The cost of verifying a supplier is trivial compared with the cost of discovering, after a deposit has cleared, that the entity you contracted with is not licensed for the activity, cannot hold the volume, or does not meaningfully exist beyond a website.
Start with the trade licence
Request the trade licence and check three things: that the entity name matches exactly what appears on the proposal and the bank details, that the licence is current, and that the listed activities actually cover what you are buying.
An entity licensed for general trading that is proposing specialised manufacturing is worth a direct question. There may be a straightforward explanation, but it should be asked rather than assumed.
Match the bank details to the entity
Payment instructions naming a different entity or an individual are a serious flag, and one of the most common patterns in supplier fraud. Legitimate suppliers invoice and receive payment in their own registered name.
If details change mid-engagement, verify the change through a channel you already trust — a phone number you have used before, not one contained in the email requesting the change.
Test capability against the actual order
Licensing establishes permission, not capacity. A supplier may be entirely legitimate and still unable to fulfil the volume, specification or timeline you need.
Ask for references from comparable orders, and where the commitment is significant, visit the premises. A supplier confident in their operation will accommodate this; reluctance is itself informative.
Check how long the entity has actually existed
Registration dates are a matter of record. A company presenting a decade of experience through an entity registered eight months ago may have a reasonable explanation — restructuring, rebranding, a new venture by experienced people — but you should hear that explanation rather than infer it.
Build remedies into the agreement
Verification reduces risk; it does not eliminate it. The agreement should specify what happens when delivery slips, specification is missed or volume cannot be met — because the point of leverage is at negotiation, not after a failure.
Suppliers who resist reasonable remedy provisions are telling you how confident they are in their own delivery.
Most of this can be done in an afternoon. The proportion of supply disputes that trace back to checks nobody ran is the reason the afternoon is worth spending.
Need this applied to your situation?
General guidance only goes so far. Tell us the specifics and we will tell you what we would do.