Sourcing standards

Evidence states

• Sourced — a public business domain was found in live search research. Identity, facilities, claims, and commercial terms still require checks, so the profile remains non-indexable.
• Pending — a self-applied record awaiting moderation and evidence.
• Verified — GreenFlip has recorded legal-entity, online-presence, capability, and reference evidence. Only this state is eligible for an indexable supplier profile.

Checks required for verification

Each check is stored as a dated record naming what was seen, the source, and who performed it. The resulting evidence table is published on the supplier profile.

1. Legal entity — registration number matched against the issuing registry in the supplier's jurisdiction, and the trading name reconciled with it.
2. Domain and email control — the business demonstrably controls the domain and address we publish.
3. Physical address — a production or trading address that exists and matches the entity.
4. Production capability — current workshop or factory evidence, distinguishing owned production from aggregation or trading.
5. Certifications — certificate number, scope, site, issuer, and expiry validated with the issuing body. Required whenever a profile lists any certification.
6. Buyer or peer reference — a reference contacted and confirmed.
7. Commercial terms — a dated MOQ, quotation, lead time, sample policy, payment terms, and Incoterm for a defined specification. Required before any of those figures is published.

How the state is enforced

Verification is derived from the evidence store at build time, not set by hand on a record. A profile that asserts verification without a passing check for every applicable item is demoted automatically, and the outstanding checks are named in visible copy on the profile. Each check lapses after 365 days; when one expires the profile reverts to unverified until it is refreshed. Missing, undated, failed, and stale evidence all resolve the same way — not verified.

Why the default is "not verified"

Most records on this site are research leads rather than verified vendors, and that ratio is the intended outcome of the process above rather than a backlog we are embarrassed about. A supplier file that marks everything as checked has either done no checking or has redefined checking to mean that a website loaded. Holding the default at unverified means the label carries information: when a profile does say verified, a buyer can open the evidence table and repeat every check that produced it.

It also changes what a failed check costs us. Because verification is derived from the evidence store at build time, a lapsed certificate or an unreachable reference demotes a profile automatically at the next build, without anyone deciding whether the demotion is commercially convenient. There is no manual override, which is the only version of this policy that survives contact with a supplier who would like their figures published sooner.

What a buyer should still check themselves

Verification here is evidence of identity, capability and terms at a point in time. It is not an assurance about the goods you will receive, and it does not transfer to your transaction. The checks that remain yours:

• Samples. Buy them, pay for them, and seal an approved reference sample before production. Nothing in our evidence store tells you whether a workshop can hold your tolerance on your specification.
• Current capacity. Production capability was recorded on a date. Whether the workshop can take your volume in your window is a question for the supplier this week.
• Compliance for your market. Material, safety and marking obligations attach to the product and the destination, not to the supplier's status here. Confirm them with the relevant authority or a licensed broker.
• Your own contract. Incoterm, payment protection, inspection rights and remedies are between you and the seller. A dated quotation in our record is not an offer to you.

Correcting a record

If a record about your business is wrong, out of date, or should not be listed at all, write to us and it will be corrected or removed — a listing is not a right we assert over a third party. Suppliers who want a record upgraded should expect to supply the evidence named above rather than a marketing pack; the checklist is deliberately the same for everyone, and completing it is the only route to having commercial figures published. See supplier onboarding to apply, fair trade and ethical sourcing for how certification claims are treated, and about GreenFlip for who operates the site.

Structured data and machine-readable files

GreenFlip does not expose an unverified certification as a validated structured-data claim. Supplier pages state their evidence status in visible copy; non-verified profiles are marked noindex and excluded from the sitemap. Verified records may expose supported organization and commercial fields. The same rule applies to every representation of a record — pages, PDF catalogs, structured data and llms.txt are generated from the same records and the same gate, so none of them can say more than the profile does.