The Internet has made life easy in so many ways. Now you don’t have to leave your home to shop for groceries because everything you want is just a click away. You can practically buy everything online. The field of medicine is not left out of the convenient shopping. Today, you can save time and cut cost by purchasing your drugs from an online pharmacy. From the comfort of your sitting room or bedroom, you can log onto the internet, locate a legal online pharmacy and present your prescription. Make your order and within a couple of days, the medications are delivered to your home. How easy can life be! Well, before you go ahead to start adding drugs to your online cart, you need to be sure that the drugs you are getting are legal and safe.
There are many substandard and fake drugs being dispensed by illegal pharmacies online. Unfortunately, you might not know how fake the drug you have purchased is until it is too late. Many unsuspecting people have had unpleasant experiences from online pharmacies. It is therefore very crucial that you be careful when patronizing a drug store online.
There are some important checklists that you must check before you make your drug purchase from an online store.
- Be cautious of unbelievably low prices of drugs
Yes, one of the major advantages of purchase drugs from online pharmacies is to cut cost. However, know that if the price is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. When an e-pharmacy sells a drug at a ridiculously low price, you need to think twice before jumping at it. For instance, if a drug is sold for an average of $150 on other sites and you get it for $50 on another site, then you need to be wary of the site. There are many factors that can lead to low sales of drugs. First, it is possible that the drug is sold outside of the United States and is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Second, it is also possible that the drug is substandard or fake. Third, it might be that the drug is about to expire and the pharmacy is looking for ways to get it out of stock. You therefore need to be extra careful when looking for drug deals at online pharmacies. One way to be sure of prices is to compare two or three pharmacies to get an average price before you decide to purchase from one.
- Buy only from Online Pharmacies that have “dot Pharmacy” in their web address
It is a rule of thumb that if a pharmacy has “dot pharmacy” in their website address, then it is genuine and legal. This is because only pharmacies that are licensed by the law use that particular domain. This makes it easy to choose from the numerous online pharmacies that populate the internet.
- Look out for the VIPPS seal on the website
When you visit an online pharmacy, like meds4sure then check for the VIPPS seal which stands for Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Ssites. This seal is usually used on pharmacy sites that have been screened by the National Association of Board of Pharmacy (NABP). A site that has this seal is obviously genuine and will only offer legal and genuine medications to consumers.
- Patronise only U.S Based Online Pharmacy
There is a strict law guiding the U.S pharmacies, both online and offline. It is therefore logical to patronise only e-pharmacies that are based in the United States. Not only should the pharmacy be based in the U.S., it must also be licensed in the state of its operation. To know if an online pharmacy is licensed, visit NABP website to check for the list of licensed online pharmacies.
- Be wary if you are not required to present a prescription
According to the FDA, pharmacies must see a prescription signed by a medical practitioner before dispensing drugs to a buyer. If an online pharmacy is not asking you for a prescription, you need to be cautious. They obviously do not obey the law and will probably not care about your wellbeing, only your money.
- Check if there is a pharmacist on the payroll of the online pharmacy
When you visit an online pharmacy, insist on speaking with a pharmacist. It doesn’t matter if you do not have any question to ask. It is just a way to confirm that they have a resident pharmacist who is doing their job. Be careful to note that speaking with the pharmacist is not the same as speaking with the customer care personnel through the toll free number on the site. There must be a dedicated number that only connect to the pharmacist on ground.
- Never divulge your personal information
It is crucial that you keep your personal information to yourself when you go online to purchase anything. Not everything is as it seems. There are many wolves in sheep skin that are flaunting themselves to be professionals but in actual fact, they are looking for people to defraud. Unless you are sure of the safety and security on an e-pharmacy platform don’t share any of your personal details. Your credit card details, social security number, and medical history must be kept safe until you are certain that the pharmacy is trustworthy.
Conclusion
Your well-being is very important. Never trivialize anything that has to do with your health. When it comes to purchasing medications from an online pharmacy, you must do your research. There are many online pharmacies that offer wide varieties of drugs. Many of them are legal and there are many others that are illegal. You, therefore, need to be able to decipher between the good and the bad. Following the checklists that have been enumerated above will go a long way to ensure that you have a good experience at online pharmacy. Once you are certain that the online pharmacy you want to patronize is legal, you can go ahead to make your purchase.