How to verify a flooring factory in Vietnam: factory, trader or relabel?

Three records, and the links between them

You are not checking “a factory”. You are checking a legal company that signs and invoices, a site that makes the floor, and the product on your quote. Each can be real while the links between them are not. A trader posing as a factory usually passes every single check. It fails at the joins.

Record	The question	Where it breaks
Legal entity	Who signs, invoices and takes your money?	The seller is real but owns no plant
Production site	Where is the floor physically made?	The plant is real but belongs to someone else
Product on your quote	Is this construction made at that site?	The certificate covers a different plant or product

Which checks catch a trader, and which are theatre?

This is our weighting. A check scores high when it is hard for a reseller to fake and cheap for you to run. It scores low when the supplier controls what you see.

Check	What it catches	What it cannot catch	Our weight
Government permit naming the seller at a lot	A seller with no plant of its own	Which line runs your order	High
Live call you steer, on a running line	A showroom or a borrowed plant	Whether bulk matches the sample	High
One legal name on contract, bank and certificates	Payment to a middleman or a stranger	Product quality	High
Shipper name on US customs records	A “factory” that has never exported	Which plant made those goods	Medium
“Where is the core extruded?” asked cold	A reseller of imported cores	A rehearsed answer	Medium
Business lines on the registry	A company registered for trade only	A trader that also lists manufacturing	Medium
Registry entry exists	A company that does not exist	Almost everything else	Low but mandatory
Directory or marketplace badge	Very little	Nearly everything	Theatre
Brochure, group capacity, customer logos	Nothing you can test	Everything	Theatre
Pre-recorded factory video or showroom tour	Nothing about your order	Whose line it is, and when	Theatre

Two of the theatre items deserve a word. Badges first: Yellow Pages Vietnam states that its own “Verified” label only means a tax code was declared. Capacity second: figures are claims, and they often disagree with themselves. The same NEO FLOOR company page shows different capacity figures in different places, which is why our NEO record uses the stated “up to” figure and labels it as a claim.

The legal company: five minutes, and what it misses

Search the 10-digit enterprise code on the National Business Registration Portal. A name search returns close matches; a code returns one company. Compare the registered name, head office, legal representative, status and business lines with the quote and the draft contract.

This check is mandatory and weak. It tells you a company exists and who represents it. It does not tell you that company owns a plant. Where it earns its keep is the name: trade names hide legal names. Our records show VFLOOR is Havitech Production Joint Stock Company and ATT Floor is An Thinh Tien Plastic Joint Stock Company. If the contract shows the brand and not the legal name, fix the contract.

Then hold one rule: the legal name on the registry, the contract, the bank account and the certificates is the same, or you know in writing why not. A bank account in a person’s name or a third company’s name stops the deal until it is explained. A change of bank details by email or chat is confirmed by phone to a contact you already know.

One trap that is not a red flag: several provinces merged in 2025, so a 2024 certificate can show an older province name than a 2026 contract. Check it, then move on.

The production site: make them prove the lot

Ask for the industrial park lot, then for a document that ties that lot to the seller. Vietnamese plants usually sit in industrial parks with lot numbers. Our Vietnam Sentai record, for example, places the company at Lot CN18, Yen Binh Industrial Park, Thai Nguyen. A lot number lets you check satellite images and match the address across papers.

Government papers are the best public evidence, because the factory did not write them. The Quang Ninh environmental permit report for BBL Home names the operating company, its Singapore-registered owner, the investment certificate number and Lot CN-06 at Dong Mai Industrial Park. One file links company, owner and site. That is the standard to ask for. A supplier that claims full production but cannot point to any permit at any lot has told you something.

Groups with several plants need one more question: which lot runs your order? NEO FLOOR describes two factories at Lot CN4.1 and Lot CN4.3, Dinh Vu, Hai Phong, and our record belongs to the SPC site. The An Cuong record shows two plants with two different certificate holders. In both cases a certificate can be genuine and still not describe your plant.

What a video call proves, and what it cannot

A call is the cheapest strong check, if you run it. Ask for it at short notice. A delay of a few days for a “busy line” is normal once; repeated delays are a pattern.

What it should show:

• The gate, the company sign and the street, so you can match them to satellite images and the lot
• An extrusion line running, then the camera following product from extruder to cutting
• Raw material store: PVC resin, calcium carbonate, decor film rolls
• UV coating, click profiling and pad lamination, if they claim them in-house
• Today’s date on paper in shot, and a person on camera who works there and can say what they do

What it cannot prove: that this line will run your order, that the plant belongs to the seller and not a partner, or that bulk will match the sample. In our view a good call moves a supplier from “unknown” to “worth a document request”. It is not approval. Quality of the goods needs a pre-shipment inspection; certificate scope needs the issuer’s own listing.

Red flags in how a supplier answers

The words often tell you more than the files. These are the answer patterns we would weigh, not proof on their own:

• “We are factory and trading company.” Often true for groups. Your next question is which plant, which lot, which legal name.
• “Let me check with the factory.” Fine for a delivery date. Not fine for where the core is extruded or which line runs SPC.
• A group brochure in reply to a plant question. Group capacity and staff numbers are not your plant’s.
• Certificates in another company name, sent without comment. A real producer usually explains the link before you ask.
• Pushback on naming the plant in the contract. A trader who works openly will name it. One who will not is protecting a margin you cannot see, or a plant that may change.
• A new bank account “for this order”. Stop and call.

