Why is CBD So Expensive?

Amen.

That's the question that got us into the market, to begin with.

We saw amazing results personally (see CBD and my perimenopause story) and within our families but quickly realized that we would need 6000+ mg bottles of CBD per month!

"Honey...we need to sell your car. And do you really need TWO kidneys?? Seriously? Selfish."

We we're about to go without so we then started the turbo comparison shopper mode.

Black Friday had nothing on us!

While shoving our way through bad pricing and trampling over even worse products, we learn quite a bit along the way on how to get the best pricing for CBD.

The answer to why CBD is so expensive was a simple one.

Buyer's ignorance and seller's greed.

Seriously.

CBD is new to almost everyone (except that hipster at the coffee joint) and that creates an opportunity for lots of cheeseballs to sell their wares at ridiculous prices.

Truly ridiculous.

You'll understand how bad when we get into the weeds below.

Let's look at what we found and more importantly, how you can gauge the best pricing without ending up with crap CBD (of which, there is plenty out there).

You can jump to any section here:

• Arm and a leg CBD
• How to really compare pricing of CBD
• Is there "bulk" CBD
• Too good to be true CBD
• Expensive does not mean good CBD

Let's get to it.

The only thing more precious than money is time!

Arm and a leg CBD

Here's how Indigo Naturals actually started.

One of our founding partners was searching online for CBD isolate (to avoid allergic reaction to full-spectrum).

She came across a CBD website that actually didn't make her feel squeamish.

If we see one more "weed" picture….

CBD is not weed and it's definitely not THC (find out how different they are at CBD versus THC).

Can we move past High Times now since research is showing so much promise for CBD??

Anyway...this site didn't feel like it would embarrass her if a work colleague happened to walk by and see it open.

$124 for a bottle??

Wow...that seemed expensive but maybe that's what it costs?

Anxiety reduction and good sleep are worth 10 times that but still.

$124 dollars??

So how much CBD did it have?

It was kinda hard to tell. There was a 250mg on the bottle.

Is that 250mg per serving? Per dropper??

After reading the very very small print, it turns out it was 250mg for the WHOLE bottle.

Hmmm...30 ml. 1 dropper is about 1ml.

Carry the one. Divide by zero. Ummmm...why do I need a protractor to figure this out??

Turns out it was about 8 mg per dropper!!

So research was showing that sleep benefits were found at 160 mg doses per day.

So...I have to take 20 droppers of oil???

Per day?!?!

Basically, almost a full bottle a day at $120.

That's...not going to work.

And that's the MAJORITY of CBD on the market.

Even really big brands.

THAT...is how IndigoNaturals started.

There are lots of people suffering out there and they won't be able to afford this.

So how can we actually compare pricing when every brand seems to have their own way to show CBD amounts and costs?

Bring in the CBD universal translator!!

How to really compare the pricing of CBD

Mg.

Short for milligram.

It's a measure of volume and it's the key to avoiding expensive CBD.

Your standard CBD oil tincture has 30 mg of liquid (aka 1 ounce)

We want to figure out the cost per mg of CBD.

It will usually be in cents (i.e. $.04 or 4 cents).

How do we get that amount?

We can divide the cost of the bottle by the total CBD (250, 1000, 2000, 6000, etc).

To use the example of the expensive CBD above:

$120 (bottle cost)

Divided by:

250 mg

= EXPENSIVE!!

.48 or 48 cents per mg of CBD

Crazy expensive.

Ripoff really.

This (very big) company is taking advantage of consumers who don't yet know what they're buying.

Very uncool.

The cost per mg of CBD should be under 10 cents (.10).

Really closer to 5 cents.

Otherwise, you're overpaying.

Look...why are we the first ones (that we've found) who explains this to consumers?

No really...why??

Probably because they are way too expensive.

We'll touch base on what constitutes "good" CBD below but first, is there such a thing as "bulk" CBD.

Is there "bulk" CBD

First, it's generally cheaper and quite a bit more convenient to buy higher mg's of CBD per bottle.

I.e. 6000 mg+ bottles.

This also addresses the oil overload situation we described above.

It's also less expensive per mg of CBD.

Our 6000 mg bottle of CBD is a little over 3 cents per mg!!!

That's at full price and we're always running different discount codes (up to 30%).

That's the best we can find for legitimate CBD because we want people to actually be able to afford this.

You shouldn't have to pick between rent and reducing anxiety.

That's our opinion anyway (because we've been there!!).

We talked about how to avoid expensive CBD.

But...we need to make sure it's actually good quality.

Too good to be true CBD

As soon as CBD started making waves in the media, there was a rush of really bad stuff to market.

Supplements aren't heavily regulated.

Companies from China started flooding the market with anything and everything CBD.

There's usually just enough CBD in the product to put CBD on the label.

CBD in name only. Turpentine in reality (just kidding but maybe not).

RUN, don't walk from those products.

We're very leary of Amazon for that reason as well.

Technically, Amazon doesn't allow CBD sales so who knows what being sold under that banner (see Can I buy CBD on Amazon).

Getting knockoff shoes where the sizing doesn't really match is one thing.

Something you're putting in your body?? That's a NO.

There are certain minimum requirements:

• Organically grown in the USA at an FDA registered farm
• Third-party tested (available online)
• No pesticides
• No solvents
• No heavy metals
• No THC
• No bacteria
• No mold

If these items aren't listed right there on their site for you to view, don't risk it.

Inexpensive garbage CBD is still garbage.

And potentially really bad for you.

On the flip side, expensive doesn't mean it's good either!!

Expensive does not mean good CBD

There are some really big brands out there that are fleecing customers.

In our humble opinion of course.

Unless you count math as an opinion.

We calculated the per mg cost for many big brands to see where the market was.

Wow...it fluctuated from 9 cents per mg up to 22 cents.

Check out our CBD price comparison across major brands.

That's a crazy disparity for very comparable products.

• Similar extraction process
• US grown organically
• 3rd party testing

These are giant brands with millions of customers.

Hmmm.

Again, you can find more on the CBD comparison here.

Let's put a "Wrap" on expensive CBD

Okay...hopefully, we shed some light on why CBD is so expensive but more importantly…

How to make it much less so.

Pricing will probably drop over time as companies just can't take advantage of people's inability to know and compare the options.

Everything above is EXACTLY why we created IndigoNaturals.

High-quality CBD at a price people desperately in need can actually afford.

It's the good fight.