When purchasing your supplements online, you should always make sure that the pharmacy you choose is certified. Although there are many benefits to buying over-the-counter medicine online, such as having your purchases delivered to your doorstep, or the ability to choose between various sellers, there are also certain risks or scams that you should be aware of.
These so-called pharmacies are dangerous for various reasons. Some of them will never deliver the products you paid for. Even worse, some will sell you fakes, or sometimes straight out dangerous meds. This is why it’s crucial that you’re able to tell whether your go-to online pharmacy is certified or not.
How to Tell If the Pharmacy Is Uncertified?
It is actually pretty easy to notice the warning signs of a possibly uncertified Internet pharmacy.
If you want to avoid these kinds of scams and protect both your wallet and your health, be sure to check the following:
- The pharmacy allows you to purchase prescription-only medicine without any verification. If a pharmacy allows you to buy prescription drugs without any safety checks, you can be pretty sure it’s a scam, as legit pharmacies simply can’t do that.
- You have no option to speak with a health professional or a pharmacist. A real online pharmacy will always let you chat with an expert if you wish to do so.
- No registration or verification is required. Fake online pharmacies will also lack regulatory details and up-to-date certifications.
- You are offered ridiculous discounts – one of the main red flags to spot a fake online coupon. Remember that a pharmacy is a business like any other and needs to make money.
- The pharmacy’s webpage lacks contact details.
- After registering, the webpage sends you unsolicited spam emails, or constant notifications on your phone.
Why Are Uncertified Pharmacies Dangerous?
Among many different reasons that make an uncertified pharmacy dangerous, let’s focus on the most important one – the medicine they sell can be quite dangerous to your health.
- The medicine can contain low quality ingredients, which may worse your condition.
- The medicine may contain very little of the active ingredient, which is necessary to combat whatever condition you might have. Sometimes, they do not contain ANY active ingredient and are simply placebo pills.
- The medicine might have been stored inappropriately, thus making it ineffective or dangerous.
Use a Quick Search Online
If you’re unsure whether the pharmacy you want to order from is legit, you can check the General Pharmaceutical Council register. It keeps track of all registered, real pharmacies, both offline and online. There are various ways you can search for info – by the registration number, postcode, address, etc.
Alternatively, you can use the WHO’s official website. There, you’ll be able to find a list of all certified health experts from all over the world.
How to Tell If Online Pharmacy Is Certified?
So, how can you be certain that an online pharmacy you stumbled upon is a real deal then? Look for the following clues:
- A real, genuine pharmacy will always have legitimate contact details on their website.
- A certified pharmacy will always ask you to submit a valid prescription before selling you any prescription-only meds.
- Each valid pharmacy will give you the option to speak to a doctor or a health professional.
- The batch number and expiration date are always well visible on all medicines and supplements in a real pharmacy.
- A real online pharmacy will always be well-reviewed by its verified former customers.
- A trusted online pharmacy will also have ready-to-read privacy and legal policies ready on their website.
Shopping online for medicine has its perks, that’s for sure, but it can also be dangerous if you’re not paying attention. Always make sure that you’re purchasing legitimate meds and supplements from a real pharmacy by checking the above-mentioned points. Your health may depend on it.
