Buy CBD Online: 5 Things To Do Before You Buy

A bottle of CBD oil. Text that reads "5 Things to do before you buy CBD online"

It seems that everyone and their mother is selling CBD online these days. And why not? Hemp is easy to grow. Unfortunately, it’s hard to grow well, so CBD products that you find online can be hit or miss.

We’ve compiled this five-step guide to help you find reputable online CBD shops and what to look for when vetting potential vendors.

Before You Buy CBD Online…

1. Poke Around on Their Website

While looking around for CBD vendors or farm sites, you should first examine their websites. Ask yourself: Would I buy CBD from a store that’s hard to navigate or hard to use? If the answer is no, you would do well to avoid buying from a hard-to-use online CBD store, too.

You know what we mean: excessive popups, slow load times, and an unresponsive mobile interface. First and foremost, a website should function like a good salesperson. It should help you find what you’re looking for and answer all of your questions. If it doesn’t, do yourself a favor and find a new site.

2. Do They Maintain a Good Social Media Ecosystem?

In 2025, nearly every person, brand, and store should have a social media presence. Online CBD shops are no different in this regard. (However, Meta and other platforms can make life hard for cannabis businesses, but that’s a whole different can of worms.)

When we say social media ecosystem, there are three things we’re talking about.

Does the company/brand have social media at all? – Most farms and retailers should have social media accounts. They serve two purposes: Advertising and maintaining open lines of communication for existing and potential customers.
Are they active? – Does the company post somewhat regularly? Do they respond to messages and comments in a timely manner? A ‘dead’ social media channel may be an indication that the farm or online shop is no longer open.
How do they engage with people? – This is more of a vibe check than anything. Does the company respond to questions thoughtfully, or do they send strings of emojis? Context matters.

3. What do the Reviews Say?

When you buy CBD online, you should consider two types of reviews: internal reviews on the retailer’s website and third-party reviews on platforms like Google.

Internal reviews

Does the website feature any customer reviews? Are they quality reviews?
Larger retailer websites that carry/host different brands should feature a good number of reviews on their respective product pages. However, smaller vendors or vertically integrated farms like Sunset Lake CBD may have fewer total reviews.
Do the vendors respond to the positive and not-so-positive reviews? It’s a good sign if a farm or online store takes time to respond to all feedback.

External reviews

After you’ve checked out your vendor’s social media pages and internal reviews, hop on Google and search the name of the vendor and “reviews.” You’ll want to look out for a few things:

Find out what online CBD communities are saying about your prospective vendor.
What is their Google rating?
Do the reviews on the vendor’s website match the tone and ratings of reviews found on third-party sites?

If it seems like your vendor isn’t transparent about their reviews or suppressing anything that isn’t five stars, you may want to do a little more digging.

4. Look at the Certificates of Analysis

If you’ve found a vendor with a working website, a good social media presence, and positive reviews, great! Now, it’s time to find a product that works for you and your situation.

Every CBD product sold online should come with a certificate of analysis. A certificate of analysis (or CoA, for short) is a technical document from a third-party lab that tells you a few things like:

The name and type of product – Smokable hemp flower, oil, topical, etc.
The cannabinoids in the product – Does the level of CBD on the label match the level of CBD on the document?
Testing date – How long ago did this test occur?
What lab conducted the tests – Is this lab reputable and impartial?

Because the hemp and CBD industry is largely unregulated, consumers need to rely on CoAs to trust their products. If a company doesn’t readily provide CoAs on their website, that may be a red flag.

5. Contact the Retailer

Does the company or farm prominently display their contact information? Can you email or call in?

If you’re on the fence about a company or a particular product, it may be worth sending a quick email. At the very least, you should get your questions answered, but you should also note how long it takes the company to respond.

Getting back to you quickly and with details is a good sign. Ignoring your question or making you jump through hoops is not.

Final Word

Now that you have five actionable steps start checking out different online CBD companies. We recommend starting here with Sunset Lake CBD, but then again, we’re a little biased. We think we do it the best.

While you’re here, follow Sunset Lake CBD on Instagram!

Note: This post was originally published on December 23, 2020 and updated by the original author on October 24, 2024