop is finely tuned and consistent.

Be extra careful of products being sold in 30ml bottles. These products use the “bigger is better” philosophy. Don’t be fooled, stick with products are are labeled in a way to help the customer.

Always Buy Organic CBD from Amazon

Scientific studies have shown that organic consumables (produce, food products, medicinal tinctures and food supplements) have greater health benefits than those grown using conventional pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

When it comes to buying CBD from Amazon, organic CBD oils will have a full spectrum of cannabinoids and therefore be higher quality than non-organic CBD oils.

Furthermore, the cannabis plant is known to absorb heavy metals and contamination from the soil. For example, a Spanish association Flecha Verde are using cannabis plants to clean up an area in southern Almeria where four nuclear bombs contaminated the soil in 1966.

Spanish scientist Mario Land, collaborating with Flecha Verda, said the hemp plant has a ‘strong capability’ to absorb heavy metals through its roots, which are then stored in the plants as they undergo industrial processing for the textile industry. You can read this article here.

While no studies have yet proven non-organic CBD leads to negative health effects, consumption of heavy metals has been proven to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations.

Organic CBD also means the end product came from an extract and not from isolate. CBD isolate is a cheap form of CBD that is easily created using the lowest grade hemp.

To visualise this, image someone told you they could filter sewer water enough for it to be drinkable. Would to drink it? Even if it was tested to be 100% clean and drinkable? Chances are, probably not! That sewer water is like CBD isolate. Ya, it is water in the end, but who knows what was in it before.

The price of organic CBD oil is likely to be higher, but when buying CBD oil from Amazon in Spain you are likely to find a higher-quality product from a company committed to the positive health benefits of quality CBD oils.

Conclusion

While buying CBD from Amazon was generally not possible a year or two ago, Amazon seems to have been opening up to the sale of CBD products.

In 2020, Amazon UK ran a pilot program for a select number of brands to be able to list there products. According to Amazon, the pilot program was successful. It is believed that the market will open up to all brands soon.

This guide is future proof for when that happens.

As for now, if you are buying CBD on Amazon, be careful and do your homework. Search for our products for a safe bet. You can find our entire full spectrum range and our broad spectrum products as well.