Help Center

Herbal remedies from every continent and culture have long been used to promote better health in people around the world. At Herbs Direct, we work with our suppliers to ensure that our products meet the safety expectations of our customers. We source almost all of our herbal formulas are from internationally certified "GMP" (Good Manufacturing Practices) factories who extensively test the raw herbs and finished products for quality and purity.

Most herbal formulas have dosage instructions on the label. This should be your guideline for the maximum dosage you should take of an herb or formula. Keep in mind that the maximum dosage is usually based on an adult male of 150-200 lbs. Individuals with lighter weights and those sensitive to herbs would typically take less than the maximum dosage.

If you're taking an herbal formula for the first time, you may want to start out at a reduced dosage to make sure your body and digestive system tolerate the herb satisfactorily, then increase the dosage to reach the desired effects. Many herbalists also recommend "breaks" for continuously used herbs to help rest your body (i.e. not taking an herb every 4th day and every 4th week).

Raw herbs and extracts do not contain detailed dosage instructions, as these herbal products are intended for those individuals who have the proper experience and knowledge to prepare the herb.

Please Note: we are unable to provide specific dosage instructions beyond the manufacturer product labels. Please consult a trained herbalist for individualized dosage instructions.

Our herbs are recommended for most healthy adult people as a means to promote better health and well-being. However, we do recommend the following precautions:

• Pregnant women or women nursing a baby refrain from taking ANY herbs due to lack of testing of most herbs on fetuses and infants.
• All of our herbs are intended for adults, and are not recommended for children under the age of 18 unless specifically stated on the label.
• People who have food allergies, sensitivities or digestive problems should be cautious when taking herbs, and carefully review the ingredients on the label for potential allergic reactions.
• If you're currently taking any prescription medication, please see your doctor before taking herbs to ensure there are no contraindications (we cannot advise on contraindications with medicine you may be taking).
• If you have a serious or life-threatening medical condition, please see your doctor.

You should first check to see if it's already in our online store by Searching Our Site. If you still can't find what you're looking for, you may Contact Us with the following information about the formula: (i) name of formula, (ii) manufacturer or brand name, (iii) brief description. If we can't find the exact formula you're looking for, we may point you toward a similar formula.

Please CLICK HERE for our current Clearance Specials.

Take herbs preferably at least two hours apart from each other, and any other medications you may be taking (consult your doctor for any potential contraindications). Always follow the instructions on the label of the herb you're taking.

Whenever possible, take herbs on an empty stomach, at least half an hour or more before meals or one hour after meals (note that if you experience stomach discomfort from taking herbs on an empty stomach, you may want to take the herbs with light food or drink).

Herbs in pill, tablet, capsule and teapill form are ideally taken with warm water, tea or another beverage to aid in absorbtion. They should normally not be taken with coffee or other caffeinated beverages or carbonated drinks.

Powdered formulas should be mixed with a hot liquid such as tea (if powder is not mixing properly, increase heat and/or liquid amount).

Be patient. Most herbal formulas take time to build up in your system and produce the desired effects. Medicinal herbs are similar to nutritious foods, acting to strengthen your body and optimize your health over longer periods of time. While some herbs (such as certain functional herbs and women's formulas) produce effects within a few days, most take several weeks to several months of regular use to produce the desired health effects.

We are a retailer of herbal formulas and supplements sold in the US as dietary supplements. Unfortunately, we DO NOT provide diagnoses for customers. If you'd like professional advice on your condition, we recommend you meet personally with your physician or a trained herbalist. Please note that we are unable to respond to any email or phone inquiries requesting advice on a specific disease condition.

If you're taking prescription medication and/or currently under treatment by a doctor, we urge you to check with your doctor BEFORE ordering or taking any herbal supplement.

We are not medical professionals, and are therefore unable to provide any advice related to contraindications or issues with your current medical treatment.

We do NOT recommend taking any of our herbs while pregnant or nursing, due to the lack of adequate safety data on possible effects on the fetus and/or infant.

Certain herbs and formulas may increase the quantity and duration of bleeding during menstruation, so caution is advised in using herbs other than specific formulas intended for menstruating women.

Many daily, or "tonic" herbs and formulas are inappropriate during the initial stages of a cold or flu. In addition to making the body stronger, tonics may make the cold or flu more virulent. Instead of tonics, use specific seasonal immunity formulas and resume tonic formulas once the illness has run its course.

