How to Check a Thai Company Registration Before You Pay

What a company registration proves, and what it does not

A registration check answers a narrow but important set of questions. It tells you that a legal entity with that exact name exists, when it was registered, what its registered address is, who its directors are, how much registered capital it has, and whether its status is active rather than dissolved or in liquidation.

That is genuinely useful. A surprising share of sourcing problems are not sophisticated fraud but basic mismatch: the bank account belongs to an individual while the quotation carries a company letterhead, or the company name on the proforma invoice differs by one word from the entity that actually exists.

What a registration does not prove is just as important to understand:

• It does not prove the company owns a factory. A trading company and a manufacturer register the same way
• It does not prove product quality, capacity, or that the company has ever shipped to your country
• It does not prove the company holds the product licences your category needs
• It does not prove the person emailing you is authorised to sign on the company's behalf
• It does not prove solvency; registered capital is a registration figure, not cash in the bank

So treat the registration as step one of a sequence, not as a verdict. The purpose is to establish that you are dealing with a real, active entity and to collect the identifiers you will need for every check after that. Importers who skip it usually discover the gap at the worst moment, when a payment has already gone out and the counterparty stops replying.

The documents to request, and what each one is

In Thailand, company records are kept by the Department of Business Development (DBD) under the Ministry of Commerce. The practical approach is to ask the supplier directly for their documents first, then verify those documents against the public record.

Ask for these, by name:

• Company Affidavit, sometimes called a Certificate of Incorporation or Company Certificate. This is the core document. It lists the registration number, registered name in Thai and often English, registration date, registered capital, registered address, directors, signing authority, and the company's registered objectives
• A copy of the VAT registration certificate, if the company is VAT registered. Exporters of any size usually are
• The company's registered objectives, if not already detailed in the affidavit. These state what activities the entity is registered to carry out
• Director identification, to match the names on the affidavit to the person you are negotiating with
• A bank account confirmation letter in the company's name, issued by the bank

A cooperative supplier will send these without hesitation, because international buyers ask for them routinely. Genuine exporters and any serious Thai wholesale distributor keep a scanned set ready precisely because it shortens the conversation.

Two practical notes. First, Thai documents are often issued in Thai only; ask for the English version where one exists, and otherwise have the key fields translated rather than guessing. Second, an affidavit is a snapshot with an issue date on it. A document issued a year ago tells you about last year. Ask for one issued recently, and note the date when you file it.

How to read a Thai company affidavit field by field

Once the documents arrive, read them against the commercial paperwork you already have. Most problems show up as a mismatch between two documents rather than as something obviously fake.

The registration number is a 13-digit identifier unique to the entity. Record it; it is the key you will use for every subsequent lookup, and it should appear identically on the affidavit, the VAT certificate, and the invoice.

The registered name must match the name on your quotation, proforma invoice, and contract character for character. Thai companies commonly operate under a shorter trade name or brand that differs from the registered entity. That is normal and not a problem in itself, but the contract and the payment must name the registered entity, and ideally the contract should note the trade name as well.

Registration date tells you how long the entity has existed. A young company is not automatically a risk, but a company registered weeks before approaching you with a large order deserves more scrutiny.

Registered capital indicates the scale the owners registered the business at. Do not read it as available cash or as a guarantee of anything. Read it as context: a very small registered capital alongside a very large proposed order is a mismatch worth asking about.

Directors and signing authority are the fields buyers most often skip and most often regret skipping. The affidavit states who may bind the company and under what conditions, for example whether one director may sign alone or two must sign jointly. If your contract is signed by someone outside that authority, its enforceability becomes a question you do not want to test.

Registered objectives describe the activities the company is registered for. If you are buying cosmetics from an entity whose registered objectives cover only general trading, that does not necessarily mean a problem, but it does tell you that you are probably dealing with a trader rather than the manufacturer.

Finally, check status. You want an active entity, not one recorded as dissolved, struck off, or under liquidation.

Cross-checks that matter more than the registration itself

The registration confirms existence. The checks in this section confirm capability, and this is where buyers find the real surprises.

