Check a source number on the Pet Exchange Register

Check a Victorian source number

Animal Welfare Victoria runs the register. To check a number:

1. Copy the source number from the ad. It’s two letters, then 6 digits.
2. Open the register’s search (“Look up a source number”) and type it in.
3. Read the result against the ad. Does it say Active? Does the local council make sense for where the seller says they live? A rescue’s number shows the rescue’s council, and its foster carers may live elsewhere, so ask before you assume the worst.

The register’s search shows whether the number is active. For an active number, it also shows the local council and, depending on the seller, a name, phone and email, a council business registration number, or a breed club and membership number. It doesn’t show an end date.

What the result means, and what it doesn’t

• Active: the number was current when you checked.
• How long a number lasts: the register’s search doesn’t show an end date. Numbers that people and rescue groups enrol for last 12 months. Numbers for council-registered breeding businesses and foster carers last as long as their council registration.
• Non-active: ask the seller about it before you go any further, and report the ad. A number stops being active when it expires, or if Animal Welfare Victoria suspends or revokes it, for example for false information, or certain animal cruelty convictions or court orders.
• Not found: it may be mistyped. A source number is two letters, then 6 digits, with no spaces, so look for a letter O typed as a zero. If it’s still not found, ask the seller. A breed club, council or microchip number isn’t a source number, and a made-up number is a red flag.

Seen a Victorian ad for a dog or cat with no source number, or one that’s non-active or not found? Report it to Animal Welfare Victoria: open the Pet Exchange Register and choose “Report an advertising concern”. Include the ad’s link and a screenshot.

An active number tells you the number itself is current. It doesn’t show:

• whose number it is. The register doesn’t always show a name, and a scammer can copy a real breeder’s number, and their name, from another ad.
• anything about the animal, its microchip or its health.
• how the breeder keeps their animals, or whether they follow Victoria’s codes of practice.
• that Animal Welfare Victoria endorses the seller. It doesn’t.

So check the number, then keep going:

• Look up each animal’s microchip number. Victorian ads must show it too. See Checking a microchip.
• Meet the seller and the animal in person before you pay anything, including a deposit. For a breeder’s puppy or kitten, meet its mother too. A video call doesn’t count as meeting.
• Never pay a seller for transport, crates or insurance. These are common scam fees.
• Breeders: if someone is using your source number, tell us.

Pet Sales Australia doesn’t hold or protect payments between buyers and sellers. Our pet scams guide shows how deposit scams work, our puppy farms guide covers what to look for in a breeder, and where to buy a puppy compares your options.

What is a source number?

A source number comes from Victoria’s Pet Exchange Register, which Animal Welfare Victoria runs. It identifies the seller: an owner, breeder, business or organisation. It isn’t a microchip number. A microchip identifies one animal; a source number identifies who’s selling or giving it away.

Victorian law (Domestic Animals Act 1994) says almost every ad for a dog or cat, sold or given away, must show:

• the seller’s source number, and
• each animal’s microchip number.

That covers puppies and kittens, adult dogs and cats, “free to a good home” ads, owners rehoming a pet, and rescues. It applies wherever the ad appears, including websites and social media. The law (Domestic Animals Act 1994) also holds the website or publisher responsible for an ad without them. Racing greyhounds registered with Greyhound Racing Victoria don’t need a source number in their ads. Retired greyhounds kept as pets, and greyhounds adopted through Greyhound Racing Victoria’s adoption program, do.

Source numbers are only for dogs and cats. Rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles, horses and other pets don’t need one.

Who needs one, and how to get one

This is general information from Victoria’s law and Animal Welfare Victoria’s guidance, checked October 2026. It isn’t legal advice. If you’re not sure whether you need a number, ask Animal Welfare Victoria on 136 186.

Who needs a source number

• Anyone in Victoria who advertises a dog or cat, for sale or to give away. That includes owners rehoming a pet: “I’m not a breeder” doesn’t change it.
• Members of a breeding organisation approved in Victoria, such as Dogs Victoria, with up to 10 fertile females. They enrol themselves. A membership number can’t replace a source number.
• Small breeders with 1 or 2 fertile females who aren’t members of one of those organisations. They enrol themselves.
• Breeding businesses registered with their council: anyone with 3 or more fertile females who breeds to sell and isn’t a member of one of those organisations, or a member with 11 or more. Their council enrols them, and the register doesn’t charge them.
• Rescue groups and foster care networks. The organisation enrols and uses one number on all its ads. Its foster carers don’t need their own. Foster carers registered with their council get a number through the council, and the register doesn’t charge them.
• Sellers outside Victoria. Animal Welfare Victoria’s guidance says that if you sell to Victorian buyers, you need a source number too.
• When a dog or cat born after 1 July 2020 is microchipped. Animal Welfare Victoria says a source number is needed then too.

