The product looks right. The box does not, and the box is where counterfeiters cut corners first, because the box is the part the buyer throws away. By the time the buyer notices the product is wrong, the box is in the recycling, and the best evidence is gone. Photograph the packaging before you open it. The photos are free, and they are the evidence that wins the refund, the return, and the report.
Start with the printing. Genuine packaging is printed on a press with tight registration: the colors align, the text is sharp, the foil sits where it should. Counterfeit packaging is printed on a cheaper run, and the tells are in the details a press gets right and a copy shop gets wrong. Blurry text on the small print, colors that are close but not the brand's colors, a logo that is slightly stretched or slightly off-center, a barcode that scans to a different product or does not scan at all. The batch code is the sharpest tell: a code that does not match the box, a code printed in a different font from the rest of the packaging, or a code that the brand's own verification tool does not recognize.
Four photos, before the box is opened. The front, straight on, so the logo and colors can be compared. The back, where the small print lives, because the small print is where the errors cluster. The batch code and the barcode, close up, because those are the identifiers the brand and the platform check. And the seals: the tamper seal, the shrink wrap, the sticker. A genuine seal is applied by machine and sits flat. A resealed box has a seal that wrinkles, a wrap that is too loose, or a sticker placed over the original one.
Then open it and photograph the inside. Genuine products have fitted inserts, molded trays, or foam cut to the product. Counterfeits have loose tissue, a generic plastic bag, or no insert at all. The accessories are the next tell: the cable, the charger, the manual. A genuine accessory has the brand's markings molded or printed cleanly. A counterfeit accessory has a blank cable, a charger with the wrong plug shape, or a manual printed on thin paper with spelling errors. Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued more than 32,000 bad actors since it launched in 2020, and the reports that move fastest are the ones with photos of the packaging, because the packaging is what the investigator can verify without holding the product.
Keep them, even if the product turns out to be genuine. If it is fake, the photos go three places: the return request, because a return with photos is processed faster than a return with a description; the report to the marketplace, because the report needs the listing identifier and the evidence in the same submission; and the report to the brand, because the brand's enforcement team tracks packaging tells across reports and the pattern is what triggers an investigation. Do not resell, give away, or destroy the product before the platform resolves the case, unless it tells you to. The platform may ask for the product back so it can be examined and removed from circulation.
The box is evidence, and evidence has a shelf life measured in minutes. Photograph it before you open it, or the best proof you had is in the recycling.
Keep reading: Fake Skincare Dupes: When the Ingredient List Is the Tell, Fake Earbuds and the Battery That Swells: The Safety Check Before You Wear Them, and Fake Hair Tools: The Heat, the Plug, and the Fire Risk cover the nearby cases in this series.
Blurry small print, colors that are close but not the brand's, a stretched or off-center logo, and a batch code that does not match the box or is printed in a different font.
Because the box is the evidence that wins the refund and the report, and it is the first thing most buyers throw away. Four photos, front, back, batch code, and seals, before you open anything.
Report the listing, file the return with photos attached, and do not resell, give away, or destroy the product before the platform resolves the case. It may ask for the product back for examination.
Yes. Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued more than 32,000 bad actors since it launched in 2020, and reports with packaging photos move fastest because the packaging can be verified without holding the product.