Company database offers look alike: a big number, a promise of up-to-date data, a price per thousand records. The differences only show after the purchase – when it turns out that half the rows have no phone number and one company in five no longer exists. The ten questions below are worth asking any data vendor, including us. The examples refer to Poland, but the questions apply to any market.
1. Where does the data come from?
A reliable vendor names its sources: official registers, business directories, websites, lists kept by professional bodies. The answer “from publicly available sources” tells you nothing. Everything else depends on the source – which fields are filled in, how quickly the data ages and whether the vendor has the right to pass it on at all.
2. What date is the data from?
“Continuously updated” is not a date. Ask when the records for your industry and region were last refreshed. Companies are set up, suspend their business and disappear every day; a two-year-old list in hospitality or retail is largely out of date.
3. How well is my region covered?
A figure for “companies in Poland” does not tell you how many of them operate in your county. Databases are often uneven – in our own database, for example, most records come from the Mazowieckie voivodeship, and we say so openly. Ask for the number of records for your specific enquiry – before you pay.
4. How many records have the fields I need?
This question decides the price. A postal campaign needs a full address, visit planning needs an address and a phone number, CRM enrichment needs a tax number (NIP). If 3,000 of 10,000 records have a phone number, then for planning calls you are buying 3,000 records, not 10,000. A good overview shows how often each field is filled in, separately – as we do on the Database status page.
5. How was the industry determined?
There are two ways: the PKD activity code from the register, or the category from a directory (which is how our database works today). The PKD code is official, but companies register a dozen of them “just in case”, and since 2025 a new classification has applied in which some codes have changed their meaning – we write about this in PKD 2025: Polish industry codes for company lists. A directory category reflects better what a company actually does, but it is not uniform. It is worth knowing which case you are dealing with.
6. Will I get a sample?
The sample should come from your own selection, not from a “showcase” set. A few dozen records can be checked by hand in the free registers – our guide Free Polish company data: what CEIDG, KRS and REGON offer explains how. If a vendor refuses a sample, that is information too. The layout of our file is shown by the sample file; it contains fictitious companies, so it illustrates the structure, not the quality – you judge that from the figures for your own selection.
7. Does the database contain personal data?
Almost always, yes. A sole trader is a natural person: their name, address and phone number are personal data. Whoever decides on the purposes and means of using such data after the purchase generally becomes its controller – they need a legal basis, must inform the people concerned (Article 14 GDPR) and must respect objections. A vendor who claims that “the GDPR does not apply to company data” is oversimplifying.
8. What about phone and email?
In Poland, since 10 November 2024, sending commercial information by email, text message or phone requires the recipient’s prior consent; the provision does not distinguish between consumers and businesses. A purchased database does not contain such consent for you. Details: B2B telemarketing and email in Poland after the change: Article 398. If someone sells a “mailing database with a legality guarantee”, ask for the consent wording and proof that it was given.
9. What am I allowed to do with the file?
The licence is often short but important: one-off use or unlimited, one company or the whole group, a ban on resale, a ban on publication. Also check whether the price is final or net, and what kind of invoice you will receive.
10. What if the data turns out to be bad?
No database is error-free. An honest vendor says up front what it does not guarantee – usually email deliverability and phone reachability – and how it handles complaints. Promises such as “100% up-to-date contacts” cannot be kept.
Checklist before paying
- sources named explicitly
- the data date for my selection
- the number of records after filtering – industry, county, required fields
- how often each field is filled in, separately
- a sample from my own selection, checked in the registers
- a clear licence and final price
- a plan of use that complies with the GDPR and Article 398 of the Polish Electronic Communications Law
How we do it
At b2bkontakty.pl we first answer an enquiry with figures: how many companies meet the criteria, how many have a phone number, email and NIP, and what date the data is from. Only then do we give a price. Our sources are described in the methodology, the scope of industries on the Polish company database by industry page. If our database does not cover your region, we will tell you so plainly.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying a company database legal?
Buying company data that comes from public sources is not prohibited as such. Whether it is lawful depends on where the vendor got the data and what the buyer does with it: data on sole traders is subject to the GDPR, and commercial contact by phone or email in Poland requires the recipient’s prior consent (Article 398 of the Polish Electronic Communications Law).
How much does a company database cost?
There is no single market price. The price depends on the number of records, the fields required, how narrowly the industry and region are defined, and whether you pay once or by subscription. Compare the cost of one record that is actually fit for your purpose – not the price per thousand rows.
Is it better to buy a database once or by subscription?
A one-off file is enough for a single postal campaign or an analysis. A subscription makes sense if you need the data continuously and the vendor really does update it – ask for the date of the last update of a specific sample.
How can I check the quality of a database before buying?
Ask for a sample from your own region and industry, then check a few dozen records in the free registers: does the company exist, is the business not suspended, does the address match?
