Use the awkward example, not the perfect demo. A vendor demo usually begins with a clean input that was chosen to work. Your audience may have a blurry image, an oddly formatted spreadsheet, a long prompt, a niche accent, an unusual product size, or a half-finished asset. One honest boundary example can teach more than another polished walkthrough—without turning the review into a stunt designed to make the product fail. Choose one offer and create a boundary-example card with: - the buyer you are helping and the normal task they need completed - the ordinary clean example and one realistic awkward version - current product version, plan, settings, device, date, and official source links - starting input, expected output, success check, and stop condition - processing time, retries, manual edits, outside tools, and required skill - what worked, what degraded, what failed, what remained unknown, and who should skip it - disclosure, evidence files, destination, and last verification date Run the test like this: 1. Read the current official sales page, documentation, supported formats, limits, pricing or checkout information, license, support terms, and refund policy you are authorized to view. Separate vendor claims from what you can test directly. 2. Define one normal example and one awkward but legitimate example from the same buyer task. Change only one important variable—such as file length, background noise, column formatting, image quality, or input ambiguity—so you can explain what caused the difference. Use your own or licensed test material. 3. Write the success check before running either example. It might be every column preserved, all names readable, the output under a stated size, or no unsupported claim added. Do not change the scoring after seeing the result. 4. Run the clean example once, save the output, and record the exact settings and manual work. Reset the tool through its normal path, then run the awkward example with the same settings. Stop if the test risks live data, excessive charges, account damage, or prohibited use.