Navigating the Scams of the Amazon Supplement Market
How to spot counterfeit products, fake reviews, & white-label slop
Yesterday I spent all of 15 min on Amazon navigating Black Friday supplement deals until I said enough is enough. Alibaba slop everywhere. And the issue in many cases: it’s not so obvious.
So I dug deeper. Navigated a few different features. Recognized the patterns. And built a filter system. Not a whole lot of good it’s doing if I’m gatekeeping it all. What follows will save you money, time, & your health.
Earlier this year, we published a comprehensive supplement buying guide.
If you haven’t read it, start there. If you have, consider this your Amazon-specific appendix.
Here are the 10 tactics to employ when navigating Amazon deals.
Tactic #1: No Direct-to-Consumer Website
If a supplement brand only exists on Amazon, time to move on.
Reputable supplement companies will invest in their own online presence to build trust & provide transparency.
No DTC site is a telltale symptom of the sketchy white-label supplement company and looks something like this:
Someone finds a generic supplement manufacturer (often overseas)
Slaps a logo on a pre-made formulation (usually inefficacious dosing)
Lists it on Amazon
No research & development happens. No quality oversight beyond what the manufacturer claims. No accountability.
Before you pull the trigger — quick search on Perplexity to make sure there’s an actual site associated with the brand.
Tactic #2: Review “Detailed Seller Information”
This is what I’d consider to be highest ROI here & takes an extra 30 sec.
First — the model: Nootropics Depot.
Nootropics Depot is one of the most transparent supplement brands in the market publishing a Certificate of Analysis for every batch. Let’s use them as a baseline.
Find their MagGly product on Amazon. Look at the lower right corner: “Sold by Nootropics Depot.” Click the seller name.
You’ll see “Detailed Seller Information.” American-based company. Business address checks out. Clean.
The anti-model:
We’ll run the same process here, but this time with a creatine gummy product.
Notice the disconnect: the brand name says “Nutravita” but it’s “Sold by DREAM YUMMY.” Click through to the seller information.
Alibaba-coded trash — all set here. Next.
