Methodology & Ranking Criteria
Every ranking on US Supplier Index is produced by the objective, published criteria below. There are no star ratings, no editorial reviews, no pay-to-rank, and no "worst of" lists — profiles carry verifiable facts only.
What a listing contains
Company name, location, phone, website, product categories, association memberships and registry listings, and — where the supplier publishes them — minimum order quantity (MOQ), production lead time, company size, organization type and exporting status. Every profile cites its sources. We never copy descriptions, photographs or other creative content from any source.
Where the facts come from
| Source | What we take from it |
|---|---|
| OTEXA Made in USA Sourcing & Products Directory (U.S. Dept. of Commerce, trade.gov) | Company identity and contacts, registered product categories, and the supplier's own published MOQ, lead time, company size and organization type. |
| Contract Packaging Association member directory | Membership class, location, phone, website. |
| SEAMS (US sewn-products industry association) membership directory | Membership, declared primary competency, website. |
| AAPN public member list | Membership tag on suppliers already listed. |
| The supplier's own website | A dated liveness check; an explicitly stated MOQ where one is published. |
All collection is polite and lawful: public pages only, robots.txt respected, rate-limited to roughly one request every 2.5 seconds per host, with an honest, identified crawler. Sources that disallow crawling are skipped, never circumvented.
Ranking criteria (in order)
- Website verified live. A dated HTTP check of the supplier's own website. "Live" means the site answered successfully at the date shown; it is a freshness signal, not an endorsement.
- Depth of published sourcing facts. How many of MOQ, lead time and company size the supplier has published (0–3). Suppliers that disclose more rank higher because disclosure is what buyers need.
- Verified registry listings and association memberships. Count of independent public rolls the supplier appears on.
- Alphabetical — final tie-break.
"Low MOQ" definition
A supplier appears on a low-MOQ page only when its own published minimum starting order is at or below 500 units (or $2500 where the supplier states its minimum in dollars). MOQs are the supplier's published figures, never our estimates, and each profile cites the source. Always confirm current terms directly with the supplier.
The "verified" badge
"Verified" means specific, dated, objective checks passed — registry or membership presence and/or website liveness on the date shown. It is never a subjective endorsement, and it never guarantees business outcomes, product quality, or compliance with any regulation.
What claiming changes (and what it doesn't)
A claimed listing gets a verified badge, a dofollow link, and self-service fact updates. Claiming never changes ranking position — ranking uses only the criteria above, which any supplier can improve for free by publishing its sourcing facts.
Corrections
Any supplier can correct or remove its facts free of charge, at any time, via the correction page. We aim to process correction requests within 7 days.
Facts re-verified July 2026. Data is refreshed monthly; each liveness badge carries the date of its own last check.