Who doesn’t need one

• Upcoming litters, until they’re available. Animal Welfare Victoria says an ad about a future litter needs neither number while it names no individual animal and offers none for sale. Once animals are available, the ad must show both.
• Giving a pet to someone without advertising, such as a family member, if it’s already microchipped.
• Surrendering a pet to a shelter, pound or rescue.

How to get one

1. Enrol on the Pet Exchange Register. Choose “Register”. You can also call 136 186, or email per@agriculture.vic.gov.au, for a paper form.
2. Pay the fee. The register’s site says an application fee of $25.90 applies to a new number or a renewal (checked 10 October 2026). Council-registered breeding businesses and foster carers don’t pay the register’s fee.
3. Use your number. The law (Domestic Animals Act 1994) gives Animal Welfare Victoria up to 21 days to decide. Once your number is issued, put it on every ad, with each animal’s microchip number.

A number you enrol for lasts 12 months from the day it’s issued. Animal Welfare Victoria must write to you at least 28 days before it runs out, and you can renew any time before then. If it lapses, apply again before you advertise. Once listings open on Pet Sales Australia, a listing with a lapsed number goes back to draft until the number is active again.

Rescue groups: Animal Welfare Victoria says that from 10 April 2027, eligible rehoming organisations can apply to become Authorised Pet Rehoming Organisations. That comes with a source number at no cost, valid for the authorisation (up to 3 years).

Numbers in other states

Other states use other numbers, or none. Look them up yourself before you pay.

From each state’s law or regulator, checked October 2026. Not legal advice.

New South Wales: breeder identification number (BIN)

• Dogs: each dog’s microchip number. Puppies born from 1 December 2025 also need the breeder identification number (BIN), even when an owner is rehoming them. A rehoming organisation that doesn’t know who bred the dog must show its rehoming organisation number (RON) instead, whenever the dog was born. (Once a dog is 6 months old, and the breeder’s BIN or RON is recorded against its microchip on the NSW Pet Registry, the law accepts its microchip number alone.)
• BINs: anyone breeding dogs in NSW needs one, even for an accidental litter. A BIN starts with B, followed by 9 digits. A breed club membership number can’t replace it.
• Unchipped puppies up to 8 weeks old: the ad can show their mother’s microchip number, labelled as hers.
• Cats: the NSW Government says every cat ad must include identification details, such as a microchip number. The Act requires a microchip number, a BIN or a rehoming organisation number on ads for cats in the custody of a council or council pound, RSPCA NSW, the Animal Welfare League NSW or the Cat Protection Society. On Pet Sales Australia, every NSW cat listing will show the cat’s full microchip number. Cat breeders don’t need a BIN.

Look it up: the NSW Pet Registry Buyer Search takes a BIN, a rehoming organisation number or a microchip number. For a BIN, check the breeder’s eligibility status is active. A microchip search shows the pet’s details, such as its age, breed and sex. The NSW Government says its search results aren’t endorsements.

Queensland: supply number

• Dogs: the ad must show the dog’s supply number. Queensland’s supply number rules cover dogs, not cats.
• What counts as a supply number:
  • the breeder’s ID from the Queensland Dog Breeder Register (it starts with BIN)
  • the number from an approved body, such as Dogs Queensland, for a breeder it accredits, once the body has added them to the register
  • a recognised interstate breeder’s number
  • a breeder exemption number (it starts with BEN), which covers one dog only
• Breeders must have a supply number within 28 days of a litter’s birth. Registering is free.

Look it up: the Queensland Dog Breeder Register’s “Look up a Supply Number” search. The register notes that a supply number is valid only for dogs born before its expiry date.

South Australia: Dogs and Cats Online breeder number

• Dogs and cats: the ad shows the seller’s name and phone number, and each breeder’s name and phone number, plus the breeder’s Dogs and Cats Online registration number if they’re registered.
• Breeders: anyone in South Australia who sells a dog or cat they’ve bred, even from an accidental litter, must register as a breeder on Dogs and Cats Online.

