Price is a bad counterfeit indicator
A price tag is not proof of authenticity—or compliance. We reviewed 290 test purchases by IPSecure users with a primary outcome of counterfeit or regulatory violation and both MAP and purchase prices recorded. More than half—51%—were purchased at or above the supplied MAP / expected retail benchmark. That included 40% of counterfeit purchases and 66% of purchases with regulatory violations. These problem products were often selling at prices that offered no obvious discount warning.
For brands, the lesson is straightforward: investigations focused exclusively on below-MAP offers would have excluded 147 of these 290 purchases. Examine the seller, buy the product, and verify its authenticity and compliance. This selected sample does not measure marketplace-wide prevalence or establish whether an offer was the cheapest available. It does demonstrate why a normal price should never close an investigation. Price is a signal. Evidence tells the story.