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Guide to Online Pharmacies - Don't get scammed |
Thursday, 28 January 2010
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BASIC GUIDELINES FOR BUYING MEDICINES ONLINE WITH OR WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION. Regardless of your perspective on the issue, online pharmacies are here to stay. Some provide their advertised service and product in a responsible manner and others are rip off artists looking to make a quick buck. You may get what was advertised, you may get nothing, or you may get sugar pills. Or, you may get something downright dangerous. Most online pharmacies advertising Viagra, Cialis, Xanax, Vicodin etc are in reality just different web domains that are pointing to only a handful of actual providers (on the backend). You will recognize the same templates across many sites. Most of these sites are located in Europe, Russia or China. Most of the legitimate product is shipped out of India. India is not held to America's patent laws. For many years they have made legitimate (as in chemically correct) copycat versions of "expensive" American drugs such as Viagra, Cialis, Xanax, Vicodin, Codeine etc. The reason the medicine is so expensive in America is to recoup the R&D and marketing expenses of the drugs. And obviously, shareholders want to make a profit. Once the drugs are invented they are technically cheap to reproduce. Pharmacy companies have no shortage of profit so many people do not feel too guilty about ordering the "same" drug much cheaper from an Indian pharma supplier - one that still makes profit while selling the same pills much cheaper. A mini industry of
online pharmacies has cropped up to provide this service. Unfortunately, many copycat websites are on the bandwagon and sometimes provide less than legitimate service and delivery to say the least. Here are some guidelines I have garnered from personal experience of buying and working with sellers - as well as extensive research on the subject. This list is in no way comprehensive and is meant to supplement an individual's due diligence in this area. It is assumed that you consult a physician and local laws and ordinances in regards to buying and shipping medicines online. #1. The words "Canadian Pharmacy" rarely means the site has any relation to Canada. This is just marketing. It does not mean the site will not deliver, but there are domain-to-geographic lookup tools online. You should see where your site is hosted. www.ip2location.com is helpful - Which leads us to... #2. Russia and China based sites. If your domain ends in.cn or.ru this is self explanatory. But many.com and online pharma sites are hosted in Russia or China - this isnt neccessarily "bad" but Chinese sites are notorious for fraud... Russian sites follow. Sites are hosted off shore for obvious patent and legality reasons. Western European sites are your best bet for offshore sites. #3. Look at the domain name - Do not trust fly-by-night sites with strange domain names or long links. A notorious scam is when a domain is quickly created with a throwaway URL such as farm24x.tiny.url or xnitemedz.cn etc (not real sites, just examples) - and then there is mass email SPAM sent - people place orders, money is taken and then fraudulent or no product is shipped. Avoid SPAM originated sites. #4. So where does one look? Go to forums dedicated to the area of health you are interested in. Seek out like minded peers. Ask around who has used what with positive results. Dont trust random unreadable posts, they are often auto generated. Look for thoughtful posts or contact someone directly. #5. VERY IMPORTANT: NEVER EVER PAY BY WESTERN UNION (OR ANY KIND OF WIRE SERVICE). It is also advised to not pay by electronic check or bank transfer. No matter how desperate you are, be sure to find a provider that allows you to pay by CREDIT CARD. Credit Card companies will refund your money within 30 days if you file a dispute for undelivered or incorrect products. You will almost always get your money back for unfulfilled online purchases. ONLY USE A CREDIT CARD. #6. Make sure you are on a SECURE (https) CHECKOUT PAGE when you give your CREDIT CARD INFO. Basically, on the page that is asking for your specific credit card number, ensure there is a https (make sure there is an 's' at the end) in the address bar. If not, do not put your credit card info on the page - this goes for any online purchase. #7. Use common sense. Dont click strange looking links, look for customer service email addresses that match the website - make sure there is secure order page and they accept credit card. You should review the site's shipping/refund policy, but the main thing is to cover your own butt. Regardless of what the site says, follow the above steps to ensure you protect your personal info with an encrypted page and are selective about which sites you use. Many people have asked me to recommend sites ... these are ones that I know have delivered to USA and EU no problem, but again it is best for you to do your due diligence. These sites follow all the above rules as well. I have emailed their support emails below and always gotten a personal reply within a day. USA & Canada sales of Viagra, Xanax, Cialis, Ambien, Vicodin, Codeine etc... They offer a checkout coupon for additional 5-10% off: f0cad3c985 (Discount good on everything except vicodin & codeine, but those customers get free viagra in their order) UK, Europe and Worldwide sales of Viagra, Cialis, Ambien, Vicodin, Codeine... Same company as above: coupon for additional 5-10% off: f0cad3c985 (Discount good on everything except vicodin & codeine, but those customers get free viagra in their order) Worldwide supplier of generics including Vicodin, Codeine, Cialis, Xanax... Different supplier, haven't used them myself but have been told they are reliable. You get discount once you are a repeat customer. Most orders get free Viagra pills added to order and free shipping on orders over $250 I think. Off topic, but same company as first two sites also has a tax free tobacco shop. I use this site the most. They also use same coupon for additional 3-5% off. Free shipping, cartons shipped separate to avoid tax checks --- comes out to around $3 a pack for most brands. Not Russian/Chinese knockoffs. These come from UK and EU top brand factories of original brand. I smoke them and can stand by them... (Coupon f0cad3c985 gets you 3-5% more off) - They ship worldwide and many of my friends have made use of them. Happy new year, everybody. If you found this helpful pass it on - there's too much misinformation out there. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
IT & Technology professional. Try to constantly bridge gap between people, technology and creativity. Love to learn and teach.
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