A worked example

Take a hypothetical supplier. It quotes a 5 mm SPC under a brand name and calls itself a factory.

1. Registry. The legal name differs from the brand, the head office is a city address, and the business lines are trade and import-export. Not fatal. It looks like a trader.
2. Lot. Asked for the plant, it names a lot in a Hai Phong industrial park. The certificates it sends are held by a second company at that lot.
3. Link. Asked how the two companies relate, it sends nothing for a week, then a short letter on its own letterhead.
4. Call. It offers a call “next month” and sends a factory video instead.

Our read: this is a reseller of the second company’s product, which can be a fine arrangement. The weak points are steps 3 and 4. We would ask for a permit or ownership document for the second company, run a short-notice call at that lot, and make the contract name the second company as producer. If the seller refuses to name the producer, we would quote the second company directly and compare. Paying the trader without the producer named in writing means the certificates, lab reports and origin papers describe a plant nobody has promised you.

The documents worth asking for

Document	What it links	Red flag
Investment certificate (foreign-owned)	Owner to project and site	Site differs from the plant you were shown
Environmental permit or report	Company to lot	None for a plant claiming full production
Certificates (FloorScore, ISO, CE declaration)	Holder and plant to scope	Holder or plant differs; expired
Lab reports for your construction	Product to tested sample	Different thickness, core or company
Bill of materials with input origins	Product to origin claim	Cannot say where the core is extruded
Bank account letter	Payee to contract party	A person or another company

Read each for name, address, scope and dates, and check certificates with the issuer, not the PDF. Our guides to reading the certificate, not the badge and checking a FloorScore certificate cover that. On our factory records, manufacturer statements, documents read, expired documents and evidence gaps are labelled separately: the VN EcoFloor record notes a stated former name, Kien An Plastic, and the Sentai record shows a FloorScore document that expired in November 2025.

Shipping records: useful, if you search the right name

US import records list the shipper on past arrivals, usually the legal name, not the brand. A match shows the company has exported. It does not show which plant made the goods. VFLOOR goods appear under Havitech Production Joint Stock Company; NEO FLOOR under Neofloor Joint Stock Company and Pha Le Plastics Manufacturing and Technology JSC; VN EcoFloor under its current name and Kien An Plastic.

A gap is a question. Our AMY record is the case in point: no US records turned up under the brand, and the company may ship under its legal name, Asia US Industrial JSC. US rules also let shippers and importers ask for manifest confidentiality. Ask which name goes on the bill of lading, then search that.

Common mistakes

1. Stopping at the registry. It proves a company exists, not that it makes anything.
2. Giving badges and brochures weight. They are written or sold by the party you are checking.
3. Letting the supplier run the call. A tour of the showroom and a stopped line answers nothing.
4. Accepting a genuine certificate for the wrong plant. Match holder and site to the lot that runs your order.
5. Rejecting every trader. You lose good partners for small orders. Reject the ones who will not name the plant.
6. Paying before the names line up. Once the deposit leaves, your bargaining power goes with it.

Our view

Spend your effort on the links, not the lookups. The registry check is five minutes and mandatory, but it rarely catches anyone. What catches a trader posing as a factory is a document the factory did not write placing the seller at a lot, a call you steer on a running line, and a contract, bank account and certificate set that all carry one name. If a supplier passes those three, the rest is product checking. If it fails one and will not explain, walk, or go to the plant directly.

Put these questions into your quote brief so every supplier answers the same ones in writing. Start from the factory directory, or ask our team in Hanoi to help with factory selection and meetings with your shortlist.

Questions buyers ask

Is the enterprise code the same as the tax code in Vietnam?

Yes. Since the 2020 Law on Enterprises and its 2021 decree, the enterprise code also works as the tax code. If a supplier gives you two different numbers for one company, ask why.

What does a "Verified" badge on a directory or marketplace prove?

Usually very little. Yellow Pages Vietnam says its own "Verified" label only means a tax code was declared and is not a quality check. Read what each badge claims on the platform itself before giving it any weight.

The certificates are in a sister company name. Is that a deal breaker?

Not on its own. Groups often split the plant and the exporter. Ask for a document that links the two, such as an ownership chart or permit, and have the contract name the producing company. Do not pay the sister company unless it signs.

Should I ask the factory for a reference customer?

You can, but treat it as weak evidence: the factory picks the reference. A shipper name you search yourself on customs records, with real buyer names and dates, tells you more.

Do I need to visit the factory before ordering?

Not for a first desk check. Before a large or repeat programme, yes, or send someone who reports to you. Write down beforehand what the visit must confirm, or it turns into a tour.

Sources & further reading

• Vietnam National Business Registration Portal: enterprise search
• Tilleke & Gibbins: new decrees clarify the 2020 Enterprise and Investment Laws (enterprise code as tax code; public portal)
• Quang Ninh Department of Natural Resources and Environment: BBL Home environmental permit report (May 2024)
• NEO FLOOR: Factory No. 1 and Factory No. 2 descriptions
• 19 CFR 103.31: public access to vessel manifest information and confidentiality requests
• ImportGenius: Havitech Production Joint Stock Company supplier page (checked Oct 2026)