Checking a supplier
Checking a supplier’s ABN on the Australian Business Register
Using ABN Lookup to confirm who you’re buying from: what ABN status, entity type, GST and business names tell you, and what to do when they don’t match.
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Key takeaways
- An ABN is a public record: ABN Lookup shows who holds it, whether it is active and what names it trades under.
- The entity name is who you are buying from. It can differ from the brand, and the brand should then appear under its business names.
- “Active from”, entity type and GST status are context, not verdicts. Look for consistency with what the website says.
- When something doesn’t line up, ask the supplier which entity you would be buying from, and check the answer.
An Australian Business Number (ABN) is an 11-digit identifier issued by the Australian Business Register (ABR). Most businesses trading in Australia have one, and the register is public. That makes it one of the few claims on a supplier’s website you can check against a government record, for free, in a couple of minutes.
Why an ABN is worth two minutes
An ABN tells you who is legally behind a website. Brand names, logos and domains are easy to change. The entity behind an ABN is not. If something goes wrong with an order, that entity is who you are dealing with, and its name is the one that should appear on a tax invoice.
That is why the Vialwise score gives 8 points for an ABN shown on the site, another 5 if it is active on the register, and 4 more when the legal entity is named. The buyer’s checklist covers the rest.
Find the ABN on the supplier’s site
Look in the footer, the contact page, the about page and the terms of service, and on any invoice or order confirmation. An ABN is 11 digits, usually written in groups of two, three, three and three.
- If you find a 9-digit ACN (Australian Company Number) instead, that is also a real identifier. You can search it on ABN Lookup or on ASIC’s registers.
- If you find neither, the Vialwise checklist records it as “not found on the pages we checked”. That is a reason to ask, not a verdict. A supplier with an ABN can tell you what it is.
An ABN carries two check digits, so before you search you can confirm it is at least well formed.
Type or paste the 11 digits from the supplier’s website. Spaces don’t matter.
Runs in your browser using the ATO’s check-digit rule. Nothing you type is stored or sent. A valid number isn’t proof of anything on its own: only the register says who holds it.
Look it up on ABN Lookup
Go to ABN Lookup at abr.business.gov.au (opens in a new tab) and type the number into the search box. Spaces don’t matter. Open the result to see the current details. The same search works by name, which is useful when a site shows a brand but no number: search the brand and see which entities hold it.
The record opens on its current details. A separate historical view lists earlier names, status changes and GST periods, which is worth a look if anything on the current page surprises you.
What each field tells you
| Field | What it shows | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| ABN status | “Active from” a date, or “Cancelled from” a date | Active is what you want to see. A cancelled ABN is no longer in use by a business. |
| Entity name | The legal name of the person or organisation holding the ABN | The business you would be paying. It can differ from the website’s brand. |
| Entity type | For example Australian Private Company, Individual/Sole Trader, or a trust | What kind of legal person is behind the site. All are legitimate; they are simply accountable in different ways. |
| GST | “Registered from” a date, or not currently registered | A business that adds GST to its prices should show as registered. |
| Main business location | State and postcode only | Consistent with where the website says the business is. |
| Business names | Names registered to this entity, with dates | Where the website’s brand should appear. |
| ASIC registration | An ACN, for companies | Links the ABN to ASIC’s company register. |
Reading “Active from”
The date shows when the ABN’s current status began. A recent date isn’t a problem, since every business starts somewhere, but it is useful context. A website that describes years of trading, on an ABN active from last month, is worth a polite question. The historical view will show whether there was an earlier period of activity.
Reading GST status
Smaller businesses don’t have to register for GST, so “not currently registered” is common and fine on its own. It matters only when it conflicts with something else, such as prices or invoices that include GST.
When the names don’t match
The name on the register often isn’t the name on the website, usually for an ordinary reason: a company trades under a brand. In that case the brand should appear under the record’s business names. When it doesn’t, there are a few possibilities.
- The business name is registered to a different entity. Search the name on ABN Lookup and see whose it is.
- The name hasn’t been registered yet, or the record hasn’t caught up. Ask.
- The ABN on the site is a typo, or belongs to a related entity, such as a parent company or the owner as a sole trader.
None of these proves anything by itself. The useful step is to ask the supplier which entity you would be buying from, and check that its answer matches the register. For a company, the ABN is generally its ACN with two check digits in front, which gives you a second number to cross-check.
Why an address and phone number matter
An ABN tells you who. An address and a phone number tell you how to reach them, which matters for returns, a lost parcel or a dispute, and for knowing the business is where it says it is.
Plenty of small online businesses publish a suburb or a PO box rather than a full street address, often because they operate from home. That is common and not a concern in itself. What you can check is consistency: the state and postcode on ABN Lookup should fit the address the site gives, and the phone number should reach the business you expect. The checklist scores each contact detail separately, and the supplier checklist tool lets you run the same checks yourself.
A worked example: our own ABN
The company that publishes Vialwise is a fair place to practise, because we can say exactly what its record should show. APL Research Pty Ltd holds ABN 53 700 008 019 and also runs the store Au Peptide Labs. Paste the number into the checker above, open the record, and compare it with what we say here.
| Field | Register | What to compare it with |
|---|---|---|
| Entity name | APL RESEARCH PTY LTD | The legal name on the store’s contact page and at checkout |
| ABN status | Active from 07 Jul 2026 | Should read Active, with a date |
The record also shows the entity type, the GST status and the main business location, which is a state and postcode only. Compare those with the address on the store’s contact page and with its invoices, as described under what each field tells you.
Because the holder is a company, its ACN should be the last nine digits of the ABN, 700 008 019. Check that against the ASIC registration field on the record.
You can open the record directly: ABN 53 700 008 019 on ABN Lookup (opens in a new tab). The trading name, Au Peptide Labs, is the brand; APL Research Pty Ltd is the entity you would be buying from. Our profile of the store runs it through the same checklist as every other supplier.
Research use only. Everything on Vialwise concerns research-grade material sold for laboratory and analytical use only. It is not a registered medicine, is not supplied for human or veterinary use, and nothing here is medical advice. Nothing in this guide is legal advice either; where regulation matters to your work, get advice for your own situation.
