![Do you buy essential oils off Amazon? This article will make you think twice and show you how to get the most bang for your buck. :: DontWastetheCrumbs.com](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Why-I-Stopped-Buying-Essential-Oils-from-Amazon.jpg)
If you’ve only spent a few minutes searching the web for natural remedies, I have no doubt that you’ve come across essential oils before. There’s all sorts of controversy about brands, where they come from, how they should be used and whether or not they even work.
To be honest, I was skeptic towards the entire realm of essential oils and blatantly ignored them for a long time.
But sticking my head in the sand didn’t do me any good. Essential oils weren’t going away and if I wanted to be an educated writer (and not sound like a dummy when readers asked questions), I had to at least do enough research to hold a water-cooler conversation.
I read TONS of articles on essential oils, on the different companies, and stories on how they were healing families everywhere. In the midst of this, we were experiencing success with essential oils in our own house: my skin was healthier, my kids were staying healthy and we had great check-ups from our medical professionals and dentists.
Then it hit me. Essential oils were making regular appearances in our lives, and in homemade health and beauty products. Clearly, they had ALREADY become a staple in our journey to natural living on a budget.
But that’s where I got stuck. The cost.
As a frugal-minded person, I naturally turned to my go-to source for affordable things online: Amazon.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in terms of eating real food on a budget was that brand doesn’t always matter. Sometimes it does yes, but more often than not it’s the list of ingredients that’s the most important.
I carried this same train of thought into essential oils and thought that so long as peppermint essential oil said “peppermint essential oil” as the ingredient, that I was safe.
But that’s not necessarily true.
Essential oils are highly concentrated and potent essences of plants, making the quality of the oil itself vital. However, there is no regulatory agency over essential oils.
The FDA says that so long as an essential oil contains 5% pure ingredients, it can be labeled 100% Therapeutic Grade. What this means for us is that a bottle of peppermint essential oil can contain just 5% peppermint essential oil and 95% something else and still be qualified and labeled as 100% Therapeutic Grade peppermint essential oil.
I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sit well with me.
If I’m buying essential oils to be part of my medicine cabinet, relying on them to bring down my daughter’s 102 fever, then I need them to be 100% pure and work 100% percent of the time. Not just 5% pure and work 5% of the time.
Note: I’m not saying that any of the oils pictured above aren’t pure. They could be perfectly fine to use. But in my research, I wasn’t able to find enough information about the companies to be confident about using them for my family long-term.
Why We Quit Buying Essential Oils on Amazon
This started to make me wonder about the brands I was buying off Amazon. How could company A sell peppermint essential oil for $5 per bottle while company B sell the same size bottle for $10?
Putting two and two together, I’ve made two decision:
- I will no longer buy the cheapest essential oils from Amazon.
- I am committing to buying essential oils from Young Living.
Why Young Living?
Committing to a brand is a big deal in our house. Sharing this decision, this brand with you, and in turn making a recommendation is not something we take lightly. Mr. Crumbs and I have literally spent the better part of a year weighing the cost and quality of oils from several companies. We’ve even taken into account how each company runs their business.
I’ll share why we chose Young Living, but please know that you don’t have to agree with us, or even use essential oils at all if you don’t want to.
However, if it helps just one person sort through the barrage of data found when researching essential oils, then all is good. Ultimately, each family has to do what’s best for them.
With that said, here are the main reasons why we chose Young Living over other essential oil companies.
![Have you done your research on essential oils from Amazon? I wasn't impressed with what I found. Instead I'm buying my essential oils from a company I trust.](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Young-Living-Essential-Oils-Quality.jpg)
Quality
Young Living is one of the oldest essential oil company in operation (20+ years!) and is one of the few (if not only) essential oil companies that exclusively controls the oils from seed to production. Their “Seed to Seal” promise ensures their oils are always pure, authentic and not watered down.
Some of the policies and procedures with their oil production include:
- growing their own plants and trees on farms within the United States
- not permitting the use of any use of chemicals, pesticides or solvents on the plants
- weeding by hand, and using their own oils as a natural pesticide
- maintaining an open farm policy, so anyone can visit the farm at anytime
- using a proprietary, low-temperature low-pressure steam distillation to maintain the potency and integrity of the oil
- only using oils from the first distillation
- implementing both in-house and third-party testing for every batch of oil
Many other essential oil companies have oils shipped to them, essentially become a re-bottle and distributor of oils. This increases the chance of oils being adulterated or watered down.