Manufacturer or trader. Ask directly, and then verify. A manufacturer can normally show a factory licence, production capacity figures, and a factory address that differs from the office address. A trader cannot, and will usually move the conversation to brochures instead. Neither is bad; a good trading company solves real problems for small orders. But you should price and plan differently depending on which one you have, and you should know whose quality system actually governs your production.

Product licences for your category. Cosmetics, food, supplements and medical products each have their own notification or licensing route with the Thai FDA, and the licence sits with a specific entity for a specific product, not with a company in general. Ask which entity holds the notification for the exact item you are buying. For food and beverage categories in particular, the paperwork chain matters because your own country's import clearance will depend on it. If you are building a shortlist of Thai food and beverage suppliers, make this question part of the first email rather than the last.

Export experience. Ask for the names of destination markets they currently ship to, the Incoterms they normally quote, and which export documents they issue as a matter of course. A company that routinely exports will answer in specifics. One that does not will answer in adjectives.

Independent corroboration. Look for the company in trade fair exhibitor lists, industry association membership, and official export promotion listings such as those maintained by the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP). None of these is conclusive, but several independent traces are much harder to fabricate than one polished website.

B2B platforms that run know-your-customer checks on listings can shorten this stage, since some supplier verification work has already been done and documents are collected in one place. Treat a platform badge as a filter that saves you time, not as a substitute for reading the documents yourself. Verification reduces risk; it does not remove it, and the buyer still owns the decision.

Red flags that surface during verification

Most of the warning signs below are not proof of fraud on their own. The signal is in the pattern: one is a question, three together is a reason to slow down.

• The bank account is in a personal name, or in a company name that differs from the registered entity, or in a third country with no stated reason
• The company resists sending an affidavit, or sends only a screenshot or a low-resolution crop instead of the full document
• The registered name on the affidavit does not match the invoice, and nobody can explain the difference
• The affidavit is years old and a recent one is not available
• The person signing the contract is not listed with signing authority and no power of attorney is offered
• The registered objectives have nothing to do with the goods being sold
• The company was registered very recently but presents itself as long established
• Contact runs entirely through a chat app with no company email domain
• Prices are far below every other quotation you have received, with urgency attached
• Documents arrive as images that cannot be text-searched, making cross-checking harder

On that last point: ask for searchable PDFs where possible. It is a small request, and the reluctance to meet it is itself informative.

If you do hit several flags, you do not need to accuse anyone of anything. Reduce your exposure instead: smaller first order, payment terms that keep some leverage until inspection, and an independent check of the goods before the balance is paid. A legitimate supplier will understand a cautious first transaction; the cost of that caution is small compared with a lost deposit.

A verification sequence you can run before the first payment

Here is the order that wastes the least time, because each step either ends the process or gives you the inputs for the next one.

First, collect. Request the affidavit, VAT certificate, bank letter in the company name, and the product licence reference for the exact item. Note the issue date of each document.

Second, match. Put the registered name, 13-digit registration number, and address side by side with the same fields on the quotation, proforma invoice and bank details. Every one should agree. Any that does not becomes a question you ask before anything else.

Third, verify independently. Check the registration number and status against the DBD's public business information service rather than relying only on the PDF you were sent. Where your category requires it, confirm the product notification or licence with the relevant Thai authority. Rules and procedures change, so confirm current requirements with the agency or with a licensed agent rather than relying on a summary.

Fourth, test capability. Confirm manufacturer or trader status, factory address, and export destinations. Order a paid sample and watch how the company handles a small, low-stakes transaction, including how it documents and ships it. This is one of the most informative tests available, and the sample fee is trivial against the order value.

Fifth, structure the first deal to limit downside. Keep the first order small enough that losing it would not hurt. Put product specification, inspection terms, and the consequences of non-conformity in writing. Pay to the registered company account, never to an individual.

Sixth, check your own side. Confirm with your customs broker or import authority what documents your country requires for this product, and make sure the supplier can issue them per item before you order, not after. Import requirements differ by country and change over time, so check with your local customs authority or broker.

Finally, keep the file. Save every document with its issue date, and repeat the registration and status check before a materially larger reorder. Companies change directors, addresses and status, and the check that was valid last year may not describe this year. Buyers who keep running this routine, whether they source from verified Thai suppliers on a platform or from contacts met at a trade fair, end up with a shortlist built on evidence rather than impressions.