Glossary

The label #

Hologram (OVD)

An optically variable device: a foil label whose image changes with the viewing angle, which is hard to reproduce with a scanner and a printer. It protects the label, not the data on it.

In this category: it is often spoken of as if it were the only tamper-evident option. It is the strongest commonly available one, not the only one — see Tamper-evident construction.

Tamper-evident construction

Whatever physically shows that a pack has been opened or a label removed. The options, strongest first: a hologram or OVD foil; a destructible (brittle) face stock that shatters on removal; a VOID-release adhesive that leaves a mark behind; a perforated tamper band on a shrink sleeve; a seal that tears across a carton flap or an induction seal under a cap. A plain printed label, carton, pouch or corrugated box has none of these on its own.

In this category: a serialised code is regularly presented as tamper-evidence. It is not — a code proves the label was issued and not yet claimed, and says nothing about whether the pack was opened.

Tamper-evident

A label or seal that visibly destroys itself when removed, so a reused pack is obvious.

In this category: "tamper-proof" is the common spelling and it is an overclaim — nothing prevents tampering; a good label makes it visible.

Quiet zone

The blank margin a QR code needs around it to be readable. Print artwork into it and scanners start failing on exactly the labels that are hardest to reprint.

Error correction level

How much of a QR code can be damaged and still read — L, M, Q, H from least to most. We print M on an open code and H on a second QR under a scratch panel, because the panel abrades it.

Variable data printing (VDP)

Printing where every impression differs — the technique that puts a different code on every label. The reason a serialised label costs more than a plain one.

The code and its life #

Serialised / serialisation

Every individual unit gets its own number, not one number per SKU. The category's starting point, and the only word in it that is precise.

Unit-level (item-level)

The same idea stated as a scope: identity at the individual item, rather than at the batch or the model.

Batch

A run of codes generated together for one brand and one product, carrying one set of frozen settings: what it is for, how many claims a code gets, which second factor is printed, and the dates on the label.

Batch activation

The step that makes a batch's codes start answering. Codes are generated dead; the printer runs the job, QC passes, somebody activates the batch. Until then a leaked print file, a press overrun or a stolen roll verifies nothing.

In this category: no competitor site we reviewed uses this term at all, which is why the "what if my printer prints extra?" objection usually goes unanswered.

Dual Code

One label carrying two codes: a shelf code anyone can scan before buying, which never claims the unit, and a hidden code under a scratch panel or inside the pack, which does.

In this category: two vendors use "dual-code" or "dual-layer" without defining which code does what, which is the only part that matters.

Single-use code

A code whose claim can be spent. After it is spent, further scans by other people are told so. The defence against a copied code is not that the copy is unreadable — it is that only one of them can be first.

Scan limit

How many distinct verifications of one code return GENUINE before anyone is warned. One on a Dual Code label, three by default on a single-code label, and zero meaning no limit — which is how a document meant to be shown to many people is set up. A threshold, not a guarantee.

Claim

The moment a code is spent on a unit. Distinct from a scan: a shelf code can be scanned a thousand times and claim nothing.

Verdict

The one-word answer a scan returns: GENUINE, VALID, SCANNED BEFORE, NO MATCH, We can't verify this code, or RECALLED. Each is evidence of a specific, stated fact — see every verdict a scan can return.

In this category: "instantly verifies authenticity" is the standard phrasing and it never says what the verdict is evidence of.

Copy-detection pattern (CDP)

A fine printed graphic that degrades measurably when photocopied, so a scan can tell an original print from a copy. The most technically precise term the category has, and AVRA does not use one — our defence is single-use codes, batch activation and monitoring. Said here so nobody assumes otherwise.

Non-cloneable

A word to distrust. Applied to a plain printed QR it is simply false: a printed code can be photographed and reprinted. It is defensible only where there is a physical unclonable feature or a copy-detection pattern. "Unique per unit" and "single-use" are defensible; this is not.

Track and trace

Knowing where a unit went through the supply chain, usually via aggregation from item to carton to pallet. AVRA does not do this. We record where a unit was scanned, which is a different fact.

Aggregation (parent-child)

Linking each unit's code to the carton and pallet it shipped in, so scanning the carton accounts for its contents. The foundation of track and trace. Not built.

