How to check a new supplier in 14 minutes?
14 minutes is exactly what you need not to lose 12,000 PLN on cooperation with a ghost company. At Baltic Synergia Consulting, we believe that numbers must add up, so we've prepared a specific method for checking contractors without hiring expensive detective agencies.
KRS and CEIDG – that's where the truth starts
The first step is checking since when the company has actually existed in the registries. If a supplier claims huge experience in spare parts production, and you see a registration date 7 months ago in KRS, a red light should go off. Check exactly who is on the board and if the same people haven't previously run three other companies that declared bankruptcy in the last 4 years. We know every screw in our clients' budgets and know that such 'serial entrepreneurs' are the most common cause of payment bottlenecks in the manufacturing industry.
Don't just look at the entry, but download the full excerpt from the registry. Pay attention to the share capital – if the company turns over millions and its capital is a measly 5,000 PLN, you won't recover a penny in case of problems. At Baltic Synergia Consulting, we've already seen 47 such cases in the last quarter alone. We look for holes in everything because we know that paper will take anything, but hard data from the court registry is much harder to fake than a colorful website with stock images.
If a company has 7 months of history and 5,000 PLN capital, your money is at risk.
White List and account number
Verification of the bank account on the White List of VAT Taxpayers is not just bureaucracy, it's your tax safety. If you transfer money to an account not on the list of the Head of KAS, you cannot write off this expense as a cost. That's a direct path to a loss of 23% of the entire order value. Last year, one of our clients near Pruszcz Gdański almost transferred 18,400 PLN to the owner's private account because 'it was faster'. Thanks to a quick 3.2-minute verification, we saved him from a huge fine from the tax office.
Always check if the NIP is active. Ghost companies are often deregistered from the VAT registry officially for not filing declarations. Working with such an entity is asking for a tax audit in your own factory. Remember that in the production business, margins are too low to allow for such mistakes. Concrete instead of theory: go to the Ministry of Finance website, enter the NIP, and take a screenshot with the date. That's your insurance policy against questions from officials two years from now.
Debt exchanges are a mine of information
Before you sign a contract, enter the supplier's NIP into a search engine on any debt exchange. It takes about 2 minutes and gives knowledge you won't find in any official prospectus. If a company's debts are up for sale for 40% of their value, it means no one believes in their recovery. Such a supplier might take a deposit from you for materials and never deliver the goods because your money will go toward paying old debts at the bailiff. In our practice at Baltic Synergia Consulting, we've encountered 14 companies that lost financial liquidity this way.
The truth is that a reliable contractor doesn't end up on a debt exchange due to overlooking one invoice. Usually, it's the result of systematically avoiding payments. (Heads-up: Don't believe excuses that it's a 'quality dispute' – if a debt hangs online for more than 11 days, it's a signal the company has empty coffers). Checking debts is a fundamental part of risk management that even experienced CFOs at large plants in Pomerania forget about.
A debt listed on an exchange is a clear sign: don't send any deposit there.
Address verification and physical presence
Open Google Maps and enter the headquarters address. If you see a virtual office at the indicated number in Gdańsk, where 156 other entities are registered, or worse – an empty field in the middle of nowhere, then be on your guard. A serious manufacturing company must have a hall, a warehouse, or at least a real office with people. Ask yourself: in case of a complaint, will you have a place to go to talk to the owner face to face? At Baltic Synergia Consulting, we often advise simply sending someone to the site before a large contract to check if anything is happening there.
Another simple test is a phone call to the office. Call at 10:15 AM and ask for the logistics department. If no one picks up or the person who does has no idea about the company's business profile, you're dealing with an intermediary who just collects orders and passes them on. This generates a risk of delays that your production line cannot afford. In March 2024, we detected a company this way that pretended to be a steel producer, but in reality was a one-person office in a rented room.
Phone call to the supplier – the 3-question test
Devote the last 4 minutes of verification to a phone call. Ask three specific questions: about the batch number of the last delivery, about the technical supervisor's name, and about the possibility of a site visit within 48 hours. An honest supplier will answer without hesitation and invite you for coffee. A fraudster will start hedging, talking about trade secrets or that 'there's an inventory count right now'. This is the simplest way to separate the wheat from the chaff. At Baltic Synergia Consulting, we don't play diplomacy – we ask straight because it's the only way to protect the company wallet.
We know every screw in the budget and know that such a short study saves months of lawsuits. Finally, check online reviews, but filter out those that sound too perfect. Look for specifics: 'delivery late by 2 days', 'no contact on Thursday'. These are real opinions, not paid marketing texts. If you have any doubts after these 14 minutes, it's better to let this deal go. Sometimes the best transaction is the one you didn't make.
