Is iHerb Legit? Find Out How The Health Service Fares in 2024

Online health and well-being services have seen a boom as people become more conscious about their health and lifestyle. One service that pre-dates this boom is iHerb, functioning since 1996. But is iHerb legit?

With so many online stores claiming to offer natural health products, it’s important to thoroughly review their legitimacy before purchasing. In this article, we will look at their way of functionality and whether they are up to the standards or not.

Key Takeaways:

  • iHerb provides genuine health products, GMP-certified, with competitive pricing.
  • Secure, PCI DSS compliant payment processing ensures customer safety.
  • International shipping options, tracking info, and responsive customer care.
  • Negative reviews exist but may not reflect overall iHerb legitimacy.

What is iHerb?

iHerb is an online service based in the USA that sells products ranging from health to cosmetics in over 185 countries. Health products include vitamins, supplements, protein powders, herbal medicines, etc.

Health Supplements at iHerb

iHerb offers a wide range of products from various brands at competitive prices, including their own iHerb-branded products. They claim to provide high-quality, authentic products that are sourced from around the world. Just make an account, add desired products to your cart, bill them, and wait for their delivery.

Is iHerb a Legitimate Company?

You have seen a brief introduction about iHerb and its basic functionalities, but let’s take an in depth look at the company’s model. From this analysis, readers can determine whether iHerb is a trustworthy online retailer.

Product Quality

The first and foremost thing is the product quality you will purchase. iHerb prides itself on providing genuine products from well-known brands. The company directly sources the products from the companies or their authorized distributors.

iHerb also holds several certifications, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) by NSF. This ensures that their products are manufactured in a safe and controlled environment and meeting quality standards.

Affordable Prices

iHerb is known for offering competitive prices on its wide range of products. The company uses its strong relationships with manufacturers and distributors to negotiate the best prices, which it passes on to its customers.

Additionally, iHerb offers regular promotions, discounts, and loyalty rewards to help customers save even more on their purchases: Even if you are a first-time buyer, scroll down to the bottom of the iHerb page and enter your Email in the below-shown bar; you will get the latest promo codes and news directly in your mail.

Enter Email Address Prompt

Data Security

iHerb takes customers’ data security seriously. The website uses TLS encryption to protect customer information by creating an encrypted pathway between the two points so no other party can eavesdrop on your personal information.

iHerb payment processing is PCI DSS compliant, ensuring that customer payment details are secure. This is very important as many customers use credit cards for payments, and if someone’s details are compromised, their financial information could be at serious risk.

PCI DSS is a security standard for businesses handling credit card data, aiming to protect cardholder information from theft or unauthorized access. Compliance involves strong access control, network monitoring, and maintaining a security policy.

Shipping and Delivery

iHerb offers various shipping options to customers worldwide, including fast and affordable international shipping. It uses reliable carriers and provides tracking information for orders, allowing customers to monitor the status of their shipments.

iHerb also offers free or discounted shipping on eligible orders, and its shipping and delivery times are generally within the industry standard. However, delivery times may vary depending on the destination and local customs regulations.

Customer Care

iHerb has excellent after-sale services. It offers many channels for customer support, including email and live chat, and has a dedicated team to help customers with their inquiries or issues. iHerb also has a customer-friendly return policy, allowing customers to return products within 60 days if unsatisfied.iHerb has a strong online presence, including a user-friendly website and active social media accounts. Customers can easily find information, reviews, and feedback.

What About The Negative Reviews?

If you perform a quick search on iHerb, you will find many bad reviews on it online. Sites such as sitejabber or Trustpilot you will find that most of them are negative reviews. This is alarming as a good functioning site should always have positive reviews right? Let us look at the most commonly reported issues reported by people.

  • Many reviews stated that they faced issues with the delivery of their product. Either the product was received significantly later than the estimated delivery date, or they never received their products. In such cases, it is important to keep in mind that international deliveries must go through customs clearance in most countries. This could slow down the delivery process, or products can be confiscated.
  • While iHerb claims to sell authentic products, some customers have reported concerns about the quality or effectiveness of the products they received. These can include adverse effects on health/body or something wrong with the product’s physical condition. In such cases, customers can file for a refund and should review the product ingredients for any potential allergens.
  • Some reviews said that they had an unsatisfactory experience with the customer care service. Their queries were not answered, or complaints were left unattended. Although iHerb has competent customer care, due to a large volume of questions and complaints, it may take some time to respond.

However, one thing to be noted is that iHerb customer care also entertains customers issues on other mentioned sites as well.

iHerb replying to customer issues on Trustpilot

Conclusion

It’s worth noting that while negative reviews can provide valuable feedback and insights, they may not always represent the overall legitimacy of iHerb as an online retailer.

It is also worth considering that not everyone having a good experience will post a positive review. Still, almost everyone with a bad experience will post it one place or another.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kamil Anwar


Kamil is a certified MCITP, CCNA (W), CCNA (S) and a former British Computer Society Member with over 9 years of experience Configuring, Deploying and Managing Switches, Firewalls and Domain Controllers also an old-school still active on FreeNode.