Disputes are usually verification failures
When a cargo arrives off specification, arrives late, or does not arrive at all, the post-mortem rarely reveals a sophisticated fraud. It reveals a plant that was never registered for that destination, a company that had been trading for eight months, or an analysis certificate issued by a laboratory nobody had heard of. These are checkable facts, and checking them takes days rather than weeks.
Corporate standing
Company registration, tax standing, ownership structure and how long the entity has actually operated under its current name. In Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil this information is publicly retrievable. A company incorporated recently is not disqualifying on its own, but it changes what payment structure is appropriate.
Plant and export registration
For food and protein, this is the check that decides everything. A plant must appear on the destination market's approved list — GACC for China, the corresponding health authority elsewhere — and the registration number must match what appears on the cartons. A cargo from an unregistered plant will not clear customs regardless of its quality, and no commercial argument fixes that after loading.
Export track record
Prior shipments to comparable destinations, and ideally to yours. Export records show volume, frequency and destination, and they distinguish a producer who sells domestically and is trying export for the first time from one who has a functioning documentation process.
Certifications and independent analysis
HACCP, BRC, ISO or organic certification, checked against the certifying body's own register rather than a PDF supplied by the seller. Quality analysis should come from a recognised international surveyor at load port, appointed by the buyer or jointly, and the cost of that inspection is always lower than the cost of arguing about quality after discharge.
References
Two prior buyers, contacted directly. This is the check most often skipped and the one that most often surfaces the thing the other four missed: how the supplier behaved when something went wrong.