Most buyers verify a supplier by looking at their website and their reviews. Both are cheap to fake. What is not cheap to fake is a business licence, a live video walk through the workshop, and goods that pass inspection. These eight checks take about two hours of your time and remove almost all of the risk.
1. Verify the business licence
Every legitimate Chinese company has a business licence (营业执照) with an 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code. Ask for a photo of it, then confirm it yourself on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn). What you are checking:
- Legal name — does it match the company you are negotiating with?
- Registered business scope — does it include manufacturing or trading of your product category?
- Established date — a company registered three months ago is not a "15-year factory".
- Registered capital — RMB 100,000 registered capital does not support a claim of "5,000 m² factory".
- Status — is the company still active, or dissolved with a licence that is still being emailed around?
2. Match the name to the bank account
This single check stops the most common fraud. The name on the proforma invoice, the name on the business licence, and the name on the receiving bank account must all be identical. If the supplier asks you to pay a personal account, a different company, or a Hong Kong account that appears from nowhere, stop and ask why in writing. Legitimate reasons exist for offshore accounts (export channels), but they need an explanation and matching documents — not a rushed WhatsApp message at the end of a negotiation.
3. Ask questions only a factory can answer
Trading companies can answer price questions instantly and technical questions vaguely. Try these:
- What is the machine model and tonnage on your main line, and how many lines do you have?
- How many workers are on the production floor, and how many shifts per day?
- Which steps do you do in-house, and which are subcontracted?
- What is your monthly capacity for this product, and what is your current lead time?
- Who were your three largest customers last year, and which export markets do you ship to?
Nothing wrong with a good trading company — but know which one you are dealing with, because it changes the price you should be paying and where quality risk sits.
4. Insist on a live video tour
Recorded factory videos are stock footage. Ask for a live call and make it hard to fake:
- Ask them to walk from the entrance to the production line without cutting the video
- Ask them to show the machine you discussed earlier in the same call
- Ask them to show a warehouse shelf of your product category, not a showroom sample
- Ask for something written on paper and held up to the camera, e.g. your order number
If your product is being made and no such place exists, you will know within five minutes.
5. Cross-check the claimed scale
- Compare the registered capital, establishment date and scope against what they claim
- Search the company name plus the words "problem", "scam" or "complaint" in Chinese and English
- Ask for two customer references in your region, then actually contact them
- Check that their export documents (past bills of lading, if they will share a redacted copy) match their claimed markets
6. Order two samples, not one
One sample tells you what the factory can produce when it is trying. Ask for a second sample labelled "production sample" a few weeks later, or take samples from two suppliers and compare them. Weigh both, measure them, disassemble one. Differences in weight and internal material show up long before defects appear in a container.
Pay for your samples. Free samples are usually hand-finished by a technician, and they tell you nothing about the production line.
7. Use third-party inspection
There are two different services and buyers often confuse them:
| Service | When | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Factory audit | Before ordering | Whether the supplier is a real, capable operation — capacity, systems, certifications |
| Pre-shipment inspection | Before balance payment | Whether this shipment meets the agreed spec, packed correctly |
A pre-shipment inspection typically costs $200–$400 per man-day and is the cheapest insurance in the whole process — see our quality inspection service.
8. Start small and stage payments
- First order: pay 30% deposit, 70% after a passed inspection — never 100% in advance
- Keep the first order small enough that losing it would be annoying, not fatal
- Insist the contract lists the spec, packaging, inspection standard, lead time and defect remedy
- Escalate order size only after two clean shipments
Red flags summary
| Signal | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Price 40%+ below the other quotes | Different (lighter, thinner) product, or bait pricing |
| Refuses live video | No factory, or a factory making something else |
| Payment to a personal account | High risk of no shipment, no recourse |
| Pressure to pay today for a "discount" | Manufactured urgency before verification |
| No written spec, only chat messages | Nothing to hold them to when goods arrive wrong |
Frequently asked questions
How long does supplier verification take?
Licence and identity checks take under an hour. Adding sample rounds and a factory audit, plan on two to three weeks for a first order.
Can I trust Alibaba Trade Assurance or platform escrow?
It is better than a bank transfer to an unknown account and worth using, but it does not verify that a factory exists or that goods meet your written specification. It protects the transaction, not the product. Read our sourcing scams guide for how escrow gets misused.
Should I visit the factory myself?
If your order value is above roughly $20,000, yes — a two-day trip pays for itself. If you cannot travel, hire local verification; that is part of what we do for clients.
Want someone on the ground to check for you?
We visit factories in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu every week. Send us the supplier you are considering and we will tell you what is real.