![This article will make you think twice about buying essential oils from Amazon. I found a company that has quality oils and helps me get the most bang for my buck.](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Young-Living-Essential-Oils-Starter-Kit.jpg)
Cost
Along with some of the highest standards for their oils in the business, Young Living is also one of the most affordable essential oil brands on the market.
As a wholesale member, right off I save 24% off the retail price. There’s no commitment and no fee to become a wholesale member. There’s no monthly minimum purchase, so I can buy what I need when I need it and NOT pay for product I won’t use.
If I find that I’m using oils so often that they need to be replenished each month, I can enroll in an auto-ship program, earn rewards on the oils I buy and then use those rewards to pay for oils instead of paying for them out of pocket.
If it turns out we’re not going through them as quickly as we thought we would, I can un-enroll from auto-ship at anytime.
Read more about how we afford essential oils on a budget.
![Where do you get your essential oils? From Amazon? You might want to think twice! This article explains why that might not be a good idea and where to buy instead.](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Young-Living-Essential-Oils-Literature.jpg)
Safety
Let’s be honest, I’m not an essential oils expert by any means. I’m learning as I go, and making plenty of mistakes along the way. But I’m surrounded by a team who either has answers or knows where to get them, and Young Living has customer care available nearly around the clock via email, phone or chat.
If I have question, I don’t have to rely on Google and sift through pages of possibly legit, possibly bogus information. I can get help from people who have been doing this decades long than me and know that their information is accurate. Plus, they hold seminars and conventions to continue educating members about essential oils.
That’s way more than I ever got in a package from Amazon (half the time I don’t even get the packing receipt).
![Essential oils from Amazon are cheap for a reason. This article explains why you might want to consider a different brand.](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Young-Living-Essential-Oils-New-Oils.jpg)
Practicality
When you become a Young Living wholesale member, you buy a starter kit of oils. I was concerned that it would be filled with oils I didn’t used, therefore being a huge waste of money. As it turns out, all the oils I use on a regular basis were included, plus some new ones that I had been wanting to try anyway like Thieves, Stress Away and PanAway.
I mentioned this already, but since there’s no monthly purchase requirement, I’m saving money by buying only the oils we’re using.
![Do you use essential oils? Where do you buy them? This article explains why you shouldn't buy essential oils from Amazon and where you should buy them instead.](https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Why-I-Stopped-Buying-Essential-Oils-from-Amazon_no-words_600.jpg)
When food and essential oils become your tools to stay above the wellness line, quality matters. It’s always our goal to get the best quality we can afford, and in terms of essential oils, we believe investing in Young Living and not buying the cheapest oil off Amazon is the best decision for our family, for this season in our lives.
Are you interested in using Young Living essential oils as part of your natural medicine cabinet?
Join my Young Living team with any Premium Starter Kit and enroll in Essential Rewards and I will give you a $25 product credit!
(FYI – Young Living does not require you to sell oils, nor is there a monthly commitment to buy.)
Here’s how to get started:
- Click HERE to visit the Young Living website. (Make sure 2298517 is in the member and sponsor field. Choose wholesale membership.)
- Fill out your information, choose a starter kit (I recommend the Premium Starter Kit) and decide on whether or not to opt in to Essential Rewards.
- Check out and confirm your order.
Young Living is the only essential oil company with the patented Seed to Seal process, ensuring you’re only getting 100% pure therapeutic grade oils. You can read more about why I chose Young Living HERE, and how we afford to buy essential oils on a budget HERE.
I find myself turning to essential oils more and more these days . I’ve always used Doterra . What’s the difference between the 2 ?
Hi Jamie, Doterra is also a decent brand. The main difference is Young Living has a bigger selection and more blends than Doterra.
What about buying YL products on Amazon? Do you find them to be the same quality as purchasing from a YL distributor?
Hi Missy! There are actually YL counterfeit operations, so I wouldn’t trust an Amazon seller – especially when it’s your hard-earned money!