The Complete Guide to Verifying a Chinese Supplier Before You Pay
A step-by-step framework for checking a Chinese supplier's identity, credit, and track record using official records — before you send a single dollar.
Every year, overseas buyers lose money to suppliers that either never existed, misrepresented themselves, or quietly went bad long before the order was placed. The good news is that China has some of the most open corporate-registry and court data in the world — if you know where to look and what the results actually mean. This guide walks through a repeatable verification workflow you can run in under an hour.
Start with the company's legal identity
A supplier's Chinese-language legal name and its Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) are the two keys that unlock every official record. If a supplier can't — or won't — give you its exact registered Chinese name and USCC, treat that as the first red flag. Trading names, English brand names, and Alibaba store names are all changeable; the registered name is not.
- Ask for the business license (营业执照) — a scan or clear photo is enough to start.
- Extract two fields: the full Chinese company name and the 18-character USCC.
- Confirm the name you are transacting with matches the name on the license exactly.
Pull the official registration record
The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统, gsxt.gov.cn) is the authoritative public registry run by the State Administration for Market Regulation. Third-party databases like Tianyancha, Qichacha, and Aiqicha are faster to read (especially with English or auto-translation) but should be cross-checked against gsxt.gov.cn for anything critical.
- Confirm the company exists and its registration status is active (存续/在营), not revoked (吊销) or deregistered (注销).
- Check the date of establishment — a '15-year-old factory' that was incorporated six months ago is a lie.
- Verify the legal representative, registered address, and registered capital.
Check for enforcement, penalties, and 'dishonest debtor' status
A clean registry entry is necessary but not sufficient. The most valuable signals are the negative ones: enforcement actions, administrative penalties, and the 'dishonest person subject to enforcement' list (失信被执行人) — colloquially the 'dishonest debtor' blacklist. A supplier on this list faces restrictions and has a history of failing to pay court judgments.
- China Enforcement Information Publicity (zxgk.court.gov.cn) for enforcement cases.
- Credit China (creditchina.gov.cn) for administrative penalties and regulatory warnings.
- Business abnormality listings (经营异常名录) — e.g. failing to file annual reports or being unreachable at the registered address.
Look at court records and shareholders
Litigation history tells you how a company behaves under pressure. A supplier with a handful of ordinary disputes is normal; a supplier named as defendant in dozens of unpaid-debt cases is not. Equally important is who owns it: equity-freeze records (股权冻结), frequent shareholder changes, or a shell company with a nominee director are all worth investigating.
If the supplier's registered capital is huge but paid-in capital is near zero, the incorporation date doesn't match its claimed history, or its business scope is unrelated to what it sells, dig deeper — these are the most common lies overseas buyers are told.
Finally, layer independent confirmation on top of the paperwork: a video call to the factory floor, a third-party inspection, and verifying that the supplier's export history and address match its claims. Documents can be faked; a live factory and a track record are much harder to fabricate.
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