Confirm The Company Exists
Ask for the business licence and check the details line up with what you have been told.
Confirm They Make It
A factory and a trading company answer questions about production very differently.
Test With Samples
Approve a physical sample. Then check that mass production matches it.
Structure The Payment
Never pay the full amount up front to a supplier you have not worked with before.
Start With The Business Licence
Every legitimate Chinese company has a business licence with a registration number, a registered name in Chinese, a legal representative, a registered capital figure and a stated business scope.
Ask for a copy. Then read it rather than filing it. The registered Chinese name should match the company you think you are dealing with. The business scope tells you whether they are registered to manufacture or to trade. The registered address should be consistent with where they say the factory is.
If a supplier is slow or reluctant to provide this, that is information. Legitimate companies hand it over without fuss.
Work Out If They Actually Manufacture
A lot of suppliers presenting themselves as factories are trading companies. That is not automatically a problem, but you should know which one you are dealing with, because it changes the price, the minimum order and who you talk to when something goes wrong.
Ask production questions rather than sales questions. What is the production capacity per month? How many lines? Which machines? What is the lead time for this specific item at this specific quantity? Can you see photos or a video walkthrough of the line making your product?
A factory answers these quickly and specifically. A trading company answers vaguely, or answers everything with a yes. The other clue is range. A supplier offering an implausibly wide catalogue across unrelated categories is almost certainly not making all of it.
Samples, Then Production
Get a physical sample and approve it in writing. Keep it. That approved sample is your reference point for everything afterwards.
Then understand the gap that matters most: a golden sample is not the same as mass production. Suppliers can hand-pick or hand-finish a sample. The real question is whether unit five thousand looks like the sample you approved.
That is what pre-shipment inspection is for. Check the goods at the factory before they are packed and shipped, against the approved sample and an agreed specification. Catching a problem on the factory floor is a conversation. Catching it after arrival is a write-off.
Structure The Payment To Protect Yourself
Never pay the full amount up front to a new supplier. A deposit with the balance due after inspection and before shipping is the normal arrangement, and a reasonable supplier will accept it.
Pay to a company account whose name matches the business licence. A request to pay a personal account, or an account in a different company's name, or a sudden change of bank details mid-order, should stop everything until you have verified it by a channel you already trust. Payment redirection fraud is common and it targets exactly this moment.
For larger orders, letters of credit exist for a reason. They cost more and involve the banks, and that is the point.
The Warning Signs
A price well below everyone else's for the same specification. There is usually a reason, and it is normally in the materials or components you cannot see.
Pressure to decide quickly, or to pay before you have a written specification. Reluctance to provide the business licence, to be visited, or to say which factory produces the goods. A catalogue that spans unrelated industries. Communication that becomes evasive the moment you ask a technical question.
None of these on its own proves anything. Two or three together is a pattern, and the cost of walking away from a supplier is always lower than the cost of a bad container.
Why We Buy Repeatedly From The Same Factories
The single best verification is history. A supplier who has delivered for us ten times is a known quantity in a way that no amount of document checking achieves on a first order.
That is the main reason we place orders with factories we already buy from rather than chasing the cheapest quote each time. Our Karachi office manages those relationships and the checks at the factory, and the goods get checked again when they arrive.
It is less exciting than finding a bargain, and it is why our orders arrive as specified.
Checked On The Line, Not On A Listing
Supplier Verification
How do I check if a Chinese supplier is legitimate?
Start with the business licence: registration number, registered Chinese name, legal representative and business scope. Then ask production-specific questions, request factory photos or video, and confirm the payment account matches the licensed company name.
How can I tell a factory from a trading company?
Ask about capacity, production lines, machinery and lead times for your specific item. Factories answer specifically. Trading companies answer vaguely and often offer an implausibly wide product range across unrelated categories.
Is an approved sample enough?
No. A sample can be hand-finished. The real test is whether mass production matches the approved sample, which is what a pre-shipment inspection at the factory is for.
What payment terms are safe with a new supplier?
A deposit with the balance after inspection and before shipping is normal. Never pay in full up front, and never pay a personal account or a company name that does not match the business licence.
What should make me walk away from a supplier?
A price far below the market for the same specification, pressure to pay before the specification is agreed, refusal to share the business licence or name the factory, or a sudden change of bank details mid-order.
Related Pages
Or Skip The Verification Entirely
We already buy from factories we have used repeatedly, and we check the goods twice. You buy finished stock from us instead of taking the supplier risk yourself.