As all brand owners and managers know, counterfeiters constantly exploit ecommerce streams online. From fake listings on Amazon or other marketplaces to entire counterfeit webstores, scammers threaten your brand’s reputation and revenue. Even when you discover counterfeiters online, it’s still hard to prove it, and take action. How can businesses identify counterfeiters and fake shop scammers? How can they gather enough evidence for litigation, enforcement, and takedowns? The answer lies in test purchases.
A test purchase delivers critical evidence in the fight against counterfeiters. It enables brands to gather concrete proof of infringements, verify the authenticity of products, and take decisive action against scammers and cybercriminals. While the concept may seem straightforward, executing an effective test purchase strategy demands time, resources, and expertise, so let’s get into it.
In this article, we’ll explore how a test purchase works, its pros and cons, and the role it plays in intelligence and investigation strategies that protect your brand.
What are Test Purchases, and Why Do They Matter?
Picture this: you discover a suspicious listing on Amazon. The seller offers your product at a fraction of the price, and you don’t recognize them as an authorized reseller. What’s your next step? Without concrete evidence, it’s hard to take decisive action. To gather the required evidence, you may need to make a test purchase.
A test purchase involves buying the product in question to verify its authenticity. Once the product arrives, you carefully inspect it for signs of counterfeiting, such as poor quality, missing branding, or incorrect packaging. This process not only confirms whether the product is fake but also provides the evidence you need to take legal action, enforce reseller policies, or request platform takedowns.
The Complexities of Test Purchases
Test purchases offer undeniable benefits for brands looking to protect their intellectual property and revenue. One of the most significant advantages lies in its ability to provide irrefutable physical evidence. Whether you build a case for litigation or submit a takedown request to an online marketplace, having a material counterfeit product in hand strengthens your position. Additionally, a test purchase helps you identify the source of counterfeit goods, supporting broader enforcement actions against manufacturers and distributors. These kinds of insights lay the foundations for the next steps in your enforcement actions, including litigation and physical raids that bring counterfeiters and infringers to justice.
However, the tactic also presents drawbacks and challenges. Firstly, it requires you to give a small amount of money to the scammers themselves, funding their operation. This sacrifice, however frustrating, ultimately delivers the evidence you need to take them down.
Beyond that, an effective test purchase requires significant time and resources. You must identify suspicious listings, place orders, and meticulously document each step of the process. Throughout this process, buyers must remain anonymous and avoid detection by the seller, otherwise they might switch out their usual counterfeits for legitimate products, or cancel the sale altogether. For businesses with limited internal capacity, this process overwhelms even the most dedicated teams. Counterfeiters often operate across multiple platforms and regions, making it difficult to scale test purchase efforts without support. Gathering the right evidence means negotiating with the complexity of regional differences and local expertise on a global scale.
How Test Purchases Fit into Comprehensive Brand Protection Strategies
While a test purchase proves powerful, the tactic represents just one piece of the puzzle. A truly effective Online Brand Protection strategy combines a test purchase with advanced detection tools, legal expertise, and enforcement capabilities.
For example, innovative monitoring tools can scan platforms like Amazon, eBay, TikTok Shop, and even standalone webstores for suspicious activity. Once you identify potential counterfeiters, you can use a test purchase to verify the infringement. From there, legal teams can take action, whether they send cease-and-desist letters, file lawsuits, or work with law enforcement.
This multi-layered approach ensures that you not only detect counterfeiters but also take decisive action to stop them.
Why Most Brands Cannot Do It Alone
The reality is that most businesses lack the time and resources to manage a test purchase and broader Online Brand Protection. Identifying counterfeiters, conducting a test purchase without being noticed, and pursuing legal action requires a complex and time-consuming process. Successful test purchases even require buyers to go undercover, and conduct covert communications with the seller to coordinate the delivery. This illicit back-and-forth requires far too much time for a busy, product-focussed brand manager. For some, you need also to register yourself in the portal of the counterfeiters, which presents serious obstacles for business-to-business test purchases. Brand managers may not want to register and contact details or login information with the counterfeiters themselves, thereby requiring third-party support to gather the “smoking gun,” infringement-wise.
This is where partnering with a comprehensive OBP service proves invaluable. These services combine cutting-edge detection tools with seasoned investigators and legal experts, ensuring that every step—from a test purchase to litigation—is handled efficiently and effectively.
Conclusion: Take Action to Protect Your Brand
Counterfeiters and scammers pose a persistent threat, but with the right tools and strategies, you can protect your brand and revenue. B2B or B2C test purchases serve as a critical component of this effort, providing the evidence you need to enforce your rights and take action against bad actors.
However, managing a test purchase and broader Online Brand Protection efforts can feel overwhelming. That’s why partnering with experts who handle the heavy lifting for you becomes essential.
Ready to take the next step? Start with a free brand audit to uncover counterfeiters and scammers exploiting your brand. And if you need offline investigation support, get in touch with Arkadiusz, a seasoned counterfeit investigator, to strengthen your enforcement efforts.
Don’t let counterfeiters damage your brand—act now to secure your reputation and your revenue.
