|
As with most specialty products, when it comes
to kratom, consumers are at the mercy of the retailers from whom they purchase
the product. There is a certain kind of trust necessary that the retailer will
not take advantage of the consumer's relatively uninformed status by selling
inferior, or bogus kratom. In the case of an online retailer, this trust is
further deepened by the impossibility of a "hands-on" shopping experience. And,
though some retailers (like www.iamshaman.com) offer the added trust of a
satisfaction guarantee on all orders, there is still the issue of what the
consumer can know of the product that arrives at his or her door.
Clearly, this is a market rife with potential
unethical behavior.
In 2003, a major bust exposed a large-scale,
international bogus kratom market. Centered around a man named Bruno Phillips,
the bogus kratom ring found its downfall when Phillips pitched his "dried leaf
kratom" to Daniel Siebert, an acknowledged expert in the field. Siebert quickly
noticed that the bogus "kratom leaves" in question had different venation
patterns and was covered on their underside in trichomes, giving the leaf a
somewhat hairy appearance. Since real kratom leaf has a smooth (glabrous) top
and a bottom side with no trichomes, Siebert was able to spot the bogus product
and alert the proper authorities.
Since the 2003 bust of bogus kratom, the market has grown more rigorous in its
examination of product. Still, though, there are people out there eager and
willing to take advantage of a customer base who lack the expertise to always
know what they are buying. Many venders offer an inferior Kratom product that
has appeared from Bali; it's a commercial grade leaf, and very low in potency.
Others offer "Red Vein" Kratom, but unless you are adept at identifying
particular Kratom strains, it can be difficult to know if you are truly getting
a "Red Vein" product.
What it comes down to is this: Buy from
respected venders only. Buy from companies that not only LOOK
professional, but from ones with product guarantees, a phone number to ask
questions of a REAL person, and from someone who specializes in botanicals.
Many people sell commercial grade products in fancy packaging, to distract the
consumer with hype and advertising.
One company that we have found not only has
the consistently highest grades of Kratom, but they sell so much of it that
their stock is constantly rotated. Fresh product means higher potency, and
if you find some vender who sells small amounts, you are not only increasing
your risk of getting bogus kratom, but you're taking a greater risk at getting
an old, dead product.
That company is the IAmShaman Shop, who we are
proudly an affiliate of. We can choose whomever we wish to be affiliated
with, and the bottom line for us is who will generate the most sales for us at
the end of each month. IAS has consistently prvided us with at least THREE
TIMES the sales of any other shop we've been an affiliate of! - There's no
denying that kind of consustency, and now that they've shipped over 250,000
orders at the time of writing this, we know they can not only be trusted, but we
also know that they aren't going to suddenly disappear.
Specific to Mitragyna speciosa
(Kratom):
|
