Start with the legal identity
Every Chinese company has a business licence with a unified social credit code, a registered capital, a legal representative, and a declared scope of business. Ask for the licence, then check that the company name on it matches the name on the bank account you are about to pay.
A mismatch between the invoicing entity and the bank account holder is the most common fraud pattern in the trade, and the easiest one to catch.
Test whether they actually make it
A factory can answer machine-level questions instantly; a reseller cannot.
- How many production lines run this product, and what is the daily output?
- Which machine model do you use, and how old is it?
- Who are your material suppliers, and what is their lead time?
- Can you film a two-minute walk through the line, today?
Verify the certificates, not the logos
Certification logos on a website mean nothing on their own. Ask for the certificate itself, check the issuing body, the certificate number, the validity dates, and, crucially, the product scope it covers. Many certificates are real but cover a different product than the one you are buying.
Four signs to walk away from
- Payment requested to a personal account, or to an account in a third country
- A price far below every other quotation you received
- Refusal of a video call from inside the workshop
- Pressure to pay a deposit before any sample exists
When in doubt, send someone
A physical visit remains the only conclusive check. If you cannot travel, a local audit with a photo and video report costs a few hundred dollars, far less than a deposit sent to a company that turns out to be a room with a laptop.