One survey found that approximately eight in 10 Americans have made an online purchase, and cheap prescriptions are no exception. However, finding a pharmacy that’s reliable and offers cheap medications is no easy task.
If you’re not able to distinguish between a legit online pharmacy and a scam, then you could end up facing serious consequences. Continue reading to learn how to find the best online pharmacy without having to worry about its legitimacy.
Signs To Watch For
If you want to find the best online pharmacy, you should first familiarize yourself with the signs of an illegitimate pharmacy. Illegitimate pharmacies can be convincing in the way they present their site.
Before buying any cheap prescriptions from an online pharmacy, be sure it’s not a scam. You also want to be sure you’re getting what you expect.
No Prescription Required
You should never be able to call a pharmacy and order a prescription without approval from your doctor. Every legit online pharmacy selling prescription-level drugs must require a doctor’s prescription.
The only accepting are websites selling certain health supplements or over-the-counter drugs. However, these types of retailers likely aren’t pharmacies at all.
When ordering medications online, you should see a place to upload a prescription or a place to enter your doctor’s information. The pharmacy will then contact your doctor for approval.
No Pharmacist Available For Questions
If your pharmacy requires a prescription but doesn’t have a U.S.-based doctor, it may still not be a legit online pharmacy. A pharmacist needs to be available in case of any questions about the medication including how it may interact with other medications you’re taking.
Without a pharmacist present, there may be serious consequences to your health. You may also end up taking certain medications incorrectly and not receiving the full benefit. For this reason and others, there should always be a U.S.-based pharmacist available.
Seems Too Good To Be True
While saving on medications is a great feeling, you should ask yourself if these cheap medications are too good to be true. You can start by doing your research and comparing prices between different pharmacies.
If you are shopping on a website that offers prescriptions at significantly reduced rates without a clear reason, you should question its reliability. In some cases, you may receive a different product.
For example, if you buy Neurontin from an illegitimate pharmacy, you might be surprised to receive a prescription that’s much less potent than you expected. This can mean it offers you little to no benefit.
Offer Worldwide Shipping
Finding a pharmacy that meets all of your needs with cheap prescriptions is great unless you’re ordering from outside of your country. Pharmacies based in other countries shouldn’t be able to send you prescription medications.
If you’re in the United States, we recommend finding a pharmacy based in the United States. Otherwise, you should question their legitimacy. You may receive a fake product or nothing at all.
How To Shop Safely Online
Now that you understand how to spot an illegitimate online pharmacy, let’s consider how to find the best online pharmacy. While it might be tempting to check off one or two of the below safety precautions, we recommend following through with all of them.
Most of these only take a minute or two to confirm. Plus, the risk to your health is too great if you fall for a fake online pharmacy.
Check With Your Insurance
The first method you can try is checking with your insurance provider. They can provide a list of preferred pharmacies for your to choose from. This helps take a lot of guesswork out of the process.
Plus, you get the benefit of having your insurance cover some or all of the cost depending on your plan. However, you may be able to find cheap medications with your own research.
It’s also worth noting that just because your insurance doesn’t cover prescriptions from a certain pharmacy, it doesn’t mean that they are not a legit online pharmacy. It just means that they don’t work with that company directly.
Confirm Licensure
If you’re only going to check off one safety measure on this list, we recommend that you choose this one. Confirming an online pharmacy’s license is the best way to ensure you’ve found a reliable means of saving on medication.
The easiest way to do this is with a quick online search. This will tell you whether the pharmacy has been reviewed by the NationalAssociation of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP). It will also let you know if the pharmacy is reliable or not.
Have A Street Address
You want to ensure your prescription is shipping from within your country. For this reason as well as others, the best online pharmacy will have a physical street address for you to reference.
If there is no address or it’s in another country, then you should start questioning whether those cheap medications are worth the risk.
Check Reviews
Customer reviews are another great way to check the legitimacy of an online pharmacy. you can do this in multiple ways but we recommend asking friends and family or checking online reviews.
When it comes to online reviews, be sure to use your best judgment. Some of the most questionable sites may have great reviews that don’t seem like they’re from real customers. Most pharmacies will have a variety of good and bad reviews.
The best online pharmacy will have mostly good reviews but be sure to still read the bad ones. You never know if a recurring problem may impact your experience.
Find The Best Online Pharmacy
Use the above guide to find the best online pharmacy while saving on medications. In some cases, cheap prescriptions may seem too good to be true, and you’d be smart to listen to that feeling of doubt and verify the site before buying.
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