Bogus Kratom

As with most specialty products, when it comes to kratom, consumers are at the mercy of the retailers from whom they purchase the product. There is a certain kind of trust necessary that the retailer will not take advantage of the consumer’s relatively uninformed status by selling inferior, or bogus kratom. In the case of an online retailer, this trust is further deepened by the impossibility of a “hands-on” shopping experience. And, though some retailers (like www.iamshaman.com) offer the added trust of a satisfaction guarantee on all orders, there is still the issue of what the consumer can know of the product that arrives at his or her door.

Clearly, this is a market rife with potential unethical behavior.

In 2003, a major bust exposed a large-scale, international bogus kratom market. Centered around a man named Bruno Phillips, the bogus kratom ring found its downfall when Phillips pitched his “dried leaf kratom” to Daniel Siebert, an acknowledged expert in the field. Siebert quickly noticed that the bogus “kratom leaves” in question had different venation patterns and was covered on their underside in trichomes, giving the leaf a somewhat hairy appearance. Since real kratom leaf has a smooth (glabrous) top and a bottom side with no trichomes, Siebert was able to spot the bogus product and alert the proper authorities.

Since the 2003 bust of bogus kratom, the market has grown more rigorous in its examination of product. Still, though, there are people out there eager and willing to take advantage of a customer base who lack the expertise to always know what they are buying. Many venders offer an inferior Kratom product that has appeared from Bali; it’s a commercial grade leaf, and very low in potency. Others offer “Red Vein” Kratom, but unless you are adept at identifying particular Kratom strains, it can be difficult to know if you are truly getting a “Red Vein” product.

What it comes down to is this: Buy from respected venders only. Buy from companies that not only LOOK professional, but from ones with product guarantees, a phone number to ask questions of a REAL person, and from someone who specializes in botanicals. Many people sell commercial grade products in fancy packaging, to distract the consumer with hype and advertising.

One company that we have found not only has the consistently highest grades of Kratom, but they sell so much of it that their stock is constantly rotated. Fresh product means higher potency, and if you find some vender who sells small amounts, you are not only increasing your risk of getting bogus kratom, but you’re taking a greater risk at getting an old, dead product.

That company is the IAmShaman Shop, who we are proudly an affiliate of. We can choose whomever we wish to be affiliated with, and the bottom line for us is who will generate the most sales for us at the end of each month. IAS has consistently prvided us with at least THREE TIMES the sales of any other shop we’ve been an affiliate of! – There’s no denying that kind of consustency, and now that they’ve shipped over 250,000 orders at the time of writing this, we know they can not only be trusted, but we also know that they aren’t going to suddenly disappear.