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Do you buy essential oils from Amazon?
It makes sense, doesn’t it? They are just as high quality and so much cheaper, right?
Wrong.
Almost everyone who has approached me, interested in the business side of essential oils, has encountered this concern. Why would people buy from me when they can buy cheaper from Amazon or Ebay? Is there really a difference?
There is. At the end of the day, everyone has to make their own choices about where to buy essential oils based on their comfort level. But before making that decision, everyone should have all the facts about the source of their oils.
Myth: They are the same quality.
Getting oils of the highest quality is imperative. I discuss this thoroughly in my free essential oil course. There is little regulation regarding essential oil quality. Oils can be labeled therapeutic grade while still containing fillers or synthetic compounds. In order to receive the greatest benefit from essential oils, they must be of the highest quality. This means grown in beyond organic conditions in their native environments, harvested and produced in the ideal manner, bottled with no preservatives, fillers, synthetics, or anything else, and tested by a 3rd party to ensure purity and the ideal chemical composition.
Not every essential oil company can promise that. There is no way to investigate this level of quality by shopping Amazon or Ebay. See the next myth for even more concerns regarding quality when you buy essential oils from Amazon or another third party.
Myth: They are still [insert brand of choice here] oils.
You can learn about essential oils and which brand I trust here. And why not buy essential oils from Amazon if they are from a company you trust? The seals are unbroken!
Unfortunately, you simply can’t know where your oils are coming from when purchasing from any seller other than directly from the brand you want. Since many brands do not work directly with Amazon, any products found are sold by a 3rd party and Amazon cannot guarantee its quality. And since the oils are not sold by the company, they will not guarantee the quality either, as they should for all products purchased directly from them.
You see, it is very easy to tamper with essential oil bottles. You very well may be able to purchase pure, unopened, untouched, genuine essential oils from a 3rd party. There are plenty of honest people in the world. Sadly, though, there are also dishonest people who will dilute the pure essential oils with a carrier oil, a lower quality oil, or even synthetics. Then they put a new sealed cap on the bottle, and still sell this poor quality oil at the going rate for a top of the line oil. This is seen all the time with Amazon oils, and it is really quite sad. It is not a risk I am willing to take with my family’s health.
Just look at any of the high-end, name brand essential oils on Amazon. There will be many positive reviews about how great the company is, some of which are from people who did get the pure oil they ordered. However, all the negative reviews are about how the oil they received was not pure, and was very different from a true bottle of the same oil. Buyer beware!
Myth: They are much cheaper.
This myth would be funny if so many people didn’t believe it. Yes, initially, it may appear that Amazon and Ebay prices on oils are cheaper than buying from the source. If you are getting a lower quality oil, this will definitely be true. But remember, you get what you pay for. Essential oils are an area where I am not willing to gamble.
Furthermore, with many essential oil companies, you can get huge discounts and save a ton of money by purchasing directly. To learn how I get an average of over 50% off the retail price of essential oils, feel free to contact me. Learn more about affording essential oils here.
Most importantly, though, is the education.
Essential oil education is absolutely crucial. You need to learn how to use the oils properly so that you get the most benefits without wasting too much oil. You need to know how to use them safely. And really, you just need to know how to use them! Oils that sit in your cupboard untouched are a huge waste of money, no matter how cheap they were.
When you purchase from companies who are invested in their customers’ health, you will receive all the training you need to reinvent your health care safely, effectively, and affordably. Every person that I work with gains access to forums to ask questions and hundreds of dollars worth of free essential oils education, including a one-on-one consult with me, where I will help you create an essential oil routine designed just for you.
When you add all that up, you can clearly see that at the end of the day, the highest quality and the cheapest oils are available directly from the company itself. So don’t sell yourself and your health short!
Learn more about essential oils here. To specifically learn about essential oil quality and be kept up to date on the latest news, I highly recommend following Essential Oil University (which is not affiliated with any brand) on Facebook.
Shared on Wildcrafting Wednesday.
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there are plenty of reasons to buy essential oils on Amazon (cheap/free shipping, bundle with other items you need, etc) – especially if you know which brands are reputable and sell directly through their own stores on Amazon.
This article helps answer questions about reputable essential oils companies on amazon, and is being updated constantly as new information about brands is confirmed.
