Every supplier profile on SupplyRank is researched, written and re-checked by our editorial team. This page describes the actual process — including the search-and-verification pipeline we run before a company enters the catalogue, and what our badges do and do not mean.
Our verification pipeline
Each supplier goes through the same five steps before publication:
- Discovery sweep. We search US wholesale channels for the company or product area using region-scoped queries with strict exclusion filters — marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, AliExpress, 1688), social networks and forums are filtered out at the query level, because they are where misinformation about “wholesale” concentrates.
- Source triage. Automated filtering removes blogs, review farms and social pages from results; only company-owned websites move forward. From a typical hundred search results, fewer than ten survive.
- Identity check. We read the surviving sites directly: is this a brand, an authorized distributor, or a reseller? We look for real-business markers — brand catalogues, wholesale terms pages, account registration, physical addresses, working phones — and record where wholesale terms are hidden in FAQ or policy pages.
- Terms extraction. We record MOQ at both levels (per-product minimum and account minimum order value), lead times, shipping regions, payment methods and account requirements — normalising units (a 4 oz listing and a 100 ml listing are matched, case counts reconciled) and checking that quoted stock is actually available, not just listed.
- Editorial verdict. A human editor writes the profile: who the company is, its terms, and an honest verdict including red flags — missing company details, payment limitations, fulfilment risks. Unverifiable marketing claims are labelled as claims.
Re-verification
Profiles carry a “Last verified” date and are re-checked on a rolling basis: website live, terms current, company responsive. Facts in any profile are corrected same-day on evidence — email [email protected].
What our badges mean
- Verified — the company completed our documentation and test-order process. A badge is never sold and never granted for payment alone.
- Ratings come only from moderated first-party seller reviews collected on SupplyRank. External quotes (Trustpilot, Reddit, G2, Shopify App Store) are shown separately, always linked to source, and never counted in our rating.
- Paid placements, if any, are always labelled. Rankings and ratings are not for sale.
What we do not do
- We do not publish fabricated reviews.
- We do not copy competitor databases; every profile is built from primary sources.
- We do not list companies we know to be fronts for gray-market diversion without saying so in the verdict.
- We do not recommend suppliers we could not identify: if a site tells buyers nothing about the company behind it, the profile says exactly that.
Questions about method, or a correction? Write to [email protected]. To understand the paperwork side of sourcing, see our sourcing roadmap and invoice requirements guide.