Test & Evidential Purchasing

Need to establish what a business, seller or employee actually does when approached as an ordinary customer?

Ghosthawk can plan and carry out a controlled test or evidential purchase to answer a defined question — for example suspected counterfeit or diverted goods, unauthorised sales, inconsistent representations or breaches of an internal sales control.

How the instruction develops

Define the test. Conduct the interaction. Preserve the result.

The exact method can change as the evidence develops, but the objective, authority and professional phase remain clear. Further work is only added where it would materially advance the instruction.

Agree the test

Define the exact proposition to be tested, the scenario, boundaries and what would count as a meaningful result.

Carry out the purchase or interaction

Use the agreed customer-style scenario without encouraging conduct beyond what the test is designed to observe.

Preserve and report the result

Keep appropriate notes, receipts, purchased items, imagery and other evidence, then report the outcome against the agreed question.

What you receive

A usable outcome — not just activity.

The output is a controlled evidential record of the agreed test or purchase, not simply confirmation that a transaction occurred.

Contemporaneous account

A clear record of the authorised scenario, interaction, transaction and material observations.

Evidence capture

Relevant receipts, communications, imagery, items or other material obtained and handled in accordance with the agreed plan.

Outcome report

A concise report recording what happened, what the test demonstrated and any limitations affecting interpretation.

Defined scope

Clear scope before work starts.

Ghosthawk agrees what the instruction or authorised phase is intended to establish and the professional effort included before work begins.

Defined deployment

A controlled test or purchase is normally scoped as a single defined deployment. More complex scenarios are quoted before they begin.

01 / Defined deployment

Controlled Test / Evidential Purchase

from £400 + purchase cost

Planning, the agreed customer-style interaction or purchase, evidence continuity and a factual report against the defined question.

Repeated locations, transactions or more complex scenarios are priced as a separate defined deployment or fixed phase rather than allowed to run open-ended.

Each test or evidential-purchase deployment is scoped and priced before it begins. A repeat location, further transaction or materially changed scenario is treated as a new authorised deployment or fixed phase rather than an automatic time extension. Instructions involving regulated, restricted or otherwise legally sensitive goods or scenarios are subject to separate legality, authority and risk review before acceptance. Mileage and agreed direct costs are identified separately where applicable.

Full pricing approach ↗

Methods that may be relevant

Use only what the instruction needs.

The service is not a checklist of techniques. Methods are selected because they help answer the agreed question, not simply because they are available.

01Controlled customer interaction

02Test or evidential purchase

03Contemporaneous notes and receipts

04Photographic or transactional evidence where appropriate

05Purchased-item handling and continuity where relevant

06Structured factual reporting

Discuss this instruction

Tell us the situation and the outcome you need.

You do not need to select the perfect service or prepare a complete evidence pack before contacting us. Give us the essential facts and we will assess the appropriate first step.

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