Does anyone have experience with ordering Lyme herbs directly from China? From sites like alibaba?

So I am struggling financially to keep up with treating Lyme.

I know to be careful ordering things from abroad, but I can't help but notice almost every herb I buy says "Imported from China".

I'm starting to wonder if it's worth to just cut out the middle man?

For example, one pound of Gou Teng costs $99.

Then when I look on wholesale sites like this, some suppliers go as low as 2 pounds of Gou Teng for $1.

/www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=Uncaria+Rhynchophylla

I mean the markup is just ridiculous.

The problem is I have no idea how to navigate these sites.

At first I thought I had to buy a ton since it's wholesale, but some suppliers say the minimum order is only 2 pounds. So I'm not sure.

Anyone that has experience with this?

Thank you so much.

I am in Australia. I found it expensive ordering herbs from America - none of the important lyme herbs are here. Well at least they werent 2-3 years ago when I was looking into them
I ordered a few from Alibaba in small amounts and had no issues. I think you cannot be 100% sure of the quality you are getting. But I found them OK.
I have a lot of allergies so I have to order herbs separately, try them and then see if I can tolerate them.
You should look around too Alibaba and other chinese wholesalers are not always the cheapest option. iHerb can give you are good deal. Herb sellers in america selling bulk herb powders can be very reasonable. eBay has some good deals.
I wouldnt buy large amounts it is not a saving. Herbs have a shelf life and don't last forever. I have kept some for 2years and found mould in them. You have to keep them cool so I would put them in the freezer. So ofcourse the more you have the less room you have in the freezer.
The suppliers never give you details about how long you can keep a herb. I remember getting very sick taking marshmallow root I bought from a health food store. It has no use-by date on the package. The powder had gone bad.

LymeSick -

I agree with ArtAngel's post.

Except that I have had some serious problems with Chinese products and would be cautious about ordering anything you consume from China these days. There is risk. The markup is in some cases greed, but mostly it's quality. You almost always get what you pay for and for most of us struggling with a mountain of complicated health issues, why make things worse?

Please check out the financial sources in the "New to Lyme?" thread at the top of the page. I can't vouch for any of them, personally, but something might help. There are also a lot of online sources - it just takes time and effort to search.

Hope that's helpful -

-p

LymeSick, many companies have help policies for those that need their product, but can't afford it. A nicely written letter asking for help might work wonders.