Amazon’s Two-Faced Cannabis Grinder Policy
Zachary McCreedy
There’s an interesting situation where companies play hide-and-seek with social media companies and online marketplaces to sell their cannabis accessories products.
You already know these companies. Amazon, Instagram, Facebook, and Google.
You can’t sell a cannabis grinder, but you can sell a herb grinder. You can’t sell papers for rolling weed, but you can for tobacco. It’s this vague game of terminology that companies rely on to sneak by the bots and algorithms responsible for catching and banning offending users.
The problem is these large companies responsible for tracking and catching these offenders do not treat everyone fairly. Amazon is the worst offender.
Amazon's Policy Towards Herb Grinders
If you go search on Amazon.com, and search for “herb grinders”, or even “weed grinders”, you’ll find a vast array of different options to choose from. And yet, for many companies (like us), when they try and sell their grinders, they are removed and their account deleted for selling “drug paraphernalia”.
You might think ok, well that’s obvious, you are selling cannabis grinders. And that’s true. But the argument is that Amazon should treat everyone the same. They have an obligation to be fair.
Some Brands Are Allowed, While Other's Aren't
How is it fair for some brands to sell on Amazon and not for others? Amazon holds a significant percentage of the market. For some consumers, they simply won’t buy something if it’s not on Amazon. So how is it fair for Amazon to ban and prohibit some, and not others?
Again, you might think, “so what?” But realize that Amazon holds such a significant sway in the marketplace, that if one company can sell on Amazon, but you can’t, well that’s a significant disadvantage. Did you know that ~79% of consumers start their shopping experience on Amazon?
Go Looks at Cannabis Grinder Brands Santa Cruz Shredder, PAX
Why is it that smaller companies can’t seem to sell their products, but larger companies like PAX, and Santa Cruz Shredder , are allowed?
Again, go on Amazon and look at the brand Santa Cruz Shredder. These grinders are well-known around the world for grinding cannabis. They are probably the most well-known grinder brand related to cannabis, and yet they are allowed to sell their grinders on Amazon. How is that fair?
Look at the new PAX grinder (new as of 5/13/24). How is that grinder allowed to be sold on Amazon? PAX is one of the most well-known portable vaporizer companies. So how are they not immediately pinged for selling drug related paraphernalia?
Customer Service Provides Boiler-Plate Response
You might say, well you need to speak to Amazon.
Except Amazon has insulated themselves from directly speaking to sellers. Every time we actually got a response, we received a boiler-plate response from someone who barely spoke English, about how we needed to prove our product’s eligibility. But now how. So we tried everything possible, yet nothing was accepted.
Again and Again, we went through the same thing. We tried to get someone on the phone and tell us why our listings weren’t allowed while these others were. But all we received were bullshit answers read from a script.
Account Deleted, Money Kept.
And then one day our account was deleted, and then we received a message stating they would be holding all the money in our account, would not be returning it to us, and there was nothing we could do about it. They decided to keep thousands and refused to give it to us despite the fact that we were selling almost the exact same products as others.
And then we found out that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Other grinder brands have been kicked off without notice.
Other Articles Referencing the Same Issue
Cannabis Related PPC Terms – Amazon’s a Hypocrite
Amazon is a hypocrite. Apparently cannabis and marijuana are terms not allowed, and anything related is not allowed etiher…or wait.
Amazon actually bids on cannabis related key terms. Type “420 cannabis accessories” into Google, and one of the first couple results is an Amazon category page full of cannabis related merchandise.
So it’s not allowed, but it is. Some brands are not allowed to sell their products, but others are.
Amazon is unfairly set up for larger companies that have a direct line to communicate with Amazon. Other brands, like ZAM grinders, are at a distinct disadvantage due to the inability to sell our products on Amazon.
A few grinder brands should get together and sue Amazon through a class-action lawsuit.