Exportain's trust badges record which documents and photos its staff have reviewed for a Bangladeshi supplier. Here is what each check covers, what a badge does not tell you, and the checks you should still run yourself.
Exportain's trust badges show which verification checks its staff have reviewed and approved for a Bangladeshi supplier: identity, phone and email, business registration, the Export Registration Certificate (ERC), and factory or office photos, plus a record of orders completed on Exportain without disputes. Verification is a document and photo review, not a factory inspection, and a badge is not a guarantee of capacity, quality or delivery. Membership plans never grant a badge.
Exportain's five supplier verification checks: identity, phone and email, business registration, export registration and facility photos.Exportain
A practical walk-through of an import order from Bangladesh, from the first specification to the documents your customs broker needs, with the checks that prevent expensive surprises.
Which documents travel with a shipment from Bangladesh, who issues each one, and why every document has to agree with the others, especially under a letter of credit.
On this page
Key takeaways
Each badge names the checks behind it. Read the meaning, not just the color.
Verification is a review of documents and photos by Exportain staff. It is not a factory visit and not a check against a government database.
Product certifications marked "Verified by Exportain" have been reviewed by staff and are shown only while they are approved and not past their expiry date.
Gold and Platinum membership plans buy listing capacity and search placement. They never grant a trust badge.
Badges shorten your checklist. Samples, inspection and safe payment terms are still your job.
The badges at a glance
A Bangladeshi supplier on Exportain can hold up to five trust badges. Each one has a single sentence that says exactly what was checked, and that sentence is the whole meaning of the badge12:
Badge
What Exportain has done
Exportain Verified
Checked the seller's identity, phone, email and business registration
Export Verified
Checked the seller's Export Registration Certificate (ERC)
Factory Verified
Reviewed photos of the manufacturer's factory
Trading Company Verified
Reviewed photos of the trading company's office or warehouse
Trusted Trader
Recorded that the seller has completed orders on Exportain with no disputes
Badges appear on the supplier's profile, product cards and directory rows1, and on its quotations2. A company without a badge shows nothing at all, not a gray placeholder1. So a missing badge tells you that a check has not been approved. It does not tell you that the supplier failed one.
The checks behind the badges
A supplier submits each check separately from its seller portal12. The Trust Center lists them under these names1:
Identity. A government ID and a live selfie of the person running the account.
Phone and email. One-time codes confirm the account's phone number and email address.
Business registration. The trade license and, where provided, the TIN and incorporation documents.
Facility. Photos of the factory, or of a trading company's office or warehouse.
The first three together make up Exportain Verified. Export registration leads to Export Verified, and facility photos lead to Factory Verified or Trading Company Verified, depending on whether the company makes the goods or trades them1.
Which checks sit behind each trust badge. A badge is a document and photo review, not a factory inspection or a guarantee.Exportain
On a supplier's profile you will also find a trust and verification checklist. It lists each check as verified or not verified, and where it applies, shows the date a check was verified and the date it is valid until. The same list includes a Payment account line. When that line is verified, it means the supplier's business bank account was checked against its verified company name. No bank details are shown to buyers, and this check is not one of the five badges.
Verification is free, and suppliers cannot buy it13.
Who reviews the checks, and what a badge does not mean
Exportain staff review every submission and approve it, return it for changes, or reject it13. Only staff with a specific role and set of permissions make these decisions, and every review action is written to an audit log before it takes effect. The documents themselves sit in private storage and are only served to the company that owns them and to verification staff1.
Be clear about the limits. In Exportain's own words, verification is "a document review by Exportain's team. It is not a factory inspection, and it is not a check against any government database"1. Facility badges come from reviewed photos, not from a visit12. And a badge "is not a guarantee of production capacity, product quality or delivery"1. The About page says the same thing: a badge records which checks were reviewed3.
Here is what that means in practice. Export Verified tells you Exportain has seen and approved an ERC for that company. It does not tell you how many garments the company shipped last year, whether it can meet your delivery date, or whether your order will pass inspection.
