Most brands treat a rejected takedown as a final answer. It is not. Marketplaces reject valid complaints constantly, for thin evidence, wrong-category filings, or simply because the review queue is staffed by contractors measured on speed. The brands that get fakes removed treat the first rejection as round one: they fix the filing, escalate through the right channels, and document every step so the next submission is harder to dismiss.
Read the title and description like a proofreader. Counterfeit listings are full of odd phrasing, keyword stuffing, and brand names spelled slightly wrong or buried in a string of unrelated terms. Legitimate sellers write clean copy because they have real inventory and real margins.
Then check the price against the brand's own store. A 60 percent discount on a current-season item from an unknown seller is not a deal, it is a signal. Counterfeiters compete on price because they cannot compete on authenticity, and the gap is usually dramatic.
Click through to the seller. How old is the account, how many sales does it show, and what do the reviews actually say? A flood of five-star reviews posted in the same week, all with generic one-line text, is a manufactured profile. So is an account that sells electronics, handbags, and supplements with equal enthusiasm.
Check the seller's other listings too. A legitimate reseller has a coherent inventory. A counterfeiter has whatever is trending, across unrelated categories, all priced to move. Ten unrelated luxury brands in one storefront is not a boutique, it is a warehouse of fakes.
Zoom in. Stolen official photos are the norm, so look for inconsistencies: different backgrounds across photos of the same item, watermarks cropped out, or images that appear on five other listings when you reverse-image search them. Real sellers photograph their actual stock.
Read the reviews with photos attached. Buyers who received fakes often post comparison shots, and those are more honest than any listing. If multiple reviewers mention wrong logos, cheap materials, or missing serial numbers, believe them over the star rating.
Counterfeit sellers push you off the platform. Requests to pay by wire, gift card, or a direct link are disqualifying on their own, because they exist to dodge the platform's buyer protection. A legitimate seller has no reason to leave the checkout that protects you.
Finally, read the return policy. Vague returns, no address, or restocking fees that exceed the item's value all say the seller never expects you to send it back. Ten minutes on these four checks catches the large majority of fakes, and the habit gets faster every time you use it.
The ten-minute checklist catches the obvious fakes, which are most of them. The remainder are the sophisticated operations: aged seller accounts with real history, stolen photos mixed with originals, prices only slightly below retail. Those take longer, and the deciding evidence is usually a reverse image search on the product photos plus a careful read of the negative reviews.
When a listing passes the quick checks but still feels off, slow down rather than speed up. Message the seller with a specific question about the item's origin or serial number and watch the response. Legitimate sellers answer precisely; counterfeiters deflect, go silent, or reply with copy-pasted text. That single exchange resolves most of the remaining doubt.
Check how long the seller or site has existed. Brand-new sellers with deep discounts are the highest-risk combination in counterfeit spotting. Domain or account age takes thirty seconds to check and filters out a huge share of fakes.
They are a yellow flag: legitimate sellers usually photograph their own inventory, while counterfeiters reuse manufacturer or stolen images. Run a reverse image search; if the same photo appears on unrelated stores, walk away.
Document everything immediately: the listing, your order confirmation, and photos of what arrived. File for a refund through the platform or a chargeback with your card issuer, and report the listing so the next buyer is protected. Do not try to resell it.