Trust
Every badge on this marketplace names a specific check. This page states exactly what each one proves, what it does not prove, and what you should still do yourself before money moves.
Most B2B platforms use the word ‘verified’ as a marketing token. It frequently means the member paid for a plan, or uploaded a document that nobody read, or simply completed the signup form. Because the word is doing promotional work rather than descriptive work, a buyer cannot tell what it covers, and the badge ends up transferring risk to the person least able to assess it. We would rather have a badge that says less and means something.
So the rule on this site is narrow and mechanical: a badge names the check that was performed. Where a check has not been performed, no badge appears, and the listing says ‘Not yet verified’ rather than staying silent and letting the absence read as an oversight.
| Badge | What was checked | What it does NOT prove |
|---|---|---|
| GSTIN validated | The number is 15 characters in the correct pattern, carries a real GST state code, and its final character matches the official mod-36 check digit computed from the other fourteen. | That the GSTIN is registered, active, or belongs to this business. |
| GST Verified | A lookup against the GST registry returned this business for this number, on the date shown in the badge tooltip. | That the business is solvent, competent or honest. It is an identity check, not a credit check. |
| IEC validated | The Importer Exporter Code is in valid DGFT form — either a 10-character PAN or a legacy 10-digit number. | That DGFT has issued it, or that it is currently active. |
| IEC Verified | A lookup against DGFT records returned this holder for this IEC. | Anything about the firm's trading history or capacity. |
| PAN consistent | The PAN embedded in characters 3 to 12 of the GSTIN is identical to the PAN-form IEC. Both documents therefore belong to the same PAN holder. | That the PAN holder is the business you are talking to. |
| Email confirmed | The member clicked a one-time link sent to the address on the listing, so the address exists and they control it. | That the address belongs to the company rather than to an individual. |
| Not yet verified | Nothing. The member supplied no registration numbers, or the ones supplied failed the structural check. | It is not an accusation. Many perfectly sound small exporters have simply not filled the field in. |
A GSTIN is not an arbitrary string. Its first two characters are a state code drawn from a fixed list, the next ten are a PAN, the thirteenth is an entity code, the fourteenth is always Z, and the fifteenth is a check character computed from the preceding fourteen using a documented modulo-36 algorithm. That last character is the point: it exists precisely so that a transcription error can be caught without contacting anyone.
The practical consequence is that a number invented at random has roughly a one in thirty-six chance of passing, and a number with any single mistyped character has none — a single-character error is caught every time by construction. So the validated badge is genuinely informative: it rules out invention and typos, which between them account for the overwhelming majority of bad registration data. It simply cannot rule out someone copying a real company’s real GSTIN, which is why the second tier exists and why the first tier does not use the word ‘verified’.
The GST portal offers a free public taxpayer search, and DGFT publishes a 'View Your IEC' lookup. Both are open, neither needs an account, and either will tell you in seconds what a structural check by definition cannot: whether the number is live, and whose it is.
No badge on this site can be bought, and no plan includes one. If badges could be purchased they would measure willingness to pay, which is not what a buyer is trying to find out.
No badge here says a company is reliable, solvent or good to deal with. We have no basis for that claim about anyone, and a platform that makes it is selling you its own liability.
A listing with no badges is shown normally, labelled honestly. Burying it would push small firms out of the directory and quietly make the badge a paywall.
Verification status does not move a listing up the page. It is information for you to weigh, not a lever for us to sell.
A GSTIN already present on the directory is refused at signup. One registration number, one listing — otherwise the badge means nothing.
Phone numbers are masked for anonymous visitors. This is the single most effective measure against the scrapers that make B2B directories a spam vector.
Verification badges are the cheapest possible layer of a much larger question. Below is the sequence that catches most problems in practice, in roughly increasing order of effort, and it applies whether you found the supplier here or anywhere else.
| Step | Cost | What it catches |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm GSTIN and IEC on the government portals | Free, one minute | Numbers that are invented, cancelled, or registered to a different entity |
| Insist the bank beneficiary name matches the registered entity | Free | Payment diversion, which is the most common and most expensive failure of all |
| Ask for two recent shipping bills or bills of lading | Free | A trading history that does not exist, or a supplier who has never shipped your HS line |
| Cross-check the HS line against customs data | Free on this site | A supplier claiming volumes that the aggregate trade in that line cannot support |
| Video call from the factory floor | Free, thirty minutes | A registered address that is an accountant's office |
| Pay for a pre-shipment sample and test it | Small | A specification gap, before it becomes a container of unsellable goods |
| Commission a third-party inspection before balance payment | Moderate | Quality and quantity discrepancies at the only point where you still have leverage |
| Structure the first order so neither side carries all the risk | Free | Everything else, by limiting what a single failure can cost |
Every company profile carries a report link. Use it for a listing that is duplicated, that names a business it does not represent, or that uses a registration number belonging to someone else — the last is the one we act on fastest, because a misused GSTIN damages the business whose number it is, not only the buyer who was misled. Reports are read by a person. A listing can be suspended while a dispute is open.
If you are the business whose details have been used, say so and we will remove the listing. We will not require you to prove ownership through a paid channel or to sign up for anything, and there is no process to escalate through, because there is no tier structure to escalate within.
No, and the difference is the whole point. Validated means the number is well-formed and its check digit matches, which rules out invention and typos. Verified means a registry lookup returned this business. The badges are worded differently because they mean different things.
Because registry confirmation requires a paid lookup service that is not connected yet. Rather than reuse the word 'verified' for the free structural check — which is what most platforms do — the badge simply does not appear until the check behind it is real.
No. There is nothing to buy.
No. It usually means the fields were left blank. Judge it on the catalogue, the specificity of the description, and what the company tells you when you ask directly.
Not automatically. If a member sends documents we can record a manual verification, and the badge will show the date and source. That path is deliberately slow and human.
The GSTIN and IEC are displayed on your public profile, because that is the point of supplying them. They are not sold, syndicated or shared with third parties.
Add your GSTIN and IEC and they are checked the moment you type them, with the result shown on your listing in plain words.