Look it up: the Dogs and Cats Online Breeder Search finds breeders by name, business name or registration number. Dogs and Cats Online says registration doesn’t guarantee a breeder follows any code of practice.

When listings open on Pet Sales Australia: the seller’s checked name, and the phone number they gave us, will show on South Australian dog and cat listings, as the law requires. We don’t check the phone number. The breeder number will show as entered, with its format checked only.

Western Australia

• Dogs and cats: WA law doesn’t currently say which numbers an ad must show. The WA Government has agreed to end the contract to build its planned PetsWA register, and says future options are being reviewed.
• Microchips: every dog and cat must be microchipped before it goes to a new owner.

Look it up: there’s no WA breeder register to search. Check the microchip on Pet Address.

Tasmania

• Puppies under 12 months, sold or rehomed: the ad shows the puppy’s or its mother’s microchip number. If neither is chipped, it shows the mother’s registration number and her council. This rule started on 19 August 2026.
• Cats: the Tasmanian Government says breeders whose State breeder registration was issued before 1 March 2022 must put their registration certificate number on cat ads.

Look it up: there’s no Tasmanian breeder register to search. Check the microchip on Pet Address.

Australian Capital Territory

• Dogs and cats, any age, sold or given away: a licensed breeder’s ad shows their breeding licence number. Anyone else’s ad shows the animal’s microchip number or an identifier for the seller (a state rehoming identifier, or else their ABN or name). The ACT Government asks for both, and the law (Domestic Animals Act 2000) requires both at handover.
• Breeding dogs or cats in the ACT needs a breeding licence.

Look it up: we haven’t found a public search for ACT breeding licences. Check the microchip on Pet Address, and raise concerns with Domestic Animal Services on 13 22 81.

Northern Territory

• Dogs and cats: we know of no rule on what an ad must show.

Look it up: there’s no NT breeder register to search. Check the microchip on Pet Address.

Checking a microchip

You can’t check a microchip number here. Pet Sales Australia doesn’t look microchips up on a registry, so there’s no Microchip Checked stamp. A Microchip Checked stamp on a Pet Sales Australia listing or screenshot is fake: tell us.

To look one up yourself:

• Pet Address is a search of several Australian microchip registries. If it finds the number, it points you to the registry that holds the record. It may miss chips on NSW and SA registries.
• For a NSW pet, also try the NSW Pet Registry Buyer Search.

Australian microchip numbers are usually 15 digits. Finding one on a registry shows the chip is registered somewhere. It doesn’t prove the chip is in the animal you’re buying, or that it’s registered to the seller. When you meet the animal, ask to see the chip scanned. In Victoria, Animal Welfare Victoria says the seller must give you the animal’s microchip certificate with a signed change-of-ownership form.

Listings will show the full number where state law puts it on the ad (and on every NSW cat listing), and only the last 4 digits elsewhere.

How Pet Sales Australia uses the register

Listings open soon. From then:

• No live listing without an active number. A listing of Victorian dogs or cats already born can’t go live until the register says the seller’s source number is active. We check before it goes live, whenever it’s edited, and regularly after that. Following Animal Welfare Victoria’s guidance, an upcoming litter that names no animal shows no number until it’s listed as a born litter.
• A lapsed number takes the listing down. If the register says the number is inactive, lapsed or not found, the listing can’t go live, or goes back to draft.
• If the register is down, a new listing waits as “Checking”. A live one stays up until the valid-until date from our last check.
• One number, one account. If another account here has used the same number in the last 90 days, we put the listing on hold and look into it. Rescue groups: list from the rescue’s own account. Listings from a foster carer’s account using the rescue’s number can be put on hold.
• Who it covers. Victoria’s rules apply if the listing, the seller’s details or the address on their ID check is in Victoria, or if the seller will sell to buyers in Victoria. See our listing rules for Victorian dogs and cats.

Dog listings that pass will show a stamp, such as: Source Number Checked, 5 Oct 2026 · Pet Exchange Register.

Cat listings will be checked the same way, but won’t show the stamp yet, while we confirm the register’s answers cover cat sellers. The stamp means the number was active on that date. It doesn’t prove whose number it is, or anything about the animal. We ask the register again regularly, not every time the page loads, so a number can lapse between checks. That’s why each stamp links to this page. It shows how to check the number yourself on the register.

Listings open soon. Breeders and owners can join the list now. Selling a litter? See Sell or advertise a pet. Rehoming your own pet? See Rehome a pet.