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How to verify a Chinese supplier professionally

A quick practical check for commercial registers, factory addresses, samples, references, and payment risks.

4 Min. Buyers & Merchants May 15, 2026

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The Problem

Many B2B merchants compare prices first. That is exactly where the risk begins: trading companies act as factories, outdated certificates are passed along, and the specified address does not match the actual production site. A reliable supplier cannot be judged by Alibaba ratings alone.

The Risk

Without verification, you may pay the wrong contract partner, receive goods from a different factory, or suddenly face new MOQs after paying the deposit. In case of complaints, a reliable point of contact will be missing.

The Solution

Check business licenses, production addresses, contacts, export experience, and product categories together. Do not rely on photos alone: a quick video tour, local register data, and a plausibility check of production capacity reveal much more.

Practical Checklist

Match business license and English company name
Verify address via map, website, and video
Check sample invoice for payment recipient
Compare reference products and production lines
Document a brief supplier audit before paying the deposit

How China Send helps

We audit your supplier before the first payment and provide a clear assessment of risk, price, and the next step.

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Supplier due diligence for German and EU buyers

Verify the legal entity, the payee and the operating reality separately

A marketplace badge can help with discovery, but it does not prove who receives the money, where the product is made, whether capacity exists or whether evidence belongs to the ordered model. A defensible review links official identity data to operational observations and the specific transaction.

The seven evidence layers

Layer	Evidence to obtain	Decision it supports
1. Legal identity	Chinese business licence, exact Chinese name, Unified Social Credit Code, legal representative, registered address, business scope and active status	Does the counterparty legally exist, and is the correct entity being reviewed?
2. Transaction entities	Quotation, contract, invoice issuer, export entity and bank beneficiary mapped in one table	Is the payment route explained and contractually controlled?
3. Site and operating model	Registered and production addresses, current coded video walk-through, site records and disclosed subcontractors	Factory, trader, hybrid or export company — and who controls production?
4. Process and capacity	Process flow, key machines, staffing, shift model, bottleneck calculation, tooling and current order load	Can the supplier make the product at the promised rate and revision?
5. Quality system	Incoming, in-process and final inspection records; calibration; non-conformance handling; traceability and change control	Can defects be prevented, contained and traced by batch?
6. Product evidence	Reports and declarations matched to model, bill of materials, materials, applicant, standard edition and issuing laboratory	Does the evidence actually apply to the ordered product?
7. Commercial pilot	Approved sample, corrective-action response, milestone payment, independent inspection access and limited exposure	Does the supplier cooperate when requirements become testable?

Read the Chinese business licence correctly

统一社会信用代码

The 18-character Unified Social Credit Code is the primary registry key. Save the result, status and retrieval date in the review file.

名称 and 类型

Record the exact Chinese company name and entity type. An English trading name is not a reliable identifier for contracts or registry searches.

法定代表人 and 住所

Capture the legal representative and registered address. A different production address may be legitimate, but it must be independently evidenced.

经营范围 and 成立日期

Business scope and incorporation date add context. Manufacturing wording is an indicator, not proof of machinery, ownership or current capability.

Payment stop: pause when the beneficiary is a private person, an unexplained third party or a newly substituted entity. Resume only after the legal and commercial relationship is documented and approved.

A 100-point scorecard with hard overrides

Use the score to structure evidence, not to create false certainty: legal identity 15 points, counterparty/payment 15, site/operating model 15, process/capacity 20, quality/traceability 15, evidence consistency 10, and pilot cooperation 10. Under 60 is a stop; 60–79 is conditional; 80 or more can enter the shortlist. A forged report, inactive entity, unexplained beneficiary, refused inspection or unresolved safety issue overrides the score and remains a stop.

Supplier Verification ScorecardDownloadable CSV with evidence requirements, weights, red flags and decision thresholds.

Download CSV

A shortlist score is not certification, legal advice, a credit rating or product approval. Product compliance, contract terms, samples and batch quality remain separate gates.

Primary sources and scope

China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (GSXT) for official company identity and status data.
OECD due-diligence guidance for risk-based business-partner and supply-chain review.
Your Europe product-compliance guidance for importer responsibilities. Supplier verification does not replace product compliance.

Need a review path for a specific supplier? Send the exact Chinese company name or licence, product, quotation and intended payment beneficiary.

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