Every FlareCoupon guide follows the same build process. This page is the standard we hold ourselves to — if a guide falls short of it, tell us via corrections and we will fix or retract it.
1. Sources before sentences
An authenticity “tell” only enters a guide if it can be traced to a citable source: manufacturer support or anti-counterfeit documentation, established professional authenticators, repair specialists, or documented teardowns of genuine and counterfeit units. Each guide publishes its source list at the end. A tell we can’t source doesn’t run — even if “everyone says so” on forums.
2. Research-based, stated plainly
Our guides are built from documented evidence, not from a test bench. We never claim to have bought, handled, or lab-tested a product we haven’t. Where evidence comes from photographs or measurements published by others, we say so and link it.
3. Images: atmosphere vs. evidence
Two kinds of images appear on this site, and they are not interchangeable. Decorative images (article headers, listing thumbnails) may be stock or generated illustrations of a product scene. Evidence images are different: any image presented as proof of an authenticity detail is a traceable photograph of a real item, or a clearly labelled diagram we drew ourselves — never a generated image passed off as a real product photo. A site that teaches you to spot fakes cannot fake its own evidence.
4. No absolutes
Counterfeiters iterate, and brands quietly change details between production runs. So our guides avoid “always” and “never”: each check is presented with its strength and its known exceptions (for example, serial numbers that verify because they were cloned from a genuine unit). A single failed check is a warning sign, not a court verdict; several failed checks are a pattern.
5. Dated, versioned, correctable
Every guide shows its last-updated date. When a brand changes a detail or a reader documents an error, we update the guide and record the change on our corrections log. Guides for products whose details change fast are re-reviewed at least every six months.
6. Money never edits a verdict
Affiliate commissions are disclosed on our disclosure page and at the top of any guide containing affiliate links. A high-risk rating is never softened because a product converts well.
7. Interactive self-checks: tallies, not verdicts
Some guides ship with an interactive version of their checks. Before it unlocks, the tool asks you to confirm you understand its limits; then it asks the same questions the guide asks and tallies your answers, weighted the way the guide explains — software checks first, physical checks as supporting evidence, price and channel as context. It never issues an authenticity verdict, and it cannot: we have not seen or handled your item, and the tool receives nothing you enter (it runs entirely in your browser, and the declaration is not recorded). A clean tally is not proof of authenticity — the best counterfeits pass most visible checks — and a failed tally is a reason to recheck, return, or ask the manufacturer, not a court judgment. Only the manufacturer or an authorised service provider can verify a product.