Verifying a Chinese Supplier: A 12-Point Due Diligence Checklist

Why this matters

A trading company misrepresenting itself as a factory will cost you 8-15% in margin and 2-4 weeks in lead time per order. Worse, a fraudulent "supplier" can disappear with a 30% deposit. The checks below take a weekend and a few hundred USD to run.

The 12-point checklist

Legal (4 checks)

1. Business licence number — verify on gsxt.gov.cn (China's national enterprise registry).
2. Registered capital — under USD 100k usually signals a trading company.
3. Scope of business — must include manufacturing in your category.
4. Export licence — confirm directly with the local Customs office.

Financial (3 checks)

5. Bank reference — request a current relationship letter from their bank.
6. D&B credit report — USD 200, takes 5 days, worth every cent.
7. VAT invoice samples — confirms they're a registered tax payer with real revenue.

Operational (5 checks)

8. Factory address on Baidu Maps — and Google Earth historical view. Is the building actually there? Year over year?
9. Worker headcount on social security records — a real factory has 50+ insured workers.
10. Production capacity vs. industry benchmarks for your product.
11. In-house testing equipment — photos and certificates.
12. Customer references from your market — at least 3, verified by you on a call.

Red flags

• Email domain is Gmail / QQ / 163 instead of company domain
• Address is in a city famous for trading (Yiwu, Shenzhen Huaqiangbei) but they claim to manufacture
• WeChat-only communication, refuses video calls of the floor
• Quoted price is 30%+ below market

When to skip self-verification

If your order value is over USD 100,000, hire a local audit firm or our team to run an on-the-ground inspection. The fee is recovered on a single avoided mistake.

Get an audit

We run third-party supplier audits across China — verification, factory inspection, QC handover. Request a quote.