Complete the relevant supplier, specification and payment checks before sending a deposit. Later inspection can identify defects, but it cannot replace the counterparty checks needed before funds move.
Before you request a quotation
Start with company identity and available public records. Budget for additional documents or professional checks when the available evidence is incomplete.
Get the business licence and check the unified social credit code against public registration records. You are confirming the company exists, is currently in normal standing, and that its registered business scope covers manufacturing your product — not merely trading it. A scope listing only wholesale and import/export, from a company describing itself as a factory, is the first inconsistency to raise.
Search the registered company name in Chinese and review available court, administrative and business-status records. Check the date, outcome and identity in each record; a search may be incomplete, and a dispute alone does not establish current insolvency or future delivery performance.
During quotation
Ask for a quotation that names the material grade, the dimensions with tolerances, the packaging method, the carton dimensions and the quantity per carton. Then compare that against what you asked for.
The purpose is not the numbers. It is to see whether the supplier engages with a specification or reformats your request and sends it back with a price attached. A factory that quotes will often push back — tell you your tolerance is unnecessarily tight, or that a different grade is cheaper and performs the same. That pushback is a very good sign. Silent agreement to every specification is not.
Ask what sets the MOQ: tooling, production setup, material purchase or a sales policy. Request the applicable constraint and any small-order alternatives rather than inferring the reason from a round number.
Before sending samples money
Request a video call with the camera in the workshop. Not a recorded video — a live call, during working hours in China.
Ask them to walk to the machine that would make your product and show it running. Ask what the machine's cycle time is and how many they run. Ask to see the raw material storage area and the finished goods area. Ask to see where QC happens.
Use the call to check whether the contact can explain the production arrangement and show a relevant line. A refusal may reflect access, confidentiality or an intermediary relationship; resolve it through a documented visit or inspection rather than using the response alone to classify the company.
On the sample
Sample approval should be written down, and the written record should include measurements you took yourself, not adjectives.
Photograph and measure the sample, record its weight and actual dimensions, and ask for material traceability or testing when the grade matters. If supporting records are unavailable, clarify what can be verified on the bulk batch before approving production.
Request several samples where practical to look for visible variation. A few samples cannot establish a statistical batch acceptance result; define the production inspection and sampling plan separately.
Payment terms and the account name
Check payment instructions as carefully as the product specification. Record the contracting entity, beneficiary, account details, currency and payment triggers before authorizing the transfer.
Match the payment beneficiary with the contracting company. Cross-check the registered name and company documents. If an export agent, related company or other beneficiary will collect payment, obtain written authority and independently verify the parties and arrangement. An email explanation or a similar name is insufficient; do not send funds while the discrepancy remains unresolved.
An unexpected payment-detail change is a business-email-compromise warning sign, not proof that every change is fraudulent. Confirm the request through a previously verified contact channel; do not use a new telephone number supplied in the same message. The FBI’s business email compromise guidance explains this verification step.
Negotiate the deposit and balance against the product, procurement needs and verification plan. A proposed 30/70 split is an example of commercial terms, not a safety standard. Specify the inspection and acceptance conditions, the release event and the remedy for a failed result. Full advance payment places more exposure on the buyer and needs careful counterparty and transaction checks.
What the checks do not cover
None of this tells you whether the factory will still be functioning in eight months, whether their key operator is about to leave, or whether they will quietly substitute a cheaper material on the third reorder when your attention has moved on. Verification manages the risk of the first order. Consistency over time is managed by inspection, by reordering in a pattern that makes substitution obvious, and by occasionally testing a production unit against your original approved sample.
A real and capable manufacturer can still miss a delivery date through workload, material availability or other constraints. Ask for a production schedule, allocation and progress evidence; supplier identity checks alone do not verify delivery capacity.
A compressed version
A first-pass checklist is: verify the registered entity, review available records, confirm the production arrangement, compare samples with a written specification, verify the payment beneficiary and agree the payment triggers. Escalate missing evidence before paying. The checklist does not replace testing, inspection or the requirements applicable to your product.
Send the licence copy, quotation, product specification and proposed payment instructions through the supplier-review enquiry form. Request a written scope identifying which claims can be checked and which need further evidence.