Thank you for this comment and link. I was on the fence about buying some EOs on Amazon because of what this article was saying… it’s very negative. The price for many EOs is just way too high for me and it keeps me from really exploring, but after reading the article Daniel linked, I felt way more comfortable and informed buying from trust brands through Amazon. I saved a whole bunch of money over buying from other places, and I got to try a few oils I’ve never had before… pretty much a win win
Good luck with that. There is no guarantee. I have purchased oils that were filled with cheap carrier oil and some with water.
Also, Essential Oil University is very much affiliated with companies. The “independent” chemist who started it owns a brokerage firm and his brother heads it up. They supply many companies what actually attempt to compete with Young Living. They must lie and scheme like this to attempt to compete because they know they can’t touch what Young Living has or does.
Even the English aromatherapist, Tisserand complains of the influence Young Living has.
After receiving a chemical burn from an inferior brand (because I listened to people like Daniel who said there were some good quality brands out there,) I researched a year. I delved into the brokerage firms and the trends on the market. It’s not pretty and highly corrupted! No wonder I was burned! Hervé Casabianca, the world’s top analyst by reputation has stated that there is no other company in North America who has the top grade of oils according to the ISO, except Young Living. No one says anything against Hervé’s expertise and reputation. He is trusted in the top echelon of the oil world. That sealed the deal fore after my year long search.
Considering my husband had an autoimmune that meant any synthetic at any time could trigger it, who had to know what was in the oils we used. You must be able to know and trust whatever company you choose.
Do your own homework. Make some calls. Go outside of the crazy bloggers out there who don’t have a clue as to the industry set up.
Be blessed on your journey.
“Seed to Seal” is a farce according to Gary Young’s recent court sworn testimony concerning “Seed to Seal”. May/June, 2017
“… in the sworn testimony by Young Living Founder Gary Young, Young Living’s Seed to Seal program was revealed as a farce. Even worse, Mr. Young wanted employees to not only condone, but promote this grossly misleading marketing ploy. The employees who refused to get on board were persecuted and ultimately fired. David Stirling, for example, testified that Young Living obtained “less than 1%” of its oils from company farms and that the “vast majority of the oils were being purchased through brokers,” despite Mr. Young’s earlier testimony that a “big majority” of Young Living’s oils came from its 15 farms. A simple Google Earth search today of the size of their fields and yield per acre would reveal that Mr. Young’s assertion was impossible and is even more outrageous today. Indeed, I will let the cross examination of Mr. Young speak for itself:
Q. (By Mr. Smith) That’s a lie, you don’t grow a majority of your oils, do you, sir?
A. (By Gary Young) I don’t know the exact percentages, but I know we grow a big percentage of our own oils.
Q. When you told the jury your company grew a majority, that would mean more than 51 percent, right?
A. That would be correct.
Q. And that’s a lie?
A. I don’t believe it is.
Q. When you had confrontations with your management who was Emily Wright and David Stirling at the time, they refused to participate in your claimed seed to seal because you did not grow the oil that you were claiming publicly?
A. That is false.
Q. And since then, up to today when you told this jury a moment ago you continue to sell a majority of your oils, that is now especially untrue because of the amount of oil you now sell, right? You’ve grown in size by 10 or 12 times, correct?
A. Yes. Correct.
Q. And you haven’t bought 10 or 12 as many farms, right?
A. From the day before?
Q. From the day that they were there in 2007 to current, there aren’t 10 or 12 as [many] farms bought by YL?
A. No.
(May 23)
Dave Stirling’s sworn testimony further makes the point.
Q. (By Mr. Smith) Sure. Mr. Young may have given testimony in this case that said he grew the vast majority of his oils on farms he identified as being in Idaho, in Utah, in France, and in Oman, I think in Ecuador. Those were the ones. Was that true at the time? Was young oil –Young Living growing the vast majority of its oils on farms opened by Young Living?
…
THE WITNESS [Dave Stirling]: The farm in France was 25 acres. The farm in Idaho was a very small farm as well. It was just simply mathematic calculations, if anybody ever did that, it was very, very clear that less than 1 percent of the oil that they were selling could have come from the farms.
…
Q. And were they buying oils or were they manufacturing their own oils on their own farms?
A. The oils, of course, the vast, vast majority of the oils were being purchased through brokers. “