iherb Review | My experience of using this online health store in Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and more

By Elly McGuinness

Today I want to tell you all about my favorite place for health products online and online organic groceries (non perishables). It’s called iherb and they deliver all over the world. The selection is huge and there is an incredible number of well priced quality options for a healthy lifestyle. Overall I’ve found it to be the best online health food store that delivers worldwide. Read on for my complete iherb review and to find out how you can get discounts off your purchases, money back and more.

If you already know a bit about iherb and you want to go straight in and shop, click on the button below to visit the iherb official website. Even if you’re a returning customer, it’ll give you 5% off your order – bonus!

(This post includes affiliate links for which I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you should you make a purchase)

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What does iherb sell?

iherb is an online health food shop that stocks amazing products across a range of categories. They have over 30 000 products on offer in total! I have personally been ordering from them for a number of years.

If you’d like to see details of some of my favorite iherb products, and the iherb products that I have personally reviewed, you can visit my personal iherb page for full details.

iherb review-the best online health store in the world-iherb-bach flowers

iherb are the the best online health store that I know of, which delivers worldwide. The health categories on their website are:

iherb review: why I love them

There are many reasons I love ordering from iherb. Here are a few of them:

  • iherb delivery time has always been very fast. When you place an order you’ll see a couple of different shipping options, which will clearly tell you when your shipment is expected to arrive. My shipments have always arrived by or before the expected delivery date, no matter where in the world I have ordered from.
  • The website is super informative and transparent. You can see all the ingredients and any label warnings for each and every product. Most products have a huge number of reviews so you can easily get a feel for the highly rated, best iherb products. Many users (including qualified health practitioners) provide very in depth, informative reviews
  • There is such a huge range. I’m all for buying locally but I often can’t find the things I’m looking for in a local store. I’m pretty much guaranteed to find what I’m looking for at iherb
  • It took me a while to realize, but they have a specials page where you can find a good bargain. They also have this amazing trial pricing section. This allows you to trial certain products at a rock bottom price, to see if you like them. You can select one trial per order. If you order that same product on a subsequent shop you’ll pay their regular low price. That is, the trial price is just for you to try it out once to see if you like it (honestly, there are things on there for only $0.10!)
  • They give you money back! Prices at iherb are already super awesome, and then they go and offer you 5% of your total order price to use towards your next order! You can visit the iherb official site via the button below to get your 5% discount.

iherb review: What I don’t like about them

Really, there’s nothing I don’t like about iherb. I can find organic products, supplements for very specific health needs, as well as yummy health treats. I even bought my hair brush from there!

There is one thing that I have run into problems with, although it is not the fault of iherb. It gave me quite a shock and is worth mentioning, depending on where you are ordering from. Let’s start with iherb New Zealand…

iherb review NZ | iherb NZ

I have placed several orders from NZ. All of them arrived on time, with no hassle and no extra charges. Please note that there is a maximum value; after which you will be charged extra.

Check with NZ customs if you’re not sure, but my orders were always under $200 and I never got charged extra. From memory I think the threshold was around $200 but please don’t quote me on that!

Overall my iherb NZ review gets a big thumbs up.

iherb review-best online health store

iherb review Singapore | iherbs Singapore

My sister lives in Singapore and has placed orders on more than one occasion without problems. In general, she tells me that the postal system in Singapore is not always reliable. However, her iherb packages have always shown up so for that reason my iherb Singapore review also gets the thumbs up.

iherb review Malaysia | iherb malaysia

Herein lies the big problem I had! First of all, my friend had previously ordered from iherb for delivery into Malaysia and had run into the same problems. I thought she must have just been unlucky so I thought I would give it a go. After 10 months of living in Penang there were quite a few products I was missing.

So I placed my order and was very careful to follow the importation rules for Malaysia. I couldn’t foresee any problems as long as I kept the order total including shipping costs under 500RM (around $125 USD). Seriously, I read over the rules a number of times to convince myself I was playing by them!

My first annoyance came when DHL asked me to pay a bill of 137RM (about $34 USD), which was equivalent to about half my order total! I tried my best to argue it but it was either lose it all or pay the extra. I could have sent the items back to iherb at a cost and time hassle that wasn’t worth it. The argument was supposedly around one or two products that I had purchased where I had to pay significant tax. I asked them to keep those items and I would just take the others without paying. But that was maybe just a cover up excuse on their behalf because there was no way I was getting around the fee.

