Online Marketplace & E-commerce Investigation
Investigate sellers, track fraud, and uncover counterfeit operations on e-commerce platforms.
Online marketplaces are hotbeds for fraud, counterfeiting, and illegal sales. This tutorial teaches you how to investigate sellers, track product listings, and identify fraudulent operations on platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist.
You'll learn to analyze seller profiles, track listing patterns, identify counterfeit goods, connect sellers across platforms, and gather evidence for brand protection or law enforcement.
These skills are valuable for brand protection teams, consumer advocates, law enforcement, and anyone investigating e-commerce fraud.
- 1
Document the seller profile with screenshots and archive the listing
- 2
Check seller feedback, ratings, and account age
- 3
Reverse image search product photos to find other listings
- 4
Analyze product descriptions for copied text or templates
- 5
Check for similar listings from the same seller or related accounts
- 6
Look for contact information or social media links
- 7
Cross-reference usernames and email addresses across platforms
- 8
Track shipping origins and fulfillment patterns
- 9
Report findings to platform support or authorities if illegal
Archive everything immediately - listings can disappear quickly
Sellers often use same photos across multiple accounts/platforms
Check if product images are stock photos or stolen from legitimate sellers
Analyze review patterns - fake reviews often appear in clusters
New accounts with many high-value listings are suspicious
Track seller names and business addresses for connections
Price too good to be true usually indicates fraud or counterfeits
Many counterfeit sellers rotate accounts after being banned
Share your own tips or learn from the community's experience
Share Your Tip
I've found that combining multiple reverse image search engines in parallel significantly improves results. Don't rely on just one!
Always document your methodology step-by-step. This helps with reproducibility and explaining your findings to others.