Guide
Check three things before you send a deposit: that the company is registered and active in China's official records, that it actually makes your product (many "factories" are trading companies), and that the bank account on the invoice belongs to the company you sign with. For a first order of any size, add a factory audit and keep part of the payment until after a pre-shipment inspection.
A supplier that will not share its Chinese company name or licence is a warning sign in itself.
Search the Chinese company name or the credit code in China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn), or in commercial databases built on it such as Qichacha or Tianyancha. Look at:
| Record | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Status | Active, or cancelled, revoked, listed for abnormal operations. |
| Founding date | A company founded a few months ago asking for a large prepayment deserves extra checks. |
| Registered and paid-in capital | Paid-in capital far below registered capital is common, but it tells you the real money behind the company. |
| Insured employees | Shown in the annual report. A "factory" with five insured employees is usually an office. |
| Business scope | Look for manufacturing (生产, 制造). Sales, wholesale or import and export only (销售, 批发, 进出口) means a trading company. |
| Registered address | Compare it with the address on the quote. An office unit in a business park cannot be the production site. |
| Shareholders and legal representative | Who owns and runs the company, and their other companies. |
| Trademarks | Whether the brand on the quote is registered to this company. |
Then search the company name in China's court enforcement database (zxgk.court.gov.cn). Enforcement orders and the list of dishonest debtors show unpaid court judgments, a serious warning before any payment.
Trading companies are not a problem in themselves: many buyers use them. The risk is not knowing who makes your goods. Signs of a trader: no manufacturing in the business scope, a recent founding date, few insured employees, an address in an office building, a wide product range across unrelated categories, and reluctance to say where production takes place. If the supplier is a trader, ask which factory will produce your order and check that factory too.
A registered company can still ship non-compliant goods. Ask for full test reports, not certificates alone, and check the lab name, report number and the product tested. In Australia, for example, windows must meet AS 2047: in July 2026, Building Connection reported that seven of eight imported Chinese window and door products sent to independent NATA-accredited labs failed, including one that was advertised as compliant. See also: Aluminium window factory audit in Foshan.
Records show that a company exists. They do not show whether it can make your product to your specification. An on-site audit confirms that the factory exists at the stated address, that the supplier operates it, that the equipment and workforce match the claimed capacity, and that quality checks actually happen. It is worth it before a first order, when the records raise questions, or when the order is large.
With a new supplier, try to keep part of the payment until after a satisfactory pre-shipment inspection, for example 30% deposit and 70% after inspection. Some suppliers require full prepayment for small orders; in that case the checks before payment matter even more.
We check a supplier's official records, court databases and payee for you and send a written summary, usually within one business day. For a new client, we check up to three candidate suppliers free of charge, and can then audit the one you shortlist. Factory audits and inspections cost $240 per inspector-day, all inclusive anywhere in mainland China. Supplier verification · Factory audit and inspection.
Tell us what you need. We typically reply within one business day.