I thought I’d take the items, cut my losses and just not re-order from within Malaysia and that would be the end of it. Not quite. I was then issued some sort of official notice basically saying I was a criminal and could be imprisoned for 3 years if it happened again.

Have you had a different experience with iherbs Malaysia?

As I write this extra paragraph right here, it has been over a year since I lived in Malaysia. So maybe iherbs Malaysia is different now? Please, if you have had a different experience with ordering from iherb while living in Malaysia (or Indonesia as you’ll see below), please share it in the comments box at the bottom of this post.

I’m currently living in Vietnam. I recently saw an acupuncturist here and she said that she has successfully ordered from iherb Vietnam. However she keeps her orders very small, like under $20. For me that might not be worth the order, with the shipping involved. Instead I will place an order for delivery to New Zealand and ask my mum to bring it over for me when she visits!!

After more than two years of living around South East Asia I have realized that many people successfully order products, including health products, from Lazada. I have heard good reviews about the goods arriving quickly and accurately. This is kind of known as the Amazon of South East Asia. I find that their website is difficult to navigate however, and at first glance it seems like they only have a limited range of health products. The reason I love to order from iherb is due to the quality and range of products they have. I don’t think I’m likely to get that from Lazada at this stage.

iherb review-the best online health store in the world-iherb-supplements

iherb review Indonesia | iherb Indonesia

I lived in Bali for six months in 2018. I decided that I definitely wouldn’t be ordering from iherb when I was living there. This was based on what happened in Malaysia and also based on the fact that I’ve spoken to a number of people there who have tried to get things sent over.

They’ve either not arrived at all or have been asked to pay an extortionate amount to receive their package. So I certainly wouldn’t bother with it in Indonesia, especially with health products which they may decide to label as “dangerous”. I’m giving my iherb Indonesia review the thumbs down, even though I haven’t ordered from them. Please let me know in the box at the bottom of this post if you have had a different experience.

I’m looking forward to being able to place my next iherb order when I’m back in New Zealand for a while later this year. As I mentioned, I’ve ordered from iherb a number of times from New Zealand and have never had a problem. There are certain items that NZ doesn’t allow to be imported. However, this is clearly laid out when you reach the checkout. iherb won’t let you add any items to your cart that are banned from being imported into NZ.

For example, I have tried to order hemp oil, and GABA (a supplement) in the past, but found that I was unable to once I reached the checkout. It was really simple and straightforward and I didn’t need to worry about getting any scary sounding letters like I did in Malaysia!

iherb France

In February 2020 I placed an iherb order to be delivered to rural France. There were tax charges, but they were apparent at checkout, so no problems there. I was very happy with the process of ordering, my delivery arrived as expected.

Are you ready to shop?

Need to stock up on healthy groceries for your pantry, health supplements, or other natural products? iherb is such a great health store. Online shopping is easy and convenient with an amazing health food store like this. Jump on over to the official iherb website using the button below and you’ll get a nice 5% off your order.

If you’re into healthy eating habits, living a natural lifestyle, and purchasing online organic foods, I hope that my iherb reviews spanning New Zealand and South East Asia have been helpful for you and that you end up enjoying iherb as much as I do! Do you already shop with iherb, or do you have another online health food shop that you love? I’d love to hear about it so please leave a comment in the box below xx

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Elly McGuinness

2 Comments

  1. Cary

    Horrible wouldn’t begin to describe the nightmare experience I’ve had with iHerb on my last order. My credit card company shows and has confirmed that iHerb charged me nearly $300 for an order they never shipped. I sent them multiple emails including a screen shot of the charge on my account and they still say I wasn’t charged. I don’t think they even checked. They blamed a “technical issue” for never shipping the order and cancelled the order rather than upgrade the shipping to get it to me sooner which still would have been a week late. This is continuing to take time almost every day to try and get this fraudulent charge they’ve been notified of and sent proof of removed from my credit card account. There is NO way to talk to anyone at iHerb, all communications are now online putting you at their mercy of dysfunction. Unbelievably bad business and one of the worst experiences with an online merchant ever.

    Reply
    • Elly McGuinness

      Oh wow Cary, that really does sound like a terrible experience. I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had to go through that and I hope you get it sorted soon! Thanks for adding your comment… I haven’t really had to deal with customer service there before and my orders have always arrived quickly and easily (except where I’ve had immigration problems that weren’t to do with iherb. It sounds like you’ve ordered with them in the past… Is this the first time you’ve had an issue?

      Reply

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