How to verify a Chinese supplier before you pay a deposit

Most sourcing problems are not quality problems. They are verification problems that surface later as quality problems.

Start with the business licence. Every legitimate Chinese company has one, and it states the registered capital, the legal representative and — crucially — the approved business scope. A company whose scope is wholesale and retail is not a factory, whatever the website says.

Next, ask for the export record. A supplier that regularly ships to your market already understands your documentation, labelling and compliance expectations. A supplier that does not will learn on your order.

Then look at capacity. Photographs are cheap; production lines are not. Ask how many units per month the line produces, what the current order book looks like, and which months are peak. Match that against your own forecast.

Finally, visit. An on-site audit takes a day and removes almost all of the remaining risk. If you cannot go yourself, send someone who can — that is precisely the role a sourcing partner on the ground exists to fill.