Seller Guide

How to prove a used item worked before you shipped it

Most sellers only learn what evidence they needed after a buyer has already opened a case. By then the item is gone, the moment has passed, and nothing you capture is dated early enough to matter.

This is what to capture before the item leaves your hands, and why each piece carries weight. It takes about five minutes per item and it does not require any product to do — you can shoot all of it on the phone in your pocket right now.

The six things worth capturing

In rough order of how often they decide an argument. If you only do two, do the first two.

Record the item running, in one unbroken take

Start the video with the item already in frame and switched off. Power it on, let it run long enough to show sustained operation — not a two-second blip — then power it down with the item still in frame. One continuous shot, no cuts.

Why it matters: A cut is the first thing a skeptical buyer points at. An unbroken take showing off → on → sustained → off is much harder to argue with than three separate clips.

Get the serial or model plate on camera

Before or after the function shot, hold the camera steady on the serial number, model number, or spec plate until it reads clearly. If the item has no plate, capture whatever permanent identifying mark it does have.

Why it matters: This is what ties your evidence to the specific unit you shipped. Without it, footage of a working drill only proves that some drill worked.

Photograph the flaws you already disclosed

Take a clear, well-lit photo of every scratch, chip, worn cable, missing accessory, or cosmetic defect you mentioned in the listing — and any you did not mention but noticed.

Why it matters: Documenting a flaw yourself is the single strongest thing you can do. It shows the condition was known and disclosed, and it removes the "you hid this from me" argument entirely.

Capture the item as packed, before the box closes

One photo of the item seated in its packaging with the padding visible. One photo of the sealed box with the shipping label attached and readable.

Why it matters: Damage claims usually turn on whether the item was packed adequately. These two photos are the only evidence that speaks to that, and you cannot go back and take them later.

Keep the timestamps intact

Do not screenshot your own photos, re-export them through an editor, or send them through a service that strips metadata. Keep the originals exactly as the camera wrote them, in one place, backed up.

Why it matters: Original capture time is what makes the evidence credible. A screenshot of a photo is a new file created today — it proves nothing about last Tuesday.

Put it somewhere you can send as one link

Evidence scattered across your camera roll, a text thread, and two email drafts is evidence you will not find under pressure. Collect it in one place you can hand over in a single link.

Why it matters: Disputes run on a clock. The seller who can produce everything in one message is in a completely different position from the seller assembling it from four apps.

Four mistakes that waste the effort

Sellers do capture evidence and still lose the argument, usually for one of these reasons.

Filming only after the buyer complains

Any evidence created after the complaint is dated after the complaint. Capture before the item ships or it is worth very little.

A photo of the item sitting still

A still photo shows an object existed. It says nothing about whether it powered on. Function has to be shown moving.

Cropping or editing the footage to look cleaner

Every edit is something to attack. Unedited and slightly ugly beats polished and questioned.

Storing it all on the phone only

Phones get lost, wiped, and upgraded mid-dispute. Evidence you cannot retrieve is evidence you do not have.

A word on what evidence can and cannot do

Documentation is not a guarantee. It does not force a marketplace to rule your way, it does not stop someone determined to lie, and it cannot speak to what happened to an item after it left you. Every marketplace runs its own process and its own standards of proof, and those change.

What good evidence does is narrower and still valuable: it establishes what was true at the moment of capture, in a form someone else can check. In most disagreements that is the fact actually in dispute — and being the person who can show it, immediately, changes how the conversation goes.

Or capture it once and stop rebuilding it

The steps above are free and you should do them regardless. WRKPROOF exists because doing them consistently, keeping the originals intact, and producing them as one link is the part sellers stop doing by the third listing. A record is $5, the first one is free, and it works for any item you can show running.

Create a record

WRKPROOF records what was observed: that an item functioned at the time of capture. It does not guarantee outcomes, certify value, authenticate objects, or predict future condition. Nothing here is legal advice — marketplace policies vary and change, and you should confirm the current rules of wherever you sell.