A buyer says the bag is fake. Who looks first?

The message on Tuesday morning

Here's a composite you may recognize. A buyer on your marketplace receives a designer handbag from a seller with good reviews. The stitching looks off. The lining is wrong. She taps "report a problem" and writes, "I think this is fake."

On your side, that message lands in the same inbox as "where's my order?" Somebody sees it on Thursday. They aren't sure whether to pull the listing, so they message the seller. The seller says it's genuine. The listing stays up. Two more buyers order it over the weekend.

Nobody did anything wrong, exactly. Nobody had decided what should happen. A report button that drops into a general inbox is a rule too. It's just one nobody chose.

Why it matters more than it used to

Two reasons. The first is volume: for many marketplaces, the next eight weeks bring the most orders, the most new sellers, and the most buyers who've never used them before. A slow, inconsistent response hits more people.

The second is that, in the US, part of this is already required. The INFORM Consumers Act, in effect since June 27, 2023, says online marketplaces must put a clear way to report suspicious activity on the listings of their high-volume third-party sellers. According to the FTC's guidance, that means both a phone number and an electronic way to report, shown clearly and conspicuously. The FTC says the law's purpose includes deterring counterfeit, stolen and unsafe goods. High-volume, roughly, means a seller with 200 or more sales and $5,000 or more in revenue on your platform over a continuous twelve months in the past two years. Check the statute for the exact terms, and talk to your lawyer about what applies to you.

So the button probably exists. The question is what's behind it.

Pick your rule for the listing

There are three honest positions. Each works for some marketplaces and fails for others.

Rule A: Review first, listing stays live. You look at the report, ask both sides, and only pause the listing if the evidence holds up. This is fair to sellers and keeps good listings selling. It fails when review is slow, because more buyers receive the item while you're deciding.

Rule B: Pause first, review after. A credible report pauses the listing straight away, and the seller is told why and what to send. This protects buyers and is simple to run. It fails if competitors learn they can pause each other with a complaint, so it needs a check on who's reporting.

Rule C: Depends on the evidence and the seller. A report with photos on a high-risk category from a new seller pauses the listing. A vague report on a long-standing seller with a clean record goes to review. This is usually where marketplaces end up. It only works if the conditions are written down, so two people on your team would make the same call.

Pick one. Write it in a sentence. If you pick C, write the three or four conditions that decide it.

Then pick the rest of the rule

The listing is only part of it. Decide these too, before the next report.

Who reviews, and how fast. Name the person or the role. Pick a time you can actually keep over a holiday weekend, not an aspiration.

What the buyer gets. Do you refund before the verdict, or after? Do they ship the item back, and who pays? Our note on who pays to ship a marketplace return has the same shape.

What the seller must show. An invoice from an authorized supplier, a serial number, photos of specific details. Ask for the same things every time. Our note on seller evidence packs is a good template.

What happens to orders in flight. If you pause a listing, what about the three orders placed yesterday? Hold them, ship them, or offer to cancel?

Who's reporting. A buyer with the item in hand, a brand's legal team, and a rival seller are three different kinds of report. A brand usually has a takedown process and evidence ready. A buyer has photos and a feeling. A rival may have a motive. Treat them as separate paths with their own rules.

What repeat reports mean. One report is a question. Three on the same seller in a month is a pattern. Decide the threshold that triggers a wider look at their other listings.

Make the report reach a person

The rule is useless if the report sits in the wrong queue. Send counterfeit and safety reports to their own place, separate from shipping questions, with the listing, the seller and the order attached automatically. Your team shouldn't have to search for the context.

Don't forget the phone. If the number on your listings rings a general support line, make sure whoever answers knows how to log a counterfeit report in the same queue, with the same details, instead of promising to pass it on.

Reply to the buyer straight away with what happens next and when, even if it's automated. "We've received your report about this listing. Someone on our team will review it by [day]. Please keep the item and its packaging." That one message prevents a lot of follow-ups.

Log every report and its outcome. That log is what lets you spot the pattern, defend a decision, and show a regulator or a rights holder what you do. If you've built a library of marketplace exceptions, counterfeit reports belong in it.

Put this into practice this week

Open your own report button as a buyer would, on a listing from a busy seller. Note where it sends the message and how long it takes for anyone to see it.

Pick rule A, B or C, and write it in one sentence. Then fill in the rest: reviewer, timing, buyer refund, seller evidence, orders in flight, repeat threshold.

Route reports to their own queue with the context attached, and write the first reply to the buyer.

If your marketplace needs the report flow, the seller evidence requests and the log built properly before peak, that's the kind of marketplace work we do. Talk to us.

Related work: Paddle8.