You've found a promising supplier on 1688 or Taobao. The price is right. The product photos look great. But how do you know the company actually exists — and that it will ship what you paid for?
Supplier verification is not optional. It's the single most important step between discovering a product and committing your first dollar. This guide gives you a concrete, layered process to run — entirely remotely — before any deposit lands in anyone's account.
Many businesses lose money each year due to scams, poor product quality, or dealing with trading companies that pretend to be manufacturers. The painful reality: a polished Alibaba profile, high review scores, and fast replies don't guarantee legitimacy. Platform badges can be bought. Photos can be stolen. And once a wire transfer clears, your options are limited.
"Most importers don't lose money because they picked the wrong product. They lose money because they trusted the wrong identity."
The good news: China has robust public infrastructure for company verification. You just need to know where to look — and what to look for.
Every legitimate Chinese company is required by law to hold a valid business license (营业执照) issued by the local Administration for Market Regulation. This is the starting point for any verification process, and any real supplier will share it without hesitation.
When you ask for the license, you should receive a clear, complete scan — not a cropped image or a low-resolution JPEG. Key fields to look for:
If a supplier hesitates or refuses to share this document, treat it as a hard red flag. An authorized supplier will share it willingly — it's a public document.
Once you have the license, your next move is to cross-reference it against China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System — commonly known as GSXT (全国企业信用信息公示系统), accessible at gsxt.gov.cn.
GSXT is maintained by China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and covers hundreds of millions of registered business entities. It is the primary, authoritative source for verifying any company registered in mainland China.
Important caveat: GSXT can sometimes block overseas IP addresses or require a Chinese mobile number for certain deep-level features. If you hit a wall, use your browser-translated view, or rely on the QR code printed on the license itself — scanning it should redirect directly to the official GSXT profile page for that company.
A successful GSXT lookup confirms the company is legally registered and currently active. It does not confirm their reputation, financial health, actual production capability, or whether they'll deliver quality goods on time. Think of it as the floor, not the ceiling, of your due diligence.
This is the step most buyers skip — and it's where you can catch a lot of middlemen masquerading as factories.
The business scope field tells you exactly what a company is legally allowed to do. Look for these key terms in the translated scope:
| Chinese term (pinyin) | What it means | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Shengchan / Zhizao (生产/制造) | Production / Manufacturing | Actual factory — they own or operate production lines |
| Yanfa (研发) | Research & Development | Can handle custom ODM/OEM work |
| Pifa / Maoyi (批发/贸易) | Wholesale / Trading | Middleman — sourcing from other factories |
| Lingshao (零售) | Retail | Consumer-facing seller, not a manufacturer |
A trading company is not necessarily bad — but you should know what you're dealing with. If you're paying factory prices and expecting factory-direct quality control, working with a trader adds a layer of opacity you need to manage consciously. For more on navigating the factory-vs-trader question, see our guide on factories vs. trading companies when sourcing from China.
A valid business license is a necessary condition. It is not sufficient on its own. Layer in these additional remote checks:
China's court system maintains public records of litigation. Use China Judgments Online (wenshu.court.gov.cn) to search the supplier's legal name and look for patterns of lawsuits, enforcement actions, or debt disputes. One or two resolved disputes may be normal for an active company — but a high volume of recent litigation is a serious warning sign.
This is one of the most overlooked checks and one of the most critical. When you receive payment instructions, confirm that the bank account beneficiary name matches the legal company name on the business license exactly. A mismatch — or a request to pay a "different company" — is the most common fraud pattern in cross-border trade. Always verify bank details via a separate communication channel (e.g., a video call), never just by replying to an email.
Take the registered address from the business license and drop it into Google Maps or Baidu Maps. Genuine manufacturers typically operate from industrial zones, not residential addresses or shared office buildings. If the address resolves to an apartment block or a tiny co-working space, flag it.
Search the company's name on Google or Bing combined with terms like "scam," "fraud," or "complaint." Also search their USCC number directly. It won't surface everything, but it takes 30 seconds and occasionally catches known bad actors.
Never skip the sample stage. Ordering a sample before committing to a bulk order lets you assess real product quality and confirms the supplier can actually fulfill an order. Be aware, though, that a polished sample can sometimes come from a different source than the one used for mass production — which is why sample review and supplier verification work together, not as substitutes for each other.
For sourcing from Chinese platforms like 1688 or Taobao, tools like Piratify can simplify this process by handling the entire ordering and shipping flow from Chinese domestic platforms to your customers — so you focus on vetting the product, not navigating the logistics.
For a broader view of how to structure your China sourcing strategy and avoid common pitfalls, check out our article on China sourcing essentials for Shopify store owners.
Yes. The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (GSXT) at gsxt.gov.cn is a free, publicly accessible government database. You do not need to create an account to run a basic company search. Some advanced features may require a Chinese mobile number for verification, but the core registration and status data is publicly visible.
The Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) is an 18-character alphanumeric identifier introduced to consolidate older, fragmented local registration numbers. It replaced the older system under national standard GB 32100-2015 and now serves as the company's single ID across all government systems — including tax filings, court records, and the GSXT database. Always use the USCC (not just a company's English name) when running official checks.
You can do a strong first layer of verification remotely: business license check, GSXT lookup, court records search, bank detail confirmation, and sample ordering. What remote checks cannot reliably confirm is physical factory existence, actual production capacity, and the authenticity of physical documents. For high-value or long-term partnerships, a video factory tour or a third-party audit is worth the investment — but for most dropshipping and small-batch sourcing scenarios, a rigorous remote checklist significantly reduces your risk.
