Verifying company and factory information

Check the business that will contract with you and the site said to make your goods as separate claims. Australian registers can help identify a seller; they do not verify a factory. Match the legal names and identifiers, then establish the proposed site’s operator, location and role. Record any part you cannot confirm.

Match the seller to its records

Ask for the legal name, business name, registration identifier and name that will appear on the quotation and invoice. If the seller gives an Australian ABN, check its status and entity details in ABN Lookup. For a registered business name, check its holder in ASIC’s business names register. For an Australian company, compare the company name and ACN with ASIC’s company register.

Check whether the quoted seller matches the registered entity and whether that entity holds the business name it uses. If an agent invoices for another business, ask the parties to explain their roles in writing. A difference may have an ordinary explanation, but resolve it before relying on the documents.

ABN Lookup contains limited public details and warns they may be incomplete or out of date. ASIC warns that a register listing does not guarantee trustworthiness. Record the search date and the exact entity matched. Neither search verifies factory control or creditworthiness.

For an overseas seller, identify an appropriate registration authority in its jurisdiction, if one is available, and note what its records can establish. An Australian reseller’s registration does not verify its overseas producer.

Australian Business Registers: Key Differences

Key Facts from Australian Registers

Identify the proposed factory and its role

Ask for the name and location of the site proposed for the relevant work, the business operating it, and the steps carried out there or elsewhere. Establish the relationship between the operator and the invoicing seller, such as ownership or subcontracting. Ask whether the site is fixed for this order and who must approve a change.

Compare the stated site name and location across the supplier’s documents. If the identity of the site is important to your decision, seek a suitable independent way to confirm it, such as direct contact with the operator or a site assessment with a defined scope. A supplier photograph, video or address is useful context only to the extent that its source, location and subject can be established.

Keep the question narrow: who is the site operator and what work is proposed there? Whether that site can make the specified product, has sufficient capacity or meets a particular standard requires separate product or technical evidence.

Resolve differences before commitment

For each material statement, record the supplier’s account, the independent record or observation, the difference and the response. Follow up when the invoice names an unexpected entity, the site address changes or the supplier cannot identify who controls a critical step. Retain corrected documents alongside earlier versions.

Finish with a bounded result: the contracting entity is identified; the proposed production site and its role are explained, partly explained or still unconfirmed. If the site may change after ordering, record when notice and buyer approval are required. Do not turn an identified address or registered company into a finding about manufacturing capability.