In general, it is okay to take several formulas concurrently provided they do not contain overlapping ingredients or functions. Check the primary ingredients for each formula to be sure you're not getting too much of one particular herb. If there are overlapping ingredients, you may lower your dosage appropriately.

Similarly, try not to take full strength dosages of formulas which serve the same function (e.g. pain, laxative, etc.). Even though the ingredients may not be the same, they could have similar effects on your body - so it's best not to overdo it.

As with any herb or remedy, it's always a good idea to listen to what your body is telling you. If taking more than one herbal formula concurrently is causing discomfort, you should reduce the dosage and/or discontinue use.

For individualized instruction on taking multiple herbal formulas, we recommend you see your physician or trained herbalist.

Please see the following link for more information: California Proposition 65

We want you to feel confident that your purchase is transacted with the utmost security. We employ the Internet's strongest security technologies, including 256 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Transactions are protected by the highest levels of encryption available to ensure security and privacy. The information is encrypted on your computer, sent through the Internet as jumbled code, and decoded on our merchant processor's secure server (Herbs Direct does not store your credit card information).

To verify that our checkout process is secure, look for the little padlock logo at the bottom right of your browser window during the checkout process, or notice that we use "https" in the URL to signify our secure protocol whenever sensitive customer information is passed.

If you are uncomfortable with using your credit card online, you may phone in your order details and credit card information. In addition, we accept payments by Paypal, Check and Money Order. Please see Phone/Mail Orders for more information.

To keep our prices low, Herbs Direct was founded as an online health store with all orders made through our secure online shopping cart. Ordering online is still the fastest and most accurate way to place your order. However, as a courtesy to our customers who prefer to place orders over the phone instead of online, you may order via our toll-free number during normal business hours. If you're calling outside of normal business hours or we're helping other customers (which is frequent), please leave a detailed message with your callback number, and we will return your call as soon as possible.

When calling our order line, please be ready with your product names or item numbers, credit card information, billing address and shipping address (if different). Our toll-free order line is 1-877-252-5436. For all non-order related inquiries (i.e. questions about outstanding orders, products, policies, your account or past orders) - please Contact Us.

Yes - we do accept personal checks, bank drafts and money orders.

If you've never ordered from us before, we ask that you first Create an Account to ensure that we have your proper name and shipping information spelled correctly. To pay by Mail or Fax using a credit card, personal check or money order, please download our mail order form here: Mail Order Form.

If you can't download the form, you may send your order and payment to Herbs Direct, 2527 W 237th St, Ste E, Torrance, CA 90505. Please include the following information: (i) the quantity and product number (i.e. AA1000) of each item you'd like to order, (ii) your shipping address and phone number and (iii) a check or money order for your total order, plus $5.95 for U.S. shipping (flat rate for all mail orders) and 9% sales tax if your shipping address is in California (no sales tax outside of California).

We also accept credit card orders via fax at 1-866-526-8359.

Please note that all orders by check or money order will not ship until the payment clears.

There are 3 ways to verify that your order has been placed.

1. Your order has not been placed until you confirm your payment and order details by selecting the blue "Complete Order" button at the bottom right of the Checkout page. After you confirm your order, you will be taken to another screen which shows your order number. This number (which begins with the letter H) tells you that your order has been placed. Please note that for Paypal orders, you must first pay for the order via Paypal, and then you will be redirected to the Order Confirmation page.

2. Your order details will be emailed to you a short time later to the email address you specified earlier.

3. If you established an account with us during the sign-up process, you may check your order details at any time by Signing In.

If you're still concerned about whether your order was placed with us, please Contact Us.

The vast majority of our orders are received by the customer within 3-5 days of the shipping date, or within 1 week of the initial order. Please be patient if your order is not one of them.

When your order ships, we send a confirmation email to the email address that you registered with at the time of order.

Once an order has shipped, we are powerless to control the speed of delivery at the US Postal Service. While we can look up USPS Priority Mail "tracking codes", these codes are used primarily to record when an article has been delivered, and the USPS does not typically provide detailed tracking information in-transit.

If you would like to inquire about the status of an order, we ask that you first wait until the later of 3 weeks from your order date or 2 weeks from the date you received the "order shipped" email. To inquire about the status of a delayed order, please Contact Us with your name, order number and/or date ordered.

