How to verify a Chinese supplier for free: tools and steps

Most supplier fraud with Chinese counterparts is not sophisticated. It is a trading company presenting itself as a factory, a company that was deregistered last year, a certificate copied from another firm, or a request to pay a different company "for tax reasons". All of these can be caught with free, public tools, as long as you check the right things in the right order.

This guide is written for importers, distributors and sourcing managers. It assumes no Chinese. Where a tool is Chinese-only, we say so and explain what to look for.

Step 1: Get the business license and read the USCC

Ask the supplier for a scan or photo of its business license (营业执照). Every legally registered company in mainland China has one, and a real supplier sends it without hesitation.

The most useful item on it is the Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码), an 18-character identifier introduced under a 2015 State Council plan. It is usually printed top left. It encodes the registration authority, the type of organisation, the administrative region, a 9-character organisation code, and a final check character. One company has one code for life, so it is the key you use in every other step.

Also note:

• Registered Chinese name (名称). The English name a supplier uses on its website or Alibaba store is often not a legal name at all. Contracts and payments should use the registered name.
• Type (类型), for example a limited liability company or a sole proprietorship.
• Legal representative (法定代表人).
• Registered capital (注册资本). Since many companies subscribe capital rather than pay it in, treat this as a weak signal, not proof of size.
• Date of establishment (成立日期).
• Business scope (经营范围). A company whose scope covers only trading, and not production, is a trading company. That is not a problem in itself, but it should match what you were told.
• Registered address (住所).

Step 2: Check the registration on GSXT

The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统, usually called GSXT) is the official, free company registry run by China's State Administration for Market Regulation. Search by the USCC rather than by name, because names have many variants.

What to confirm:

1. The record exists and the name matches exactly, character for character, with the license.
2. Status (登记状态) is in operation (存续 or 在业). Deregistered (注销) or revoked (吊销) means stop.
3. Legal representative, address, capital and scope match the license you were given. A mismatch can mean an old license, or a license that belongs to someone else.
4. Abnormal operations list (经营异常名录) and serious violations list (严重违法失信名单). An entry for failing to file an annual report is common and fixable; repeated entries are a warning.
5. Annual reports (年度报告). Filed reports sometimes show number of employees covered by social insurance, which is a useful reality check against a claimed 500-person factory.

GSXT is in Chinese, uses a CAPTCHA and can be slow from outside China. Browser translation is enough to read the record.

Step 3: Use Qichacha or Tianyancha for history and connections

Qichacha (企查查, also QCC) and Tianyancha (天眼查) are commercial platforms that repackage registry data and add court records, enforcement cases, trademarks, patents, shareholders and related companies. Basic search is free with an account; deeper reports, monitoring and exports need a paid membership.

What they add on top of GSXT:

• Lawsuits and enforcement (裁判文书, 被执行人). A supplier in repeated contract disputes with customers is a real risk. A supplier listed as a dishonest judgment debtor (失信被执行人) is a stop.
• Shareholders and ultimate owners, and other companies they control. Useful to see whether the "factory" and the "trading company" you are talking to are the same group.
• Name history, which shows whether the company recently changed its name.
• Trademarks and patents, if the supplier claims its own brand or design.

Step 4: Check customs registration and export records

A company that tells you it exports regularly should be registered with China Customs as an importer and exporter. The China Customs enterprise credit publicity platform (中国海关企业进出口信用信息公示平台) lets you search by name or code and shows the customs registration and credit rating (for example, AEO advanced certified enterprise). A supplier with no customs registration may be exporting through an agent, which affects who signs your documents and who you can claim against.

Export shipment records add evidence. Customs data platforms (see AI tools to find buyers and importers for the main ones) show shipments where the Chinese company appears as shipper on, for example, US import manifests. Most are paid, but many show a limited company profile for free. A factory that claims ten years of exports to Europe and North America but appears on no manifests deserves a direct question.

Step 5: Verify certificates in the issuing database

Never accept a PDF certificate as proof. Check it where it was issued.

• CCC (China Compulsory Certification) and other Chinese certifications are searchable on the CNCA certification information query run by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China. Search by certificate number or company name.
• ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and other management system certificates can be checked on IAF CertSearch, the database of accredited certifications, and on the website of the certification body named on the certificate. Not every body publishes to IAF CertSearch, so a miss there is a reason to contact the issuing body, not proof of forgery.
• Product certifications for your market (CE test reports, UL, FCC, and so on) should be checked with the lab or body named on the report.

For every certificate, check three things: the holder name matches the legal name from Step 2, the site address covers the factory that will make your goods, and the scope covers your product. A real ISO 9001 certificate for a different site, or for a sister company, is the most common trick.

Step 6: Use free supplier tools to fill the gaps

Reevol Source is a free directory of supplier profiles with three free tools that help at this stage:

• Chinese Company Name Resolver: paste a Chinese name, or pinyin, and get the English counterpart, known aliases and up to 10 ranked matches with city and industry. Useful when a supplier's English trading name and its registered Chinese name look unrelated.
• Supplier Risk Checker: enter a company name or website and get structured signals (years active, certifications, trade fair presence, digital footprint, and consistency between English and Chinese names) with a short assessment. It reports signals, not accusations, and it is not a background check.
• HS Code Finder: describe a product in English or Chinese and get candidate HS codes, which you need for customs searches in Step 4.

One thing to read carefully on Source: a supplier profile marked unclaimed is built from public records and has not been confirmed by the company. It is a useful starting point, not a verification. Use it to find the names and identifiers, then confirm them on GSXT.

Step 7: Decide whether to pay for a site visit or inspection

Everything above checks that a company exists, is in good standing, and is who it says it is. It cannot tell you whether the factory can make your product to your standard, on time. For that you need eyes on the floor.

• Free first step: a live video call walking through the production line, with the camera pointed at the gate sign, the license on the wall and the machines running. Ask them to show a work order for another customer's product similar to yours (with the customer name covered).
• Paid options: a factory audit before the first order, or a pre-shipment inspection before you pay the balance, from a third-party inspection firm such as SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek or QIMA. As a rule of thumb, pay for inspection when the cost of a bad shipment is clearly larger than the inspection fee.

The checklist

Red flags

• The business license name, the GSXT name and the bank account name are not identical.
• Status on GSXT is deregistered or revoked, or the company was set up a few months ago but claims years of exports.
• Business scope covers only trading, while the supplier insists it is the factory.
• The supplier asks you to pay a personal account, a different company, or an offshore (for example Hong Kong) company "for faster payment or tax reasons", especially if this is a change from earlier instructions.
• Certificates cannot be found in the issuing database, or the holder or site is a different company.
• Listed as a dishonest judgment debtor, or in repeated contract disputes with customers.
• Refuses a live video walk-through, or only shows a showroom.
• Prices far below every other quote for the same specification.
• Email domain changes mid-conversation, or bank details arrive in a PDF from a new address. See the fraud patterns every cross-border trader should know for how payment redirection works.

Sources

• National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (GSXT)
• State Council plan for the Unified Social Credit Code (2015)
• Qichacha
• Tianyancha
• China Customs enterprise credit publicity platform
• CNCA certification information query
• IAF CertSearch
• Reevol Source free tools