How do I check a private label manufacturer before ordering?
Check five things: the company in its national register, a sentence on its own website offering to make products for other brands, the site where your product would be made and which steps the company does itself, the certificate document rather than its logo, and a written quotation for your exact product. Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all have a free online company register. A website or a directory listing is a starting point, not a factory inspection.
Where do I check the company register?
Search the registration number from the quotation, or the company name. The name, number and registered address should match the company that will sign your contract. Each register has a free search; some details and official extracts are paid.
| Country | Free register search | Search by | NordSourced profiles with the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | Bolagsverket, Find company information | Organisation number: 10 digits, written 6 + 4 with a hyphen | 12 of 91 |
| Finland | YTJ information service | Business ID (Y-tunnus): seven digits, a hyphen and a check digit | 90 of 98 |
| Latvia | Register of Enterprises information portal | Registration number: 11 digits | 56 of 78 |
| Lithuania | Register of Legal Entities, free search | Company code (įmonės kodas): 9 digits | 58 of 83 |
| Estonia | e-Business Register | Registry code (registrikood): 8 digits | 46 of 65 |
262 of the 415 profiles on NordSourced show a registration number, taken from the register or the company’s own website. Registration sources are linked where recorded; some legacy numbers may lack a source link, so search those numbers in the relevant register. In Sweden the free search confirms which company an organisation number belongs to; Bolagsverket sells the fuller details.
Does the company make products for other brands?
Look on its own website for a sentence in which the company offers to make products for your brand: under your label, to your formula, as private label, white label or contract manufacturing. A page that explains what private label means is not that offer. Neither is a factory that makes furniture to order for its own customers, or a brand that sells only its own products.
NordSourced made these mistakes itself. The proof we had for one company came from its article explaining what white label means, and it asked to be removed. On 2 October 2026 we re-read the proof of every listed company and removed 11 more whose own websites had no such sentence; the corrections page keeps the log. On each profile, the sentences we rely on are quoted under “Services, in their own words”, with links.
Where will my product be made?
A registered address does not show where a product is made. Ask for the address of the production site and record it separately from the registered office and the sales contact.
Cosmetics Nord, a Latvian cosmetics manufacturer, describes its Selfnamed service with “production and fulfillment from our facilities in Riga, Latvia (EU) and North Carolina (US).” If production in Latvia matters to you, ask which facility will make your product.
Which steps does the company do itself?
Ask who develops, makes, fills and packs your product, and which steps a partner does. A manufacturer can make some product forms itself and buy in others. Pharmia, a Finnish food supplement manufacturer, says so on its development page: “We also source soft capsules from our reliable partners when needed.” A manufacturer that names its partner work openly gives you exactly what to record.
How do I read a certificate claim?
Separate three things: a standard named on the website, a document that names its holder, scope and dates, and a document whose status you have checked with the issuer. Of the 415 manufacturers on NordSourced, 201 name a certificate on their website; for 22, we opened a certificate document and found it still valid.
Ask for the full document. Check that the holder is the company in your quotation, that the scope covers your product and the production site, and that the dates are current. A logo does not tell you which company, activity or site it covers.
What does a NordSourced profile prove?
That the manufacturer’s own website said what is quoted, on the date shown, at the linked page. The evidence score counts how much of that is on the record. It is not a rating of product quality, a factory inspection or a promise that the manufacturer can take your order; how we check lists what we do not check.
What should be the same in every quotation?
Send every manufacturer the same brief, or the quotations will not compare.
| In the brief | What to state |
|---|---|
| Product | The form, and whether it is a catalogue product or your own formula |
| Quantity | Finished packs per product, not a total across products |
| Pack size | For example capsules per bottle, or grams per jar |
| Packaging | Container, closure, label and carton |
| Included work | Samples, development, testing, filling, packing and documents |
Ask each manufacturer what starts its production time (the order, the deposit, the approved formula or the approved artwork) and whether its date means production finished, dispatch or delivery. A minimum annual commitment is not necessarily the size of one first order; see how to compare minimum orders.
What should I ask before paying?
Please name the company that will supply our order, the production site and the work done there, and any steps done by a partner. Confirm whether you can make [product and form] in [quantity and pack size], and send the documents that cover that work.
Then ask for a sample and a written quotation with the product specification, quantity, included work and how the batch will be accepted. If an answer changes the company, the site or the production route, compare again. You can also send your brief through NordSourced’s free request form: we ask the manufacturers you approve, without your name.
How this guide was made
The register links, and the Cosmetics Nord and Pharmia quotes on their own pages, were checked on 2 Oct 2026. The Swedish and Estonian registers refuse automated requests, so open them in a browser. The counts come from NordSourced’s data of 3 Oct 2026: the 415 manufacturers listed in Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. NordSourced has not inspected any manufacturer named here.
More: How we check · Private label, white label or contract manufacturing · Minimum order quantities · Corrections