Item arrived damaged
Scratches, cracks, dents, broken components, water damage, and other defects.
Marketplace evidence
Seller and Buyer Evidence Verification
Verify marketplace dispute photos before issuing a refund or payout
Buyer and seller photos can directly affect refunds, payouts, account restrictions, and support decisions. essential-fd checks that evidence for technically verifiable signs of manipulation, reuse, and inconsistency.
File history
Reduce uncertainty in image-based disputes
A few plausible photos often determine a support decision while their source and history remain unclear. essential-fd analyzes the file itself and returns a clear OK or FLAG result.
- A buyer uses a photo found online
- Old damage reused for a new order
- Seller evidence comes from another shipment
- A screenshot presented as a camera photo
- Product damage was digitally altered
- Different devices presented as one sequence
- Timestamps conflict with delivery
- Cropping removes relevant context
- The image appears in several disputes
- The file was edited and resaved
Dispute categories
Evidence verification across marketplace disputes
Item not as described
Evidence of differences in listing, description, size, color, condition, or components.
Wrong item received
Compare buyer evidence with seller photos, listings, and packaging documentation.
Missing components
Images of incomplete orders, opened packaging, accessories, and product contents.
Return condition
Compare buyer, seller, warehouse, and return-processing evidence.
Shipping and packaging
Analyze packaging, labels, delivery conditions, and products before and after shipment.
Peer-to-peer transactions
Support disputes for used products, electronics, clothing, furniture, and collectibles.
How it works
Marketplace image verification in four steps
Evidence is uploaded
The buyer or seller uses the existing application, dispute portal, ticket, or email workflow.
Files are analyzed
Check metadata, software, source, duplicate relationships, compression, encoding, and cross-file consistency.
OK or FLAG returns
OK means no defined finding. FLAG identifies a specific technical issue requiring attention.
Support uses the result
Display it in the case, route automatically, or add it to the agent’s review information.
Evidence checks
What essential-fd can identify
Reused dispute images
Exact duplicates and related versions across orders, accounts, and support cases.
External image sources
Characteristics associated with downloading, resaving, screen capture, or another source.
Screenshot evidence
Technical properties indicating screen capture rather than a direct camera file.
Inconsistent timestamps
Compare available dates with order, delivery, dispute, return, and shipping timelines.
Different source devices
Inconsistent device, software, dimensions, or encoding across one claimed sequence.
Editing and recompression
Assess whether editing, cropping, annotation, conversion, or resaving matches the expected workflow.
Both sides of the case
Compare buyer and seller evidence
Compare buyer and seller photos with listing images, warehouse inspections, packaging, delivery evidence, return-processing images, and earlier disputes.
Identify listing-image reuse, damage predating a transaction, files repeated across cases, and inconsistent technical histories. Findings should be assessed with transaction and support data.
- Buyer-submitted photos
- Seller-submitted photos
- Original listing images
- Warehouse inspections
- Packaging evidence
- Delivery evidence
- Return processing images
- Earlier dispute submissions
Fairer decisions
Protect genuine buyers and sellers
Run checks in the background. Cases without defined findings continue normally; concrete findings reach experienced reviewers before refund, payout, or account decisions.
Reduce avoidable refunds
Find repeated or externally sourced evidence.
Protect both parties
Assess buyer and seller files by the same technical rules.
Detect repeated abuse
Connect images and patterns across cases.
Document escalation
Record the concrete reason for specialist review.
Integration
Integrate with your dispute process
Use results to approve cases, route flags, request new evidence, compare prior disputes, enrich a risk model, support abuse investigations, or preserve audit evidence.
API
SFTP
OneDrive / SharePoint
Web application
More informed decisions
Add forensic evidence to your marketplace disputes
Check buyer and seller photos without adding friction to every case.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can essential-fd determine whether the buyer or seller is telling the truth?
No. It analyzes files for defined technical findings that the marketplace evaluates with transaction data and statements.
Can you compare an image with a product listing?
Yes, where listing images and other case files are provided.
Can you identify images taken from the internet?
Some retain downloading, screenshot, software processing, or prior-use traces. Not every downloaded image can be identified.
Can essential-fd detect repeated refund abuse?
It can identify reused images and related patterns across disputes for use in a wider fraud system.
Does the customer need to install an application?
No. Images already submitted through the marketplace can be analyzed.
Can essential-fd check videos?
This workflow focuses on images. Video support depends on deployment requirements.