It’s hard to imagine in 2022, with knowledge around hemp growing steadily and both laws and perceptions changing, but most e-commerce options for CBD brands are still heavily limited.
Amazon launched a pilot programme for CBD brands, albeit just for a select few, while Google will still place a permanent ban on your Adwords account if you try to create PPC ads containing CBD.
But maybe we’re starting to see the first wave of movement with a huge announcement by eBay regarding their global ban on CBD.
What Was eBay’s Stance Previously?
eBay had a global ban on selling CBD products, meaning your seller account would be removed permanently if you were caught listing CBD items.
Many brands and sellers tried sneaking around this by highlighting the term hemp and leaving CBD from any of the descriptions or details, but this still regularly landed them in hot water with eBay.
What Has Changed?
eBay has now opened up their platform to a number of CBD manufacturers to become UK eBay sellers, one being British Cannabis, who have listed 10 items and to date have sold 231 items.
The online marketplace changed their illegal drug policies to state ‘CBD products that comply with all applicable legal requirements may only be sold by permitted sellers only’.
eBay still highlights that only CBD products that are THC free are permitted to be sold on their platform.
Can I Sell CBD On eBay?
Unlike Amazon UK’s invite only approach, it would appear that others are able to sell CBD products now on eBay.
To date, the brands that are listed on eBay are:
- Access CBD
- Advance Biotech
- BeYou
- Blossom
- Body & Mind Botanicals
- Canabidol
- Cannaray
- CBDfx
- Dragonfly
- Healthspan
- Hiit CBD
- Holistic Herb
- HuGG CBD
- I-Cann
- Impact CBD
- Jersey Hemp
- Love CBD
- Love Hemp
- Myo
- Provacan
- Vitality
To sell CBD products, you have to be a registered business seller on eBay, while you have to comply with UK laws as well as the basic rules set out by eBay.
It should be highlighted that this means brands can become sellers, but private sellers aren’t allowed to sell CBD products just yet.
What Types Of Products Can Be Sold On eBay?
So far, they have five different categories of CBD products listed, which are CBD capsules, creams, gummies, oil and sprays. I can imagine this will grow with time, such as for tea and other forms of edibles.
These are listed into three key categories, being oils & supplements, food & drinks or beauty & skincare.
How about CBD Seeds?
The legal status of CBD seeds on eBay has also sparked debate among cannabis enthusiasts and sellers alike. The demand for CBD seeds has grown significantly in recent years, leading to the development of official cannabis marketplaces where they can be purchased legally.
For instance, you have https://askgrowers.com/seeds/cbd who sell CBD seeds from verified sellers. It will be interesting to see how the legal status of CBD seeds on platforms like eBay change in the future as the industry evolves.”
How Are They Performing?
At the time of writing, there are 424 products uploaded onto eBay, while the top seller is the 3 x Vitality Hemp Oil Spray.
Some of the filtering is quite odd so far on eBay, for example, you can filter the price to be either above or under £27, which is an odd amount to set, as most CBD oils would sit above this mark.
The part I find really interesting is eBay has setup a filtering for the ‘main purpose’, highlighting a number of medical based issues, such as ACNE, sleep support or immune support. To date, CBD brands cannot make any of these medical claims, but there is nothing stopping them from including their products withing these filters.
Why Has eBay Made This Change?
I cannot speak on behalf of eBay, but I can put my two cent forward. Firstly, with the UK based CBD brands having to submit their dossier to the FSA and getting their products officially registered through the Novel Foods process, it means there is a greater level of regulation in place.
This could have offered a safety net for eBay, allowing them to feel more confident about CBD being sold on their platform in the UK.
Another factor is how much they are missing out on financially, as can be said with the other platforms, Amazon, Meta and Google. With the CBD industry worth billions of pounds, it was a huge step forward for many CBD brands trying to reach a bigger audience.
Are There Any Negatives To This Change?
As you can imagine, Amazon and eBay dominate the search results on Google and Bing for e-commerce terms, making it much harder for smaller brands and e-commerce websites to make sales.
Amazing websites like Nature’s Healthbox, who sell a number of CBD products, have performed incredibly well without having to compete with Amazon and eBay, however this change could affect their rankings and the sales brought into these small businesses.