Buy Weed Online? What to Look For

An honest look at the online cannabis delivery market, from the dispensary perspective.

When it comes to buying cannabis online, customers have a lot of options. A simple search for weed near me or weed delivery will turn up dozens of results. In London, Ontario the market has been saturated with individuals looking to attract those wanting to order weed online. Although many individuals or companies may have good intentions, the fact is – the customer doesn’t always get what they pay for.

After speaking with customers, we found a lot of hesitation when it come to buying weed online. A previous bad experience had ruined their online shopping experience. We needed to find out why.

A quick search for weed delivery London turned up a variety of potential cannabis dispensaries. Some of them are clearly individuals looking to benefit from an emerging market, whilst others have invested time into purchasing a pre-made website theme that would help them appear more professional.

We browsed the available cannabis products that were listed on each of their sites, often discovering that the product was sold out, or simply not available. This resulted in a tedious process of trying to find the best weed we could buy online as quickly as possible. Eventually, we were able to find an available marijuana strain that seemed to look like a great bargain – an ounce of crystal covered Bruce Banner for just $130!

The offer seemed too good to be true… and it was. A quick Google Image search revealed that the image used to represent their marijuana was uploaded to the internet by a Colorado dispensary – 2 years earlier. The cannabis strain was available, but it most definitely was not the terpene-covered bud we were looking to buy in the picture.

This was a major discovery for us, as once we began verifying photos of their cannabis, we found that over 50% of these online cannabis dispensaries were falsely portraying another dispensary’s weed as their own. This is a massive problem, as buying marijuana online doesn’t allow the consumer to see the weed before it is delivered.

So what did we do? We ordered the cannabis, of course. Low and behold, the weed we had delivered was most certainly not the bud that was depicted on their website. We quickly realized this was a game of bait and switch, and the main sales strategy was volume.

This discovery wasn’t reserved to just cannabis flower – the same seems to be the case when you order cannabis edibles online.

Cannabis-infused edibles have become quite popular in recent years, so it’s no surprise that competition is heating up. Individuals have begun adding THC to some of our favourite corner-store treats, and the availability of similar, branded packaging has allowed many interested cannabis salesmen to enter the game.

Competition is always great for every industry. It has the ability to encourage growth, forcing companies to adapt and keep striving to provide a better service to their customers. The same applies to the online cannabis industry.

The problem is, not all cannabis edibles are created equal. After much discussion with our customers, we discovered that many are unaware that, despite having similar packaging, a package of cannabis Skittles for example, is usually a completely different product. Like strains of marijuana, they may have the same name, and in the case of edibles, the exact same packaging, however, they are made with entirely different distillate. Many dispensaries will use shake from outdoor grows in their edibles, an effort to sell low-grade cannabis online.

This is an effective method to make the best of a bad grow, and there is nothing wrong with that. The issue arises when customers falsely assume they are getting a great deal on an edible they saw elsewhere for double the price. Wrong. After testing a bag of cannabis-infused Sour Patch Kids we found online, we were blown away to find an extremely low amount of THC – less than half of what was advertised on the package.

It is up to us, as online cannabis dispensaries, to hold ourselves accountable and provide a service that is honest, trustworthy and fair. This article isn’t written in an effort to discredit our competitors – to the contrary. There are several online weed delivery services in London, and throughout Canada, that provide a great delivery service with premium products. We welcome the competition.

This article is meant to encourage customers that do buy their cannabis online, to research the cannabis dispensaries they use and be aware that not all products are created equal.

May your experience be a great one. And if you don’t purchase from us, may you find a reputable, honest service that says true to the culture. Happy shopping!