Please CLICK HERE for information on how to track your order.

The tracking codes used by the US Postal Service at www.usps.com are different than tracking codes used by Fedex or UPS.

USPS tracking codes are used to track and verify items at the delivery point, or when items are nearing their delivery destination. USPS does NOT usually scan items when they are shipped or enroute.

For US destinations, online look-ups of your tracking code will generally not produce any information until several days after an item has been shipped. These codes are most often used to verify deliver dates and provide information on any delivery address problems at the destination. For international and APO addresses, tracking codes are generally not updated by USPS.

Over 95% of our shipments leave by the next business day and arrive within 5-7 days of shipping. However, some shipments suffer delivery delays that are totally beyond our control. If your package doesn't arrive within 30 days of shipment and the tracking information has still not been updated, please Contact Us.

Sorry, but at the present time, all orders are sent via USPS Priority Mail, UPS or First Class Mail. We do not have FedEx or Express Mail as a delivery option.

If your package was processed through a local post office or courier, tracking details may say 'Delivered' once it arrives at the carrier's facility, but it may take up to an additional 5 to 7 days to arrive at your address.

If you've waited 5 to 7 days after delivery confirmation and you still don't have the package:

• See if someone else accepted delivery. Check with household members, neighbors, building managers, the mail room, front desk, and anyone else who may have accepted the delivery.
  
  
• Look around the delivery location. Carriers sometimes leave packages in a safe, hidden place like on a side porch, in/around your garage, or behind bushes.
  
  
• Check your mailbox. Smaller items or items in soft packages are likely to be delivered there.
  
  
• Check for a parcel locker key. If your mailbox is in a cluster box unit (i.e., several mail boxes clustered together) or your package is addressed to a P.O. Box, check your box for a key to a parcel locker where the package may have been delivered.
  
  
• Check for a mail hold. If the U.S. Postal Service is holding your mail, your package won't be delivered.
  
  
• Look for a notice of attempted delivery. You may find an attempted delivery notice in your mailbox or P.O. Box or on your door. Follow the instructions on that notice to request redelivery or pick up the package.
  
  
• Contact the carrier. Ask if they have additional information about the package's location. Have your tracking or delivery confirmation number handy.
  
  
• Occasionally a carrier will scan a package as delivered before it arrives at the final destination, or the package may have been misdirected by the carrier and it could take an additional 7-10 days to redirect the mail to the proper location.
  
  
• If your package doesn't arrive within 30 days of shipment and the tracking information has still not been updated, please Contact Us.

When an order shipped internationally reaches the destination country, the package may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays beyond original delivery estimates (sometimes up to 30-60 days). We have absolutely no control over customs delivery delays and are unable to locate the packages until they are either delivered to the destination or returned to our warehouse.

International shipments sent via US Postal Service International mail must be handed off to the local country's postal service or other delivery service upon entering the country. Even though the US Postal Service provides a tracking number, this tracking number is usually not utilized by local country delivery services. Some local country carriers will deliver a package to your local post office for final delivery while others will deliver directly to the shipping address. Please check with your local post office for more information.

Given the potential customs and local carrier delays which can accompany international shipments, we ask that you allow 30-60 days from the order date before inquiring about your package delivery.

Once your order ships, we record the tracking information and make it available to our customers. All customers may retrieve this tracking information by clicking on the the "View Order" button included in your order confirmation email.  In addition, if you have an account with us, you may view your entire order history, including tracking information, in your Account Information. If you're still having difficulties locating your tracking information online, please Contact Us for assistance.

We are proud to offer FREE SHIPPING to all U.S. destinations (including Alaska, Hawaii and APO addresses). International orders start at $9.95 per order. Please see Shipping for more information.

All orders are shipped via USPS Priority Mail, UPS or First Class Mail (depending on the location and expected delivery time) unless you are otherwise notified. We do not currently offer Express Shipping as a delivery option.

Over 90% of our orders are shipped within 24 hours of the time the order is placed. This means that most orders are received by the customer within 3-7 days from the time of order, largely depending on the speed of the US Post Office. For certain high demand products, items may be backordered from the manufacturer, which may result in a slight (3-7 day) shipping delay.

Yes we do accept orders from most countries, with the following exceptions:

Due to a high incidence of credit card fraud, we do not accept credit card orders from the following countries (residents of these countries need to pay by check or bank draft): Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Estonia, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Phillipines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

We do not ship ANY orders to the following countries: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Germany.

