When counterfeit listings, copycat sellers, or unauthorized marketplace offers start appearing, many brands jump straight to reporting. That instinct is understandable. But in practice, the evidence package often shapes what happens next—whether a marketplace removes a listing, whether repeat-seller activity becomes visible, and whether outside counsel can evaluate stronger options later.
This post walks through how to gather marketplace listings, screenshots, and seller evidence before enforcement begins. If you’re dealing with broader online infringement issues, it may also help to start with this overview of how brand protection works across marketplaces, social handles, and copycat sellers.
In this post you’ll learn:
<aside> 💡 Scroll to the bottom for every post in this series.
</aside>
Marketplace listings can change fast. A seller can edit a title, swap photos, move to a different storefront, or delete the listing entirely after a report is filed. That is one reason many enforcement teams build an evidence record first, then decide which route makes sense.
This approach lines up with guidance from rights-protection organizations and government sources. The International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition advises brands to keep screenshots, URLs, seller contact information or seller IDs, and other information that may be useful for complaints, law enforcement purposes, legal actions, and future reports against repeat sellers. The USPTO likewise notes the value of collecting copies, emails, receipts, and screenshots when preserving evidence.
There is also a practical reason beyond takedowns: patterns matter. A single listing may look isolated. Ten listings tied to the same seller name, reuse of the same product photos, or repeat use of the same shipping origin can tell a very different story. The OECD has documented how e-commerce has expanded the reach of counterfeit goods online, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that over 90% of counterfeit seizures occur in international mail and express environments, channels closely tied to e-commerce parcel traffic, and that nearly 90% of CBP IPR seizures in FY 2024 came from China and Hong Kong according to its counterfeit goods resource page and seizure statistics materials (CBP, CBP statistics PDF).
Good evidence usually answers a few basic questions:
Capture the product title, images, description, price, variation information, and any brand references. If the listing uses your trademark in the title, in bullets, in backend-looking descriptive text shown to buyers, or in images, preserve each of those uses separately.
A useful screenshot generally includes the full URL or enough information to identify the exact page later. On Amazon, that may include the ASIN; Amazon’s own seller guidance on the Report a Violation tool explains that brands can search by ASIN or product detail page URL in Brand Registry (Amazon). On Etsy, the platform explains that a listing URL follows a recognizable structure and may be requested when reporting infringement (Etsy Help).