Buy cheap medicines
The cold autumn days are piling up and thus the typical flu months are just around the corner. With the start of the cold season, many people turn to pharmacies to stock up on sufficient medication for the cold season.
However, if you want to save money here, you should probably switch from the traditional pharmacy to online pharmacies. However, buying medicines online is not worthwhile from every provider, because a study by the German Institute for Service Quality (DISQ) showed that the prices of online pharmacies vary considerably.
According to the study, with a little research, consumers can save about 38 percent on over-the-counter drugs by finding the cheapest price available online. With some of the 30 medicines examined, savings of 60 percent were possible compared to the price in the local pharmacy.
Prices should be compared
However, the DISQ points out that the shipping costs and the associated total purchase price should always be taken as a reference. According to this, a delivery of medication costs an average of 3.50 euros, whereby these costs are only eliminated from a minimum order value of 20 euros on average.
In order to achieve the lowest overall price, DISQ Managing Director Markus Hamer advises in an interview with RTL: “It is best to compare the prices of the required medication using a search engine that specializes in mail-order pharmacies. However, even with cheap providers, you only save if you buy several products at the same time ordered.”
In addition to the prices, the information content on the platforms of the respective online pharmacies was also tested in the course of the study. In this regard, however, most websites were able to score points.
The test winners
A total of 18 well-known online pharmacies were tested for price and service, with the platform Arzneimittel-per-Klick.de being the test winner. According to the test report, the overall package of price and performance is right here. The average drug price of this online pharmacy is constantly below the industry average and the cheapest offers can often be found here. In addition, there are no shipping costs on Arzneimittel-per-Klick.de from an order value of 10 euros. Customers can pay by invoice, credit card or PayPal. Overall, the platform received the grade “very good” (84.3/100 points) from the DISQ.
With a quality rating of “good”, the online pharmacy Sanicare took second place in the ranking. The prices on Sanicare are also comparatively cheap, but the testers were particularly impressed by the presentation of the platform. The customer is offered a function that makes it possible to look for a cheaper alternative to each active ingredient (79.1/100 points).
The online pharmacy Fliege-Pillen.de achieved third place on the podium. Value for money was also rated “good”. In addition, the platform impresses with a well-structured appearance with a simple ordering process (78.9/100 points).
The online pharmacies Apo.com, Vitalsana and Apo-Discounter.de were less convincing. They only achieved a satisfactory result with 66.6/100, 66.4/100 and 65.8/100 points and thus ended up in 16th, 17th and 18th place.
Henry Ely / Editor finanzen.net
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