The market for CBD products has virtually exploded in recent years. Consumers are turning to CBD products to treat pain, depression, inflammation, anxiety and many other physical and mental ailments.

Are you considering using CBD oils? Unfortunately, finding the right ones is going to be harder than you expect. The quality of CBD oils varies by manufacturer. There are also many bogus CBD oils on the market.

You need to do your research when you are looking for pure CBD for sale.  You want to avoid the fake CBD oils at all costs.

Avoiding fake CBD oils

How do you distinguish the fake CBD oils from the legitimate ones? Here are some guidelines that will help you tell the difference.

Look at the Certificate of Analysis carefully

The CBD market is still very new. As a result, there are not many universal standards, which means the composition is going to be very different between different CBD products.

These differences can be hard to spot from the company’s own webpage or product labeling. You are going to need to dig a lot deeper to find out what a particular CBD oil is made of. The best way to do this is by looking at the Certificate of Analysis.

What is a Certificate of Analysis (or COA)? This is documentation of the ingredients in a CBD product. A CA should provide the following information:

  • The amount of THC in the oil.
  • The cannabinoids that were used.
  • The terpenes in the product.
  • Any additional byproducts that were included in the oil.

There are different ways that you can get the COA. When you are buying the oil online, you might need to contact the company directly or reach out to a third-party testing company to receive it. it is easier if you are buying the product in a store or have a sample product to look at. You can scan the QR code and find the COA online.

You don’t want to purchase a product if it does not have a Certificate of Analysis. This is a major sign that the manufacture is not legitimate.

Once you get the COA, it is important to know what to look for. The most important thing to pay attention to is the THC content. Federal law prohibits companies from selling CBD products with over 0.3% THC. CBD products exceeding these levels are not being sold legally. You should also look carefully at the list of cannabinoids. Products with few cannabinoids are not usually very effective, so you should probably avoid them as well.

Look out for hempseed products

Hempseed products come from the hemp plant, just like CBD oils. However, they are not at all the same thing.

There is nothing wrong with using hemp seed products. They have been around for decades and have some known anti-inflammatory properties. However, the range of benefits does not begin to compare to those offered by CBD oils, so you don’t want to pay a premium price for a hempseed oil that is being misrepresented as CBD.

Honest hempseed oil manufacturers label their products correctly. They don’t charge much for them, because they are cheaper to make and don’t offer the same range of benefits.

Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous hempseed oil producers out there. They erroneously label the products has CBD to justify charging much higher prices.

This is very misleading advertising. The CBD content in hempseed products is extremely low. Make sure that you are buying actual CBD oil, rather than hempseed oil.

Look out for unrealistic discounts

As with any purchase, if a deal sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. The CBD oil market is no exception.

You may find some manufacturers advertising massive discounts. They may promise a free 30-day trial or mark their products down by 80% for a special promotion.

The sad reality is that genuine CBD oil manufactures cannot afford to offer these kinds of discounts. The cost of producing CBD products is steep. Although the average CBD manufacture enjoys a profit margin f 32%, they still can’t afford to be regularly giving free trials and incredible discounts.

Identify the region CBD is grown

Hemp is grown in many parts of the world. The quality is going to differ depending on where it originates.

It is best to purchase CBD that is derived from hemp that was grown in the United States. Canadian hemp is also reliable. You can be sure that CBD that was manufactured domestically certain regulations.

Hemp that is grown in many other countries may contain lead or mercury. These harmful elements can contaminate the final CBD product. Companies using foreign hemp also may be less likely to be legitimate.

Monitor the reputations of any companies you purchase CBD oils from

Fake CBD oil manufacturers aren’t going to be able to fly under the radar for very long. CBD users are pretty savvy consumers, so they will eventually figure out which companies are legitimate. They aren’t shy about exposing the frauds.

Legitimate CBD manufacturers will stick around for a while. They will also earn credible reputations.

You will usually be able to avoid buying fake CBD oil by learning as much as possible about the manufacturers. There are a variety of ways that you can do this. You can check business review sites to see if there are any complaints about the company.

In addition to researching the company itself, you should read reviews about individual product lines that it produces. There are many great websites that review CBD oils. These include CBD Insider and Healthline.

You will want to check them out and see what other consumers think about them.

Look for third-party testing

Any claims that a CBD manufacturer makes should be taken with a grain of salt. The exception is if those claims have been verified by a third-party testing company.

You should always find out if a third-party company verified the properties of any CBD oil before taking it. This is the most important thing that you can do to avoid being swindled by a fake CBD oil manufacturer.