Grey-market diversion

Genuine stock sold where it was not meant to be — wrong state, wrong channel, wrong country. Visible in scan geography as product appearing where none was shipped, which is a signal and not a proof.

The people and the money #

Channel / the trade

The people between the brand and the buyer who decide what gets installed: electricians, mechanics, painters, masons, carpenters, plumbers, retailers, krishi kendra owners. Use their actual trade names. "Channel partner" describes a company; it does not describe a person with a screwdriver.

Scan-to-earn

Scanning a code on a pack and receiving money or points for it. Already mainstream in Indian electricals, paints, cement, lubricants, auto parts and agri-inputs.

Member

Someone who has joined a brand's reward programme with a verified phone number. One phone number is one identity across every brand on AVRA; the wallet is per brand.

Wallet / ledger

The member's balance, and the append-only record behind it. Append-only matters: a balance you can edit is a balance nobody can audit.

Velocity rule

A limit on how much can be claimed or paid inside a rolling window. Ours hold a payout for a person to decide rather than rejecting it, because automatically rejecting a real electrician is worse than a queue.

Geo-velocity / impossible travel

The same code or the same person appearing in two places too far apart to be real. A standard fraud signal.

CGNAT (carrier-grade NAT)

The reason a scan's city is usually wrong in India: mobile carriers route thousands of users through one gateway address, so a scan in Nashik reports as Mumbai. It is why our scan map stops at the state.

UPI / VPA

India's instant payment rail, and the address on it (name@bank). A reward reaches the claimant's own account; it is checked when they save it.

Payout gateway

The service that actually moves the money — Razorpay X or Cashfree. The account is the brand's own, so AVRA holds no float.

TDS Section 194R

Indian withholding tax on benefits given in the course of business, which is what a channel reward is. Above a threshold the brand deducts and reports it, and PAN is required first. Naming this correctly is how you can tell an Indian platform from a translated one.

PAN

The Indian tax identity number, needed before a reward crosses the 194R threshold. Stored encrypted; visible only to the brand that collected it.

DLT

The Indian telecom registry that every commercial SMS sender and template must be registered on. A fixed annual cost and a two-week lead time, which is one reason WhatsApp is the primary channel here.

WhatsApp utility template / BSP

A pre-approved message for a transaction — an OTP, a registration confirmation, a payout notice — and the business solution provider that sends it. Each message costs money; that is the real variable cost in warranty and rewards.

The rules and the standards #

First-party data

Customer data the brand collected itself, directly, rather than rented from a marketplace or a platform. A scan is first-party by construction.

DPDP Act 2023

India's data protection law. Two ideas it separates and most sites do not: a notice tells someone what happens to their data, and a consent asks them to agree. Scanning a label is a notice. Joining a reward programme is a consent.

Data fiduciary / data processor

Under DPDP, the party that decides what happens to personal data, and the party that acts on their instruction. For scan data the brand decides and AVRA processes.

Digital Product Passport (DPP)

An EU-mandated digital record per item — materials, origin, repair, recycling — phasing in from 2027, batteries first.

In this category: it is quoted at Indian brands as urgency. It is an EU obligation and it matters here only to exporters.

GS1 Digital Link

A standard way to put a GTIN inside a QR code's URL so a retail scanner and a phone can both read the same code. AVRA's codes are not GS1 Digital Link format today.

GTIN

The global trade item number behind a barcode — one number per product model, not per unit. Useful to know because it is what serialisation is not.

Real-time

A word to distrust. Everything on a web dashboard is polled or pushed on some interval. Ours refresh every 10 to 60 seconds and we would rather tell you the interval.

Blockchain

Two of the ten competitor sites we reviewed still lead with it against a problem — "is this label real?" — that a database with an audit log answers. We do not use one and say so here rather than being asked.

AI-powered

A phrase to distrust as a modifier. It is meaningful when the sentence says what the model does — reads a damaged code, flags impossible travel — and meaningless otherwise. AVRA's alerts are three stated rules with stated thresholds, and we call them rules.

Last reviewed 18 Sep 2026 · Something wrong? connect@avrascan.com