How to verify
your vial is real.
Counterfeit and relabelled product is a known risk in the research peptide market. Accredited published guidance suggests that more than a quarter of vials sold under known brand names in third-party channels do not match published purity claims. Cresten Labs supplies through one channel only: this website. The verification system below lets any buyer confirm a vial originated from us before they use it.
The single rule.
There is exactly one place to buy from us, and it is this website. We are not on Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, or any other marketplace. We do not sell through wholesale distributors, peptide reseller networks, or any other intermediary. If a vial bearing the Cresten brand was purchased anywhere except crestenlabs.eu, it did not originate from us.
If your vial was purchased elsewhere
The vial may be counterfeit or relabelled. The contents may not match the labelled compound, the labelled mass, or the labelled purity. We strongly recommend not using it for any research purpose until verification has been confirmed via the procedure below.
How real Cresten vials are verified.
Every Cresten vial carries three third-party verification points. A genuine vial passes all three. A counterfeit will fail at least one.
- Batch number cross-reference. Each vial has a batch number printed on the label and stamped on the aluminium crimp cap. The batch number must match a batch published on crestenlabs.eu. If the batch number does not return a result, or no certificate exists for it, the vial is not from us.
- Certificate of Analysis match. The COA published for that batch shows the compound name, the synthesis date, the analytical lab, the HPLC purity to two decimal places, the LC-MS spectrum, and the analyst signature. The printed COA enclosed in a Cresten shipment is identical to the published COA. If the printed COA differs from the published COA, the shipment is not from us.
- QR code verification. The aluminium crimp cap carries a printed QR code. Scanning the QR opens the verification page directly:
crestenlabs.eu/verify/{batch}. The verification page is permanent and indexable. If the QR fails to open this URL, or the URL returns a 404, the vial is not from us.
Other signs of counterfeit product.
Researchers report the following indicators of counterfeit or relabelled vials in the EU peptide market generally. None are specific to any one brand. They are general red flags worth checking on any peptide vial regardless of source.
- Generic certificate of analysis. The COA is generic, not batch-specific. The synthesis date is missing. The analytical lab is unnamed or not verifiable.
- Mismatched batch numbers. The batch number on the vial does not match the batch number on the printed COA, or both are missing entirely.
- Unusual purity claim. Purity claimed at exactly 99% (a round number, no decimal places) is a typical signal of fabricated COAs. Real HPLC reports give two-decimal precision.
- Pricing dramatically below market. Cresten BPC-157 10mg is €78.99. Vendors offering equivalent compound at €15 to €25 are either using lower-purity material, partial fills, mannitol-bulked product, or counterfeit relabels.
- Indirect sales channel. The vial was purchased from a marketplace, a third-party reseller, a peptide forum group buy, or an unknown intermediary, rather than directly from the manufacturer.
- Vague or missing supplier identity. The supplier’s legal entity, registered address, and regulatory representative are not disclosed on their website.
What to do if you suspect a counterfeit.
If a vial bearing the Cresten brand fails any of the three verification points above, contact us at compliance@crestenlabs.eu with the following information: the source of purchase (which website, marketplace, or seller), the batch number printed on the vial, photographs of the label and the printed COA, the date of purchase, and any seller communications you can share. We track counterfeit reports as part of our compliance posture and pursue takedown requests where the source is identifiable.
If you are uncertain whether a vial is counterfeit, the safest path is third-party testing. Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic), the same lab that tests every Cresten batch, accepts samples from third parties for accredited purity and identity verification. The cost is approximately €50 per sample.
Our commitment.
Cresten Labs publishes every COA before stock is released, archives every certificate permanently, and operates one sales channel only. The verification system above is engineered to make counterfeit detection straightforward for any buyer at any time, including buyers who have never ordered from us before. The system never deletes, never moves URLs, and remains available indefinitely.