The buyer wants BSCI / SMETA: Verified and Trade Assurance will not fill that box

Bottom line:

When a buyer asks for BSCI or SMETA, they want a factory social audit. amfori BSCI and Sedex SMETA are two private schemes. Neither is a government paper, and neither is a product certificate.
Verified, a remote visit and a pre-shipment inspection each stay in their own box. A Trade Assurance order will not cover the rating.
Opening a Hong Kong store does not send an auditor. Fees follow the audit-body quote. There is no official site-wide price.

The inquiry says: “Need BSCI certificate / SMETA 4-pillar.” Sales staples a Verified badge, last year’s social PDF from the plant next door and a Trade Assurance screenshot. The buyer replies that amfori or Sedex will not match this site. The shop floor asks whether to buy another BSCI certificate or retitle the Verified report.

How Verified is upgraded, and which tier to open if the audit fails, sits on the upgrade page. Whether a video call counts sits on remote audit. Who looks at this container sits on PSI. This page only splits the social-audit box: who books it, which site, and how it stays apart from the platform check.

1. The certificate they want is not issued by a bureau

BSCI is a social audit under the amfori membership. SMETA is the ethical-trade method Sedex members use. Auditors walk the site against a code: employment, hours, wages, health and safety; some pillars add environment and management systems. What comes out is a report and a rating for that date and that site.

What they say	What it is	Issued with a Hong Kong store?
BSCI certificate	An audit result on amfori, not an EU bureau paper	No. An intermediary PDF will not log in
SMETA / Sedex	A report on Sedex, often 2-pillar or 4-pillar	No. It is not the same number as BSCI
Verified / Gold	The platform’s third-party production-line check	A membership tier, not a social report
PSI	Quantity and appearance on this container	It will not read hours or the dormitory

Ask first which platform they log into, which site they want, and whether the report must still be in date. A trading company on a Hong Kong letterhead with goods made in Dongguan still audits the workshop. Booking the office as the factory produces the next email when the line photos do not match.

2. The report sits on that date and that site, not on “our factory passed”

Another line in the same group, last year’s rating, or a supplier sheet that says “the whole factory passed” will not cover the site this buyer named. Subcontract printing or packing: if they name that stage, book that stage.

Findings sit in the report. Expiry, a move or a change of legal person means a new booking. A file that lives only in an intermediary’s inbox, with no login, does not exist.

Audit fees, travel and a follow-up follow the body’s quote. There is no site-wide official price. Do not lock an “official BSCI fee” into the unit price.

3. Verified, remote and PSI will not fill this box

Verified answers whether the platform gives the badge. That is the upgrade page. An auditor having visited is not an amfori or Sedex report.

A video call can show the line first. That is the remote-audit page. Most social schemes still want a site visit. PSI looks at this container. Hours and the dormitory are not on that sheet.

A Trade Assurance order protects the payment path. It does not protect “the audit failed so they cancelled.” The rating and the order are two skins.

4. How the inquiry can be answered

They write	A usable reply	Do not write
Send BSCI certificate.	BSCI is not a government paper. We will share the amfori result that can be checked for this site. If there is no live report, we say so. A new audit is quoted by the body as a separate line.	Retitle a Verified file or another plant’s PDF.
You are Gold / Verified, so BSCI / SMETA is done.	Verified is the platform line check. BSCI sits on amfori. SMETA sits on Sedex. Separate files.	Verified means the whole social pack.
Put BSCI certified on your store.	Without a matching live report, the showcase will not say certified.	Write it first so inquiries convert.
How much is the official BSCI fee?	There is no site-wide official price. Bodies quote by site and scope. Opening the store does not include it.	Lock an “official audit fee” into the unit price.

Do not write “BSCI passed” or “socially certified” on a showcase. You can say the seller is a Hong Kong company, where the workshop sits, and that an audit is booked to the scheme they name.

5. If you already replied “we have BSCI”

Tell sales the same day: prices that say “certified / audit passed” stop.
Open this order: BSCI or SMETA, which site, whether the report is still in date, and who logs in to check.
Keep Verified, the video call and PSI as their own files. Do not merge and retitle.
Match the site and the subcontract. Do not hand the master account to an intermediary to “make a certificate.”
If the goods are already moving: send the report that can be logged and checked. Do not invent a number.

The membership still buys the file and the showcases. Wire it to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED. Corpable does not book the audit or rewrite the report. What the buyer or brand accepts follows their process that day. Do not write a penalty figure into the contract.

Questions teams actually ask

Is a BSCI certificate something you buy from the EU?

No. BSCI is amfori’s social-audit scheme, not a government paper. The audit body visits the site against a code of conduct: labour, hours, health and safety. The report and rating match that date and that site. There is no central BSCI pass certificate.

If we are Verified / Gold, do we already have BSCI?

No. Verified is the platform’s third-party production-line check. That is the upgrade page. BSCI and SMETA are buyer- or brand-named social schemes. An SGS or BV visit for Verified is not an amfori or Sedex report.

Can SMETA stand in for BSCI?

Most buyers name one platform and one report. A SMETA on Sedex and a BSCI on amfori are not the same number. Retitling last year’s PDF from another plant produces the next email asking to log in and check.

Does opening Alibaba.com on a Hong Kong company already give us BSCI?

No. The membership buys showcases. It does not send an auditor to the workshop. A Hong Kong letterhead will not cover the mainland site.

May the showcase say “BSCI passed / socially certified”?

Not without a matching live report. Audits follow the body quote. There is no site-wide official price. Writing “certified” will be screenshotted back when they book a visit.

Can Corpable run BSCI for us, or guarantee the buyer will place the order?

No. An advisor can sit with you on whether they want BSCI, SMETA or Verified. We do not book the audit, rewrite the report or promise brand acceptance. Membership still wires to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED.