Product Verification
On this page
The Product Verification addon adds a page to your website where a customer types a serial number and gets a straight answer: is this hearing aid, product or accessory genuine, did it come from you, and what does its warranty say. The answer comes from your own stock and warranty records, and from rules you add yourself.
It is for centres and distributors whose brands are copied, and for customers who bought a hearing aid somewhere else and want to know whether it is real before they rely on it.
Switching it on
Product Verification is a premium addon, so it has to be in your licence first.
- Buy it with Buy this addon on its card on Admin → Addons. When the order is confirmed, the key comes down by itself at the next licence check; Collect purchases now under License → Addon keys fetches it at once. The addon is normally switched on as it arrives.
- A key you got some other way goes in the Addon key box under License → Addon keys. Paste it and press Add the key.
- If its card on Admin → Addons still says Disabled, press Enable.
The page works at once, with no set-up: it answers from the serial numbers you already have.
Where to find it
The sidebar heading Product Verification Addons holds Verification (the rules), Check log and Settings. The permissions, in the Product verification group under Roles & Permissions, are See the verification rules and the log and Add and change verification rules.
How a serial number is checked
Spaces, dashes, slashes and capital letters are ignored, so SGN-2026 0042 and sgn20260042 are the same number. The addon looks in this order and stops at the first match:
- Your own rules under Verification.
- The serial numbers in stock under Catalogue → Serial Numbers: every unit you received through Purchase & Suppliers or added by hand. A unit marked damaged or returned is answered as returned to us, with advice to contact you.
- Registered warranty cards from the Warranty addon, by serial number or card number. A cancelled card is answered as cancelled.
If nothing matches, the visitor sees your text for an unknown serial number.
A genuine answer shows the product name and, depending on the settings, the brand, model, side, the date it was sold and the warranty or guarantee dates. It never shows who bought it.
Rules
Rules cover what your records do not: a batch sold before you used this system, a whole range from one distributor, or a serial number you know is being copied.
Verification → + Add a rule.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| What it matches | This exact serial number, Any serial number starting with this, or Any serial number containing this. |
| Serial number or words | For example SGN-2026-0042, or SGN2026 for a prefix. |
| The answer | Genuine, or Not one of ours for a serial number you know is being copied. |
| Rule | On or Off. |
| Product name shown, Brand, Model | What the answer shows. |
| Sold on | The sale date, if you know it. |
| Warranty, in words | For example 2 years from purchase. |
| What the person is told | Empty uses the wording from the settings. |
| Note to yourself | Why this rule exists, and who asked for it. |
The list of rules shows what each matches, the answer, what is shown and how often it was Used. Each rule can be edited, switched off and on, or deleted.
Try one, beside the list, checks a serial number exactly as the public page would answer it, so you can test a rule before a customer does.
What the customer sees
The page lives at /m/verify-product on your website, and a Check a product link appears in the site footer.
- The customer reads your heading and the line under it, types the number from the hearing aid, its box or its warranty card, and presses Check.
- A genuine product gets your genuine text and its details. An unknown number gets your warning text, with Ask us about it, which opens your contact page.
- Too many checks from one visitor in ten minutes are refused politely, with a request to wait a few minutes. This stops anybody from working through serial numbers one at a time.
Check log
Check log lists every check: when, the serial number typed, the answer, where the answer came from (a rule, stock or a warranty card) and whether it was asked on the website or in the panel. Show Everything, only Genuine or only Not found.
The card Asked more than once, never found lists unknown numbers that keep being asked about. The same unknown number asked again and again usually means a counterfeit in circulation: worth a rule saying so.
Clear the log empties the log after you confirm.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Let anybody check a serial number on the website | Off keeps the page for staff only; the rules and the log stay as they are. |
| Answer from the serial numbers in stock | Uses Catalogue → Serial Numbers. |
| Answer from registered warranty cards | Uses the warranty cards. |
| Show the warranty dates in the answer | Adds the warranty and guarantee dates. |
| Show when it was sold | The date only. Never who bought it. |
| Heading on the page | Check your product by default. |
| Line under the heading | Tells the customer where to find the serial number. |
| What a genuine product is told | This is a genuine product supplied by us. by default. |
| What an unknown serial number is told | By default it asks them to check the number again (the letter O and the digit 0 are easy to mix up) and to call you before using the product. |
| Checks one visitor may make in ten minutes | 20 by default. |
| Keep a log of what was checked | Fills the Check log. |
A typical case
- A customer rings: a shop in another town sold their father a hearing aid "from your centre". Ask them to check it on your website.
- The number is unknown. It appears under Asked more than once, never found a week later, asked from three different places.
- Add a rule for that number with the answer Not one of ours and a message asking them to contact you.
- Tell the brand's distributor; the log shows when and how often the number was checked.
Tips
- Type serial numbers when you receive stock. Every number on file is one the page can vouch for.
- Print the address of the check page on your warranty cards and boxes.
- Write the texts in Bangla if your customers read Bangla; see Language.