How to Verify a Turkish Supplier Before You Pay

Most disputes in trade with Türkiye do not begin with quality. They begin earlier, with a buyer who has established that a company answers email promptly, quotes competitively and has a convincing website — and has established nothing else. A website is not a company. Verification means confirming that the legal entity you are about to pay exists, is entitled to trade, and is the same entity that will ship the goods.

Start with what is public and free. Türkiye's Trade Registry Gazette is searchable at ticaretsicil.gov.tr by company name, trade registry number or tax number, with no membership required. It records incorporation, amendments, capital, address changes and, most usefully, who is authorised to sign on the company's behalf. If the person negotiating with you is not among them, that is worth resolving before a contract is drafted, not after. The same records are also reachable through e-Devlet, but that route requires Turkish identity credentials and is therefore closed to a foreign buyer.

Then ask for documents rather than assurances. A certificate of activity from the local chamber of commerce shows current membership and declared line of business. A tax certificate confirms that the tax number you were given belongs to that company. Companies that export are registered with an exporters' association and can produce that registration. Quality and product certificates should be checked against the issuing body's own register rather than accepted as PDFs; a PDF establishes nothing about current validity.

Match the entity to the goods. It is common, and not necessarily improper, for the company that quotes to differ from the producer, from the exporter of record, and from the holder of the bank account. It becomes a problem when the buyer does not know this. Ask plainly: who manufactures, who exports, whose name appears on the invoice, and whose account receives payment. A request to pay a third party or a personal account is where most losses in this trade begin.

Some things cannot be verified from a desk. Whether a production line exists at the declared address, whether capacity matches the volumes promised, whether a warehouse holds stock or was arranged for the day of the visit — these require someone standing in the building. That is the point at which document review ends and inspection begins.