How to Check a Company's Business Reputation

Wondering if a company is reputable? Whether you're buying from them, doing business with them, hiring them, or thinking of working for them, it pays to check their reputation. For large companies and small businesses alike, here are some great tools to do just that.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. BBB ***Better Business Bureau***
   
   Check TWO BBB sites for a company's track record with customer complaints -- the national BBB database, as well as the state (or regional) BBB that covers the particular company. You can search on a firm's name, address, phone or website, or email. For national and local BBB search sites, see the Resource links below.
2. Whois ***Whois***
   
   Take a good look at their Whois record. Whois is the official registration record of a organization's website. If the website is brand new, or set to expire soon, you may be looking at a fly-by-night company. If there is no company address, or contact information, ask yourself why a company would choose to hide such information. See Resource links, below, for a good Whois site.
3. ***Check the "V"***
   
   Do a web search on the letter V and the company name, like this: "v companyname". This brings up any records of lawsuits, which are typically of the form "Party A -v- Party B". Make sure to keep the quotation marks in your search. If a company has variations on their name (eg, DuPont or Du Pont), search on these as well. See Resources, below, for a sample -V- search.
4. SEC ***Ask EDGAR***
   
   Ask Who? EDGAR is the SEC's database of millions of company reports. Even companies that don't report themselves are often mentioned in other company reports. You can also search EDGAR for names of individuals, to learn more about company executives.
   
   See the Resource links directly below for a direct link to EDGAR, to a list of Top Ten Business Research tools, and to other terrific resources for checking on a company's reputation and track record in business.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't forget to just do a general Google search on the company as well, to see what their buzz is on the internet.
• If you can't easily locate a company's address and phone number (one that really works, and is answered by a human being) then the odds are good they're hiding something.