Is this store official? Check a Saudi online store in 3 steps

Why verification matters for your complaint

On 3 September 2023 the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) announced that the «بلاغ تجاري» (Commercial Complaint) app and its 1900 reporting centre now act on e-commerce reports about stores verified on the Business Platform (منصة الأعمال) of the Saudi Business Center (MoC news, 3 Sep 2023). The stores covered hold an e-commerce certificate, an active Commercial Register (CR) or a valid freelance document, and a commercial bank account linked to the store.

In plain terms: if a verified store takes your SAR 450 and never ships, MoC has a registered business, a known owner and a company bank account to act on. The announcement does not say what happens to a report about an unverified store. We could not confirm that such reports are always refused, so treat an unverified store as the riskier choice rather than as a store you cannot complain about.

Verification moved from the older Maroof (معروف) platform to the Business Platform on 29 March 2023. MoC said then that the Business Platform is the only approved platform for verifying e-stores in the Kingdom, and that verification needs a valid CR or freelance document plus a commercial bank account (MoC news, 29 Mar 2023). A Maroof badge on an old site is therefore not proof of current verification.

How to use the Saudi Business Center inquiry

Open eauthenticate.saudibusiness.gov.sa/inquiry in a browser. The page lets you search by the eAuth certificate number, the unified national number, the CR number, the freelance document number, the store name or the store link. Searching by the store link is usually the quickest, because you already have it in the address bar. Each search asks you to pass a short automatic CAPTCHA check, so it works in a browser but cannot be run in bulk.

A result shows the identifier type (commercial record or freelance document), the eAuth number, the store name in Arabic and English, the store URL and the authentication status. Compare the URL in the result with the one you are on, character by character: copycat sites often use a name one letter away from a real store. If the result lists a different domain, or the status is not active, stop before paying.

No result does not prove fraud. A store may be registered under its legal company name rather than its brand, so try the CR number from its footer too. Large international marketplaces may be set up differently; we have not confirmed how each one appears in the inquiry. On KSA Voucher, each store page will show its verification status with the date we checked. As of 10 November 2026 we have not been able to check any of our 60 stores, because the lookup needs a person in a browser.

The Commercial Register rule

The E-Commerce Law (Royal Decree M/126, 10 July 2019) is direct about this. Article 15 says a merchant shall register his e-shop in the Commercial Register under the Law of Commercial Register. Article 6 says the seller must show in the e-shop its name or another identifying detail, its address (unless it is registered with an e-shop authentication entity), its contact details, and the name and number of its commercial registration, if any.

So a Saudi store should tell you who it is. A real example: the Saudi Keeta site names its operator as Keeta Technologies Arabia Limited with CR 1009019761 (read 9 Nov 2026). Look in the footer, the About page, the terms page and your invoice. A store that shows no company name and no CR anywhere is not meeting Article 6 as written.

The CR itself changed in 2025. Under the new Law of Commercial Register a CR no longer has an expiry date; instead the business confirms its data every year, and a register is cancelled one year after it is suspended (MoC, 17 Sep 2024). The confirmation is due one year after registration, and if it is not made within 90 days the registrar suspends the register and its linked services (MoC, 6 Jul 2025). An old CR number is therefore not enough by itself: the inquiry tells you whether the store is active now.

Never pay into a personal bank account

MoC says verified stores must use commercial bank accounts linked to the store itself, not accounts in individuals' names, and it urges shoppers not to make transfers to personal bank accounts, to prevent fraud (MoC news, 3 Sep 2023). This is the single most useful red flag. A real store takes card, mada, Apple Pay, cash on delivery or a pay-later service at checkout. An Instagram or WhatsApp seller who asks for SAR 300 by bank transfer to a person's name is outside the system that MoC describes.

If a seller insists, ask for the store's CR number and its eAuth number, and search both. If the beneficiary name on the transfer screen does not match the company in the result, do not send the money.

Where to complain: only 1900 and «بلاغ تجاري»

MoC's Terms and Conditions name the «بلاغ تجاري» app as the smartphone app for filing commercial reports and 1900 as the ministry's unified contact centre. The app lets you file a report on a violation, attach photos, set the location and follow your reports; MoC lists 2,389,222 downloads on iOS and 536,664 on Android (MoC Mobile Apps page).

On 26 June 2026 MoC warned on X about fake websites and people pretending to be the ministry who use search engines to collect consumer complaints, and repeated that it receives reports only through 1900 and the «بلاغ تجاري» app (mc.gov.sa/C-app), as reported by Ajel. Do not give your details or a "processing fee" to any site that offers to file a complaint for you.

Keep evidence before you file: the order number, the store URL, screenshots of the product page and the checkout, the payment receipt and any chat. If the problem is a refund, remember the law's own clock: Article 13 lets you cancel within 7 days of receipt if the item is unused, with listed exceptions, and you pay the return cost unless agreed otherwise (see our returns guide).

What MoC can do to a store that breaks the law

Article 16 of the E-Commerce Law puts e-shop authentication entities under the Ministry's oversight. Article 17 lets the Minister, in urgent cases, block an e-shop partly or fully until the violation is fixed or decided, with referral to a committee within 3 days. Article 18 lists the penalties: a warning, a fine not exceeding SAR 1,000,000, temporary or permanent suspension of the e-commerce activity, and blocking the e-shop. These powers act on the store; whether you get your own money back depends on the case, and we have not confirmed a standard refund process through a complaint.

Questions shoppers ask