A research finding is only as strong as the document under it. This page sets out the families of source used in commercial research, the order they are read in and why, and what kind of statement each can support. It describes types of source, not named databases, because what exists differs by place and product; the sources in play for your question are part of the agreed scope.
An official record is not written by the company it describes; a website, brochure or marketplace profile is. Reading the record first gives a baseline, and the company's own material is then tested against it instead of shaping it. Independent mentions and platform profiles come after, as context. When the order is reversed, the first impression tends to colour everything after it.
Where a source type does not exist or cannot be read for the place in question, that is unavailable, and the gap is named. A weaker source is not presented as the stronger one.
Five families: the official record first, the subject's own account second, everything else after.
Registers, licence lists, published notices and statistics. They can support: that an entity is recorded, under what name and with what declared activity. They cannot show: what the entity does today or how well.
Websites, catalogues, documents sent to you, social presence. They can support: what the company claims and how consistently it says it. They cannot confirm those claims by themselves.
Trade press, exhibitor and member lists, industry directories, customer-side references that are publicly posted. They can support: presence and context. They vary widely in how rigorously they were compiled.
Seller pages, ratings and listing history. They show how a platform describes a seller and the seller's history there. They are one source among several.
Quotes, emails, certificates, contracts. They are useful starting points and are marked client-provided unless a record independently supports them.
A reader should be able to find the same page or record from the citation. Material that cannot be located again is not a verified fact.
Price lists, rosters and profiles age at different speeds, and a stale source is a limit.
Who published it and why it exists matters. A directory listing paid for by the company is not the same evidence as a record kept by an authority.
Both statements are kept, each with its source. A difference is a question, not a conclusion, until a further source settles it.
Repeated copies of one origin count once. Agreement between sources that copied each other is not independent confirmation.
The finding rests on that single mention and is described as such. Anything beyond it is unavailable.
Research reports what can be established from public and provided sources. It is not a guarantee about a counterparty's future conduct and not legal advice.
Which sources are used is part of the scope and approach agreed before research starts.
Only for what a company itself posts as a business, and only as its own material. Profiling private individuals is outside the work.
A source in another language is cited as it is. Where a line cannot be read, it is unavailable, not guessed.
A verified fact is tied to a cited source. A statement without one is an inference, client-provided or unavailable, and is labelled as such.
No obligation. We read your request and reply with a straight answer.
Tell us what you need to find out and by when. We confirm scope before any work starts.
Request research