Product certifications marked "Verified by Exportain"
Certifications work at two levels on Exportain.
On a product listing, a supplier can attach a certification the product holds, such as a textile or organic standard, and upload the certificate. Exportain staff review the document. Only approved certifications appear in the product page's "Verified by Exportain" list, which says that Exportain checked the certificate the supplier uploaded for that product. Each entry shows:
the certification name and the body that issued it
the certificate number, if the supplier gave one
the date it is valid until, or "No expiry date"
A certification drops off the public page once its valid-until date has passed. Staff cannot approve a certificate that has already expired. If the supplier later changes the certification, the issuing body, the number, the expiry date or the document, the entry goes back for review and is hidden until it is approved again. Buyers never see the certificate file itself.
How a product certification comes to show "Verified by Exportain", and when it goes back to review or stops showing.Exportain
On a supplier profile, certificates that staff have approved appear under "Verified certificates", with the issuer, the valid-until date and what the certificate covers: the whole company, one site, or selected products.
Anything a supplier has simply typed in is labelled differently: it is marked as declared by the seller, with a note that Exportain has not verified it. Treat those entries as the supplier's claim until you see the certificate.
Exportain's check is a review of the uploaded document. If a certificate matters to your order, for example because your customer requires it, confirm it with the body that issued it as well.
Membership plans never grant a trust badge
Exportain offers suppliers three membership plans: Free, Gold and Platinum. Paid plans add product listing capacity, priority or top-tier search placement, and a "Gold Member" or "Platinum Member" label on the company page4. That label is not a trust badge.
The membership page says it directly: "Membership never grants a verification badge. Verification is free for every seller and is reviewed separately by Exportain"4. The Trust Center1and the About page3 repeat it. When a supplier appears high in search results, that position may come partly from a paid plan4. It says nothing about verification.
Your own due diligence still matters
Badges save you time at the shortlist stage. They do not replace the checks that protect a real order. Exportain is not a party to your trade. It does not hold funds, operate escrow, inspect goods, book freight or clear customs3, and payment is settled directly between you and the supplier5.
Before you commit money:
Ask for the documents yourself. Request copies of the ERC and trade license and check that the company name and address match the quotation and the invoice. If the supplier says it belongs to BGMEA or BKMEA, check the association's member directory.
Approve samples. Approve a sample, and for new styles a pre-production sample, before bulk production starts.
Inspect before shipment. An independent pre-shipment inspection checks the finished goods against your order. Agree the sampling basis and AQL in writing.
Choose payment terms that match the risk. The U.S. International Trade Administration compares the main methods of payment. Paying cash in advance is the least attractive option for a buyer, who is left worrying that the goods may not be sent. A letter of credit protects both sides because payment depends on documents showing the goods were shipped as agreed6. See our entries on the letter of credit and telegraphic transfer.
Put the terms in the record.Exportain's buyer protection page advises agreeing the Incoterm, payment schedule, inspection and shipment terms in writing before you pay5. When you accept a quotation on Exportain, the platform creates an order record and a proforma invoice with the quoted quantity, unit price, currency and Incoterm1.
How to report a problem
If you suspect fraud or misrepresentation, tell Exportain. That covers counterfeit certificates, a company claiming another company's factory, or a listing that misstates its product. Use Submit a report on the Trust Center. Reports go to the verification team and are handled by people, not automatically1. For questions about a supplier or a listing, write to trust@exportain.com1.
If an order goes wrong, either party can raise a dispute on the order. Exportain reviews the RFQ, the quotation history, the messages and the documents held on the platform, and records its findings. It is not a court and cannot compel payment or delivery. It can suspend or remove a company from the marketplace1.
FOB, CIF, EXW and DAP decide who books freight, who clears customs and where the risk passes. Here is how each one works on an order from Bangladesh, and how to compare quotes that use different terms.
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