In summer 2025, ITIF test-purchased suspected counterfeit goods across apparel, cosmetics, toys, electronics, and medicines on three large cross-border marketplaces. Of 43 products successfully delivered, 25 were confirmed or likely counterfeit. That ratio is evidence about a targeted sample of suspicious listings, not a rate for everything sold on those platforms.
Test buys are the strongest evidence a private researcher can produce, because they end with a physical product that rights holders can examine. ITIF's submission to USTR's 2025 Notorious Markets review reported purchases made in summer 2025 across a spread of categories, including apparel, cosmetics, toys, electronics, and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Twenty-five of 43 delivered products were confirmed or likely counterfeit.
Hold the scope steady. The buyers selected listings they already suspected. A 25 of 43 hit rate inside a suspicion-filtered sample shows that suspicious listings on those platforms were very often what they appeared to be. It does not show that 58 percent of all listings are fake, and any summary that turns it into a platform-wide rate has broken the evidence.
The method runs in a fixed order. Pick listings against written criteria, record the listing as it stood, buy through normal checkout, keep the packaging and paperwork, and put the product in front of the rights holder or a qualified examiner for authentication. Chain of custody matters at every step, because the output is not a blog claim. ITIF's appendix laid out per-product results, and its submission was written to be filed: the same packet supports a USTR comment, a platform escalation, or a payment-processor complaint.
Compare that with screenshot evidence. A screenshot proves a listing existed. A test buy proves what the listing actually shipped, which is the question enforcement and platforms both have to answer.
The Notorious Markets List is an annual out-of-cycle review under the Special 301 program, published separately since February 2011. The 2025 list named 37 online markets and 32 physical markets. Inclusion is built from public comments and interagency consultation, so documented test buys are the currency the process runs on. ITIF recommended the three marketplaces from its study for the 2025 list, tying the recommendation directly to its purchase evidence.
There is a second lever in the same record. The FTC has already penalized one large marketplace for violating the INFORM Consumers Act by failing to protect consumers from counterfeit goods adequately. Test-buy evidence speaks to both regimes at once: trade listing and consumer protection.
Buy narrow and document wide. Ten purchases against tight, written selection criteria, each with a full evidence packet, outweigh fifty casual orders. Photograph packaging before opening, keep every insert, and record delivery times and return addresses. Then get authentication from someone whose verdict a platform must respect. A pile of products you personally believe are fake is a cost. The same pile, authenticated and documented, is a filing.
Keep going with Counterfeit Space Heaters: The Winter Listing Wave With a Fire History, Counterfeit Portable Generators: Storm Season Listings, Carbon Monoxide Stakes, and Counterfeit Contact Lenses: Monitoring a Medical Device Sold Like a Costume.
ITIF purchased suspected counterfeit goods on three large cross-border marketplaces in summer 2025 across apparel, cosmetics, toys, electronics, and medicines. Of 43 products successfully delivered, 25 were confirmed or likely counterfeit, according to its submission to USTR's 2025 Notorious Markets review.
No. The sample was suspicion-filtered: buyers chose listings they already had reason to doubt. The result shows suspicious listings were usually genuine counterfeits. It cannot be stretched into a rate for all listings on a platform.
A screenshot proves a listing existed. A test buy produces the physical product, packaging, and paperwork, which a rights holder can authenticate. That converts a suspicion into evidence that platforms, USTR, and regulators can act on.
An annual USTR review under the Special 301 program, published separately since 2011, naming online and physical markets reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. The 2025 list covered 37 online and 32 physical markets.