With the new era of marijuana consumption, states and their governments have already confirmed where and how to satisfy a cannabis fix. Stores that are private, licensed, and even government-regulated are some of the standard areas to purchase cannabis for both medical and recreational use.  For novice cannabis cultivators looking for reliable marijuana seed banks may be a hassle as there are scammers online.

With billion-dollar money involved, the marijuana industry can’t just simply get rid of these con-artists who are always on the lookout for their next victim. They have even adapted to the modern day selling of cannabis by having their products posted online. Sometimes all it takes is just one click and your hard-earned money falls into the hands of these scammers.

If you’re a new cannabis grower and you’re not sure whether your transaction with a specific seed bank is legit, here are a few tips that can guide you.

8 Signs That You’re Doing a Transaction with Unreliable Seed Bank

• Seed bank doesn’t have a physical store

Before you go on jumping into conclusion that every seed bank should have a physical store for it to be considered legit, unfortunately not all those authorized to sell cannabis have a physical store. This is just an added bonus for you when looking for a reliable marijuana seed bank.

If you are going to purchase from a seed bank located in another country, having a physical store that you can check online is actually heaven-sent. It gives you a feeling of assurance that people can go there and they can have your item shipped.

For unreliable seed banks, their operations are completely online and making it difficult for customers to see the bigger company picture. They don’t give much thought of branding their company and even trying to explain how they process their cannabis products.

• You can’t seem to find a person in the world who can recommend it

Now that everything is digital, even cannabis shopping can be done online, people who have actually had a transaction with your prospect seed bank will recommend it. If you’re dealing with a seed bank that says they are near you, you should have at least known a few people who can give feedback about it.

Marijuana enthusiasts are in a supportive community, all you have to do is check online platforms and you will see groups created for a specific area. This allows beginners in the cannabis industry to ask for help and get information straight from people around them.

Normally, they will warn or recommend you a particular seed bank so always be on the lookout for these. It really wouldn’t hurt if you join these groups as well, trust me you will feel welcomed and be treated like family.

• Reliable marijuana seed banks offer tracking options

Now this one here is a deal-breaker for continuing your transaction. Reliable marijuana seed banks, especially those located in another country will always give you tracking options. Since they are legit companies, they don’t mind spending money on partnering with a reliable courier system that can give them and the clients a good tracking option.

This kind of security you will never get from an unreliable seed bank, they will just tell you the number of days it will take for the package to arrive. A good cannabis seed bank will always keep their communication lines open so you can easily know where your package is. You can simply go to a website; enter a tracking number and you will see every information you need.

• Doesn’t have a concrete shipping option

We all know that cannabis consumption is not yet authorized in all of the states even in the whole world. That is an unfortunate event for all of us, but looking at the positive side, there are a lot of seed banks that ship to different countries, including those I have just mentioned. 

An unreliable cannabis seed bank, however, will not tell you specifically how they will ship the item, what’s worse is that they might just tell you that the cannabis product will be shipped just like any normal item ordered on the internet. If they tell you that this is how your package is going to be delivered, stop the transaction right there.

Cannabis seed banks use stealth shipping especially to countries who have not yet authorized marijuana consumption. Stealth shipping will include a lot of strategies such as masking techniques, shipping the item with another item, securely packaging the product, having a different return address, the item description is blank and many more. 

For cannabis seed banks who have been in the industry for quite a long time, they have no issues with stealth shipping, they can give you a 100% delivery guarantee or item reshipment if the customs or border control seizes it. Certainly, these seed banks know their way around the world. 

• Uses Cryptocurrency as a payment option

Now cryptocurrency may be considered as a legit payment option for some, be wary of seed banks who only use this as their payment method. If the seed bank only uses this type, they might be scammers just waiting to get your personal information once you input them on a website. 

Identity theft is common nowadays and with people joining the bandwagon for cryptocurrencies, the exchange of information has also been a lot easier. These scammers are not just after your money, they are after your personal information and how they can use it.

• Contact Details Seem Fishy

Since scammers are looking for creative ways to lure their victims, their websites will actually look like a well thought-out one. It can be difficult for a new marijuana investor to check if the website is legit or not. Your main goal should be to look for the best way to get in touch with the seed banks.

Reliable seed banks will always invest in good quality customer service and one way of ensuring that is making sure every inquiry is provided a response. These seed banks will always have people manning their telephone lines, chat support, and email inquiries. They will answer every inquiry you have since they value potential and old customers. 

When you’re dealing with an unreliable seed bank, they will not answer your inquiry at all or immediately, the area code of the telephone number may be of another zip code that is stated as their address or even worse, the phone number is for a completely different company.

What you can do is to contact them first and see if you will hear back from them. Ask questions and make sure you get a clear answer for them.

• The website’s FAQ question is not useful

When purchasing cannabis online, go to their website and check their FAQs section. This will allow you to see how the seed banks explain their service to the customers. A reliable cannabis seed bank will always have the most asked questions on this tab to make sure the customer will not have to ask anymore.

FAQs section should contain company policies regarding delivery, payment options and promos exclusive to their customers. They should be easy to understand as seed banks are known to make sure their customer will not have a hard time transacting with them.

• Check on what customers say about them

These cannabis seed banks will always have an account in different online platforms that allow their customers to engage with them. They would normally have a section for reviews for transparency between the company and new and old customers.

Most of these customers leave a straight forward and honest reviews regarding the item they have purchased and the kind of customer service they received. You will see that on their websites, all the information you need about a specific seed or strain is already there. Customers who have bought these will always tell you if the seed actually lived up to what it says it will.

Scammers will not have this option since they don’t want people to know about what it is that they’re really doing. They have also employed a creative way of leaving good reviews for their pseudo-company. So always check the neutral and bad reviews as they will contain all the necessary things you should look out for.

We really can’t give enough emphasis on how important it is to do your research before making that first purchase. We understand that growing your own marijuana is a really exciting thing to do and you might find yourself moments away from clicking that checkout button. A good research about the cannabis strain that you want to purchase can also help. This will test how much the seed bank knows about that strain.

Now that we have given you the signs you need to watch out for, make sure to remember them when you do your transactions online.