How to Verify Packers and Movers in India (Before You Pay Anyone)

Published 15 September 2026

The packers-and-movers business in India has a structural trust problem: almost anyone can list on a marketplace with a rented phone number and a template website. Before you hand over your home, run these checks.

1. Ask for the GSTIN — and actually verify it

A genuine moving company is GST-registered. Ask for the GSTIN and verify it free on the official GST portal (gst.gov.in → Search Taxpayer). You’re checking three things: the legal name matches who you’re paying, the registration is active, and the registered address exists.

A company that hesitates to share its GSTIN is telling you something.

2. Insist on a written, itemised quote

Verbal quotes are worth nothing on moving day. A professional quote lists packing, loading, transport, taxes, and any access charges (stairs, long carry, shuttle) as separate lines. If the quote is one round number on WhatsApp, expect it to grow.

3. Read the insurance terms, don’t hear them

“In​sured” is a word; a policy is a document. Ask: insured up to what value, with which insurer, and what does the claims process look like? Transit insurance is a real product with a real premium — if it’s “free and unlimited”, it’s not insurance.

4. Be suspicious of large booking advances

The classic scam: low quote → “booking amount” collected → truck never arrives, or arrives and the price doubles with your belongings hostage. A modest token with a GST invoice is defensible; a large non-refundable advance to a personal UPI ID is not. Shiftify’s own policy is no booking advance at all — whatever mover you choose, hold them to a written quote before any money moves.

5. Check reviews on maps, not just their website

Website testimonials are marketing. Google Business Profile reviews — especially the 3-star ones, which describe how the company handles problems — are harder to fake at scale. Look for locality names and specifics, not generic praise.

Red flags that end the conversation

• Quotes far below every other bidder (the hook for a day-of price ambush)
• No physical address, or an address that’s a co-working mailbox
• Pressure to “book today, offer expires tonight”
• Personal UPI/bank accounts for payment instead of the registered entity
• No survey — any firm price for a 2 BHK+ given without seeing your inventory is a guess someone will renegotiate later

Take twenty minutes on these checks. It’s cheaper than one moving-day “surprise”.