Amazon serves as an online marketplace for merchants to sell their products to consumers. Though Amazon’s competitive environment offers lowered prices, there are some products that present serious concerns to consumers. Diabetic test strips are one of those products because the Amazon listings for test strips do not display the expiration dates. Our case study shows the expiration date is the most common concern of people who buy glucose test strips on Amazon.
As the expiration date continues to be one of the most common causes of glucose monitoring errors, it’s important for users to avoid using short-date glucose test strips. A common place many individuals with diabetes end up buying short-dated test strips is Amazon. Shoppers seeking low prices end up purchasing test strips that are potentially short-dated. Take a look at the following screenshot taken from a popular prime listing on Amazon for OneTouch Ultra Blue test strips.
At the first glance you don’t see the expiration date, then you scroll down to “Product Description” and “Product Details” yet you cannot find the expiration date.
The next natural move to find out the expiration date is to contact the seller. However, Amazon makes it hard for consumers to directly contact the sellers. Your only resort at this point is the Q&A section. You can search in the existing questions but you may not be able to find the current expiration date of the test strips. Alternatively, you can ask the seller about the expiration date, which often takes some time. Either way, it’s not easy to find out the expiration dates.
Case-Study: Test Strip Expiration Dates – The Most Common Concern of Buyers
Due to the fact that the Amazon listings for diabetes test strips do not display expiration dates, we see a large number of buyers inquiring from sellers about the expiration dates. In this case study we analyzed the buyer’s questions submitted on Prime listings for brand name test strips. The results show that expiration dates are the most common concern of those who buy glucose test strips on Amazon.
[su_table]Prime Listings Test Strips | Buyers Questions | Questions about EXP |
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Case-study details
- Brand name test strips analyzed in the case study included OneTouch Ultra Blue, Freestyle Lite, Freestyle Insulinx, Abbott Precision Xtra, Arkray GlucoCard Vital, Arkray GlucoCard Expression, Bay Contour, Bayer Contour Next, Bayer Breeze2, Nipro TrueTest, Nipro TrueTrack, AccuCheck Compact Plus, AccuChek SmartView, Prodigy No Coding, and GenStrip50
- Prime listings included 25, 50, or 100 count test strip boxes or test strip bundles whenever available.
- Listings analyzed were for glucose test strips only
- Data recorded by May 2016 and prior to.
Final Words
Given the importance of expiration dates in avoiding glucose reading errors, Amazon buyers seem to be concerned about expiration dates before they make a purchase. When you purchase your test strips online be sure to check the expiration dates.
At Diabetic Outlet we always display the current expiration dates below the price.