Comparing Green Coffee Bean Extract Vendors

For our third article related to green coffee bean extract, we’re going to take a look at two different types of websites selling green coffee, and why you should be careful before shelling out cash for this product.

As we wrote about many months ago, green coffee has not been proven to give any added benefit beyond what “regular” coffee offers. So it is our opinion that green coffee is nothing but a marketing gimmick. It has also become a heavily-advertised supplement in 2012, coming on the heels of a Dr. Oz segment about it. Ever since that segment, we have seen the emergence of green coffee-based websites which offer a single product – their own version of green coffee extract. Just today I managed to spot half a dozen of these sites advertising on Google.

I thought it would be a useful exercise to compare some of these new, single-product websites, with some of the more established supplement vendors online. The comparison may give you a better idea of who you’re dealing with.

First, let’s take a look at some of the green coffee websites that seemed to appear out of thin air – all in 2012 – and all that give you a single option to buy:

• buypuregreencoffee.com – Linked to from spammy fake news affiliate sites such as econsumerlifestyle.com. Site created May 8, 2012. Pushes a free bottle rather than selling their product, which means a sneaky auto-ship program is likely when you sign up. The site implies they may not be able to “guarantee supply” in a sort of phony urgency.
• coffeebeanhealth.com – Advertised via Google.  This website was created on May 16, 2012. One bottle of their generic-named “Green Coffee” is $24.95 with free shipping. Dr Oz name is dropped 5 times on the main page, along with an embedded video of him.
• greencoffeebeanmax.com – This site is being fed into from dailyhealthconsumer.com, a fictional news site which is advertising a “Strange bean that kills fat. Doctor Exposes New Pill That Kills Stomach Fat.” They also have a fake “supply” urgency warning. One bottle is $49.95 plus $6.95 shipping. The website was created on August 1, 2012 – which seems to be around when most of these sites popped up.
• greencoffeeoz.com – Advertises on Google. Website created on May 26, 2012. One bottle of “Pure Super Green Coffee” is $24.99 plus $4.95 shipping . They shamelessly use the name “Oz” right in their domain name but at least their disclaimer admits to being “completely unrelated” to Dr. Oz. Note that you can get this much cheaper on Amazon, despite the scathing reviews of it there.
• greencoffeepremium.com – Advertised via Google. This website was created on August 5, 2012. One bottle of their “Green Coffee Premium” is $48 plus 7.97 shipping for a total of $55.97. Dr Oz name is dropped 7 times on the main page.
• greencoffeeultra.com – Advertised via Google. This website was created on June 12, 2012. One bottle of their “Green Coffee Ultra” is $49.95 plus $6.95 shipping for a total of $56.90. Dr Oz name was dropped 5 times on the main page in 2012, but those references have disappeared in 2013.
• igreencoffeebean.com – Website created August 30, 2012. Site is virtually identical to buypuregreencoffee.com, but without the phony “limited supply” notice. They only appear to offer a “free” bottle and their terms refer to a different product (“dietrine”) than they are selling (“Pure Green Coffee”).
• naturalgreencoffee.com. This website was created on April 27, 2012. It seems impossible to merely buy a bottle of their “Natural Green Coffee Bean” but rather you must sign up for a “free” bottle.  This sounds like one of those “free trial” bait and switch sites. You may get an annoying popup when you attempt to leave the site.
• thegreencoffeeextract.com – Advertised via Google. This website was created on July 25, 2012. One bottle of their “The Green Coffee Extract” is $29.95 with free shipping. Dr Oz’ name was used 7 times on the main page when we first looked. It is still used 3 times.

 

Now let’s take a look at some of the big players in the vitamin industry, all of whom have been around for years, and their green coffee choices:

• GNC – Several choices from $22 to $40, such as “Windmill Health Products Green Coffee Bean Extract” for $21.99 ($17.99 w/Gold Card) and free 2-day shipping.
• Puritan’s Pride – Several choices from $10 to $25
• Swanson – Several choices such as their “Svetol Green Coffee Bean Extract” for $9.99 plus $4.99 shipping for a total of $14.98.
• Amazon – Literally dozens of choices, ranging from under $10 up. Here you get the added benefit of user reviews.

 

We have also seen products such as Meta-T Sculpt with Green Coffee extract being advertised on television. This also doesn’t mention Dr. Oz, and actually advertises the in-store locations where you can purchase it, such as CVS and Rite-Aid.

None of the big players attempt to cash in on the “Dr. Oz” angle, and all of them offer multiple selections of green coffee. Even though we don’t endorse green coffee, should you choose to try it yourself, we suggest going through one of the more reputable supplement websites or visiting a brick and mortar health shop in person.

Further Reading

• Here is our original review of green coffee: Does Slimming Coffee Really Work?
• We recently reviewed a spam email we received that sold green coffee and dropped Dr. Oz’ name: Website Review: Healthierlivingtips.com 
• Our recent article about the use of the Dr. Oz name by spammers: Dr Oz: Poster Child for Weight Loss Spammers