Supplier verification
Is this China supplier the company — and factory — you think you are dealing with?
A supplier can be a real registered company and still be the wrong production partner. Verify the legal entity first, then separately verify factory identity, capability, payment entity and the specific claims that matter to your order.
Short answer
Start with the Chinese legal entity, not the English sales name. Match the company name and Unified Social Credit Code to official registration records, then check whether the entity you found is the entity quoting you, signing the order and receiving money.
After identity, verify the factory claim separately. Registration can tell you that a company exists; it does not prove that it owns the production site, has the claimed equipment, can make your product repeatedly, or will perform the work itself.
Step 1: lock the legal identity
- Chinese legal company name
- Unified Social Credit Code / registration number
- Registered address and legal representative
- Current registration status and business scope
- Any abnormal-operation or serious-illegality flags visible in the official system
- The exact entity that will sign the order / contract and issue invoices where relevant
China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System is the official public company-information system. It can be searched by company name, Unified Social Credit Code or registration number.
Official registration is a necessary identity check, not proof of manufacturing capability or product quality.
Step 2: test the factory claim
| Claim | Useful evidence | What still needs caution |
|---|---|---|
| “We are the factory” | Factory address, site visit/video tied to the legal entity, production records, equipment/process evidence. | A trading company may legitimately coordinate production; the issue is whether the role is disclosed and suitable for your order. |
| “We make this product” | Recent similar production, process explanation, tooling/equipment, raw-material path, production sample. | One showroom sample does not prove repeatable production capability. |
| “Everything is in-house” | Named process steps and which site performs each one. | Subcontracting is not automatically bad, but hidden critical subcontracting changes control and traceability. |
| “We can meet your volume/date” | Realistic capacity, queue, cycle time and material lead-time explanation. | Sales confidence without a production plan is not capacity evidence. |
Factory or trading company is not the final decision
A disclosed trading company is not automatically a bad supplier, and a real factory is not automatically a good one. The buyer decision is whether the counterparty's actual role matches what you need: manufacturing control, category breadth, engineering access, MOQ, coordination, quality control and accountability.
The red flag is the mismatch: a company presents itself as the manufacturer when production is elsewhere, or cannot explain who owns tooling, controls process changes, approves materials or is accountable when the production site changes.
Step 3: match the payment entity
If the beneficiary is not the supplier entity you verified, stop and explain the relationship before paying. A Hong Kong company, export company, affiliate or payment agent can be legitimate, but the buyer should know who is receiving the money, why, and how that entity connects to the seller and order.
- Beneficiary legal name matches the expected entity — or the difference is documented
- Bank account change is independently confirmed through a known contact path
- Order / contract names the actual seller and payment route
- Platform protection, if used, is not broken by moving payment off the protected rail
How much verification is enough?
| Order situation | Reasonable next layer |
|---|---|
| Small sample / low irreversible cost | Legal identity + payment entity + sample/order evidence may be enough to learn cheaply. |
| Custom tooling / meaningful deposit | Add capability evidence, production-site verification and tighter order/spec controls before money becomes hard to recover. |
| Regulated / safety-critical product | Add product-specific compliance evidence and competent technical/regulatory review; company verification alone is insufficient. |
| Large first order / high failure consequence | Consider independent site verification/audit plus staged payment and inspection controls. |
Primary sources
- China — National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System
- State Administration for Market Regulation — market entity registration services
- European Commission China IP SME Helpdesk — how to search basic Chinese company information
This page is a verification workflow, not a supplier rating and not a guarantee that a supplier will perform.