What actually proves a supplier is real, what only looks like proof, and the payment method that decides whether a bad deal is recoverable. Read against CBP, FTC, MTC and CargoNet primary sources, checked September 2 2026.
Most supplier checks people run are checks on paperwork that anyone can produce. The ones that matter are the ones a fraudulent supplier cannot pass: how you paid, what the serial numbers say, and how the relationship escalates.
Customs seized 78.4 million items in FY2025, more than double FY2021, with a stated retail value of $7.4 billion. Consumer electronics ranked fifth by both value and quantity.
62% of those seizures happened in the commercial vessel environment. Counterfeits moved out of parcels and into containerised ocean freight, which is the exact channel a wholesale and pallet buyer uses. This stopped being a dropshipper problem.
Cargo theft is moving the same way. 2025 industry data: 2,646 confirmed thefts, up 18% on the year, out of 3,594 total supply chain crime events, with losses around $725 million and an average of $273,990 per theft. Televisions and PCs declined while enterprise computing hardware and crypto mining equipment rose. Stolen freight comes back to market as a suspiciously cheap, clean pallet with a vague origin story.
| Method | What you actually have |
|---|---|
| Credit card | The real protection. Unauthorised liability capped at $50, the issuer must acknowledge within 30 days and resolve within 90, and "not delivered as agreed" is covered. |
| PayPal goods and services | Item not received: 180 days from payment. Significantly not as described: 30 days from delivery or 180 days from payment, whichever comes first. |
| PayPal friends and family | Zero coverage. A supplier asking for it is asking you to waive protection. |
| Wire | Cash equivalent. There is no chargeback. |
| Business ACH | Almost cash. A business account can return an unauthorised ACH debit for about two banking days after settlement, and nothing after that. |
| Crypto | The FTC's own words: these payments do not come with legal protections. |
The dispute clock runs from the billing statement, not from delivery. On 45 to 90 day wholesale lead times, a deal can sour after your window has already closed. Count the days from the statement, before you agree to the terms.
Two more. A supplier who proposes escrow and then sends you the link is running the fake escrow site scam, so never use their link. And net 30 offered on the second or third order is a genuine trust signal, while permanent prepay by wire keeps all the risk on you forever.
A brand's dealer locator lists retailers, not distributors, so it usually cannot clear a wholesale supplier at all. An authorisation letter is trivially forged, which means its entire value is the verification call you make using contact details you found independently, never the number printed on the letter. A letter naming a different entity than the one invoicing you is useless for Amazon.
Gray market goods are genuine but out of channel. Most gray resale is legal, but legal and listable are different things, and brands enforce through gating and invoice demands rather than through the courts. The warranty gap is usually the difference that gets used against you.
Ask the brand four questions about specific serial numbers, and you learn more than every document combined.
A scrubbed or relabelled serial is a hard stop, not a negotiation.
Sample, then a pallet, then a medium order, then ongoing. Pay by card on the early rungs, and ship to yourself, never straight into a fulfilment centre, so you are the one who inspects it.
Never let order size jump more than three to five times between rungs. The long con is several flawless small orders followed by one large wire that vanishes. Re-verify serials at every escalation, because clean suppliers start mixing gray stock once you stop checking.
The list circulating in courses, that twelve states will not accept an out of state resale certificate, is contradicted by the multistate form itself. Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington all appear on that form's acceptance list.
Primary sources confirm two states requiring their own in state number: Illinois, whose language is that no other state's registration number is acceptable, and Maryland. Florida accepts but wants a Florida resale authorisation number. Hawaii is structurally different from the rest.
Learn the method, never the list. Check the multistate form's per state note, then the destination state's revenue department. A memorised list goes stale and takes your compliance with it.
Who is actually shipping, what cleared and what did not, posted as it happens.
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