diff --git a/orderlyid.go b/orderlyid.go
index 52ef107..83307b1 100644
--- a/orderlyid.go
+++ b/orderlyid.go
@@ -204,16 +204,15 @@ type Parsed struct {
 func Parse(s string) (*Parsed, error) {
 	s = strings.TrimSpace(s)
 	base := s
+	csGiven := ""
+	hasChecksum := false
 	if i := strings.LastIndexByte(s, '-'); i >= 0 {
 		base = s[:i]
-		csGiven := s[i+1:]
+		csGiven = s[i+1:]
+		hasChecksum = true
 		if len(csGiven) != 4 {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: must be 4 chars", ErrInvalidChecksum)
 		}
-		expected := checksum4Base(base)
-		if !strings.EqualFold(csGiven, expected) {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: checksum mismatch", ErrInvalidChecksum)
-		}
 	}
 	i := strings.IndexByte(base, '_')
 	if i <= 0 {
@@ -232,6 +231,12 @@ func Parse(s string) (*Parsed, error) {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: invalid character at pos %d", ErrInvalidBase32, j)
 		}
 	}
+	if hasChecksum {
+		expected := checksum4Base(base)
+		if !strings.EqualFold(csGiven, expected) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: checksum mismatch", ErrInvalidChecksum)
+		}
+	}
 	buf, err := b32decode(payload)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/orderlyid_test.go b/orderlyid_test.go
index f8ff3b9..fecdd30 100644
--- a/orderlyid_test.go
+++ b/orderlyid_test.go
@@ -88,6 +88,37 @@ func TestParseErrorsSupportErrorsIs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestParseInvalidChecksumBaseDoesNotPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		id   string
+		want error
+	}{
+		{name: "missing payload separator", id: "order-abcd", want: ErrInvalidFormat},
+		{name: "invalid prefix", id: "Order_00000000000000000000000000000000-abcd", want: ErrInvalidPrefix},
+		{name: "short payload", id: "order_123-abcd", want: ErrInvalidPayloadLength},
+		{name: "invalid base32", id: "order_0000000000000000000000000000000!-abcd", want: ErrInvalidBase32},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			defer func() {
+				if r := recover(); r != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("Parse panicked: %v", r)
+				}
+			}()
+
+			_, err := Parse(tt.id)
+			if err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error")
+			}
+			if !errors.Is(err, tt.want) {
+				t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v", tt.want, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestNewFromPartsErrorsSupportErrorsIs(t *testing.T) {
 	if _, err := NewFromParts(Components{Prefix: "Bad!"}, false); err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected invalid prefix error")