For all other countries, you may select your billing and shipping country addresses from the menu at checkout. Refer to our Shipping Policies for further questions.

Yes - Paypal payments are fully integrated into our online shopping cart.

To use Paypal, simply click on the Paypal button during the checkout process. After confirming your order, you will be automatically directed to the Paypal site, where you may complete your payment.

Please note that your order will not be final until payment is completed, either via Credit Card or via Paypal. Also note that all Paypal payments made by Paypal eCheck need to clear before the order is shipped. For more information on clearing of eCheck funds, please contact Paypal.

Most credit card problems are caused by a mismatch between the CVV Code you entered on the payment page and the CVV number on file with your credit card company. For your own security, we cannot process your transaction unless these codes match. When these errors occur, you are automatically redirected to the Credit Card Screen and there is an error warning on the screen.

If you're confident that your CVV Code is accurate and you're still having credit card issues, please Contact Us for assistance.

There are 2 common reasons for multiple credit card charges:

1. Declined Transactions

In cases where your initial checkout attempt was declined by our processor, it may appear that there were multiple charges on your account. However, this is a temporary phenomenon relating to the way credit card transactions are cleared - and does not reflect the ultimate charge payment actually made to us.

Using your credit card is a 2-step process: Authorization and Settlement. During Authorization, your own bank authorizes, or sets aside, funds in your account to pay for the attempted charge. After Authorization, the transaction is passed on to our own merchant processor for ultimate approval and Settlement. Note that the transaction may still be denied by our processor even if it was first authorized by your bank (this is usually due to Billing Address mismatch issues).

When a transaction is authorized by your bank, but declined by our processor, the transaction is not Settled (and money never leaves your account). However, banks and credit card companies tend to wait several days before they remove the authorizations from your account. Unfortunately, this is something we have no control over, and depends entirely upon the funds management policy of your particular bank or credit card company. When authorizations remain in an account for several days, they may look like charges - but they are actually uncleared authorizations that the bank hasn't removed yet. The only real charges that will clear from your account would be associated with an order number and/or email received from us. If it's been more than 5 business days since your order was placed and you're still seeing multiple charges in your account from a declined transaction, please Contact Us for assistance.

2. Multiple Orders

Multiple orders occur when a customer presses the Confirm Order button more than once. In such cases, you would have received 2 order verification numbers and 2 confirmation emails. In most of these cases, we identify the problem prior to shipping, and automatically void the redundant transaction. However, if you feel you've made a double order that we haven't yet voided, please Contact Us for assistance.

Please CLICK HERE for details on our Return Policy.

We do offer wholesale discounts to qualified resellers, retail stores, veterinarians, acupuncturists and herbalists. If you'd like to apply for a wholesale account, please fax your resell credentials to us at 866-526-8359 or Contact Us.

Yes we do. Our program is now managed by Share-A-Sale, a trusted third-party that manages several thousand similar affiliate programs. You can get details and sign up for our affiliate program by Clicking Here.

Sorry, but to keep our prices as low as possible, Herbs Direct is an online-only herbal store, and we do not currently mail out print catalogs.

All of our products, along with detailed product information and descriptions, can only be found online at our website. At this time, we do not sell through individual retail outlets.

Herbs Direct sends out an email newsletter several times per year. This newsletter includes the latest information on our product offerings, monthly specials and members-only discounts.

In order to sign up for the newsletter, you can add your email address to our newsletter subscription list at the bottom right of our website.

Herbs Direct respects your privacy. All account and newsletter subscriber information will only be used by Herbs Direct, and we will not release your information to any third parties. See our Privacy Policy.

Order confirmation and shipping emails are sent out to all customers, regardless of email preferences, to ensure a satisfactory shopping experience. Other emails, such as periodic coupons and special discounts, are only sent to those customers who have created an account or signed up separately for our newsletter.

You may unsubscribe to our newsletter at any time by either following the instructions at the bottom of our newsletter email, or Contact Us.

Herbs Direct respects your privacy. All account and newsletter subscriber information will only be used by Herbs Direct, and we will not release your information to any third parties. See Privacy Policy.

Please CLICK HERE for a sampling of recent customer comments.

Please CLICK HERE to learn how we are giving back to our community.