Verify a Chinese Supplier Before Payment: The 7-Step Pre-Payment Checklist (2026)

By SupplierVerify Team | Published: March 31, 2026

The most dangerous moment in China sourcing is the space between "we've agreed on price and specs" and "the wire transfer has left your account." Once the money moves, your leverage collapses. Everything you can verify before that moment protects you. Everything you skip becomes a risk you've already paid for. This is the pre-payment checklist we use to screen suppliers — run through these seven steps before you send a deposit, and you'll catch the majority of problems that turn into losses.

Step 1: Get the Chinese Legal Name and USCC — No English Substitutes Accepted

Before anything else, obtain two pieces of information from the supplier: their full Chinese legal name in Chinese characters (not pinyin, not an English translation), and their 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code. These are not negotiable requests — every legally registered Chinese company has both and can produce them instantly. A supplier who cannot or will not provide their Chinese legal name and USCC has either something to hide or no legal existence. Either way, the verification stops here.

Step 2: Verify the Business License in an Official Database

Search the USCC in the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS) at gsxt.gov.cn, or use a third-party platform like Tianyancha or Qichacha. You need to confirm at minimum five data points: the company status is active (存续 or 在业 — NOT 吊销/注销/停业/清算), the registered address exists and is consistent with what the supplier told you, the business scope includes the activities the supplier claims to perform (if they say "factory," look for 生产 or 制造 in the scope), the legal representative name matches who you've been told runs the company, and the establishment date is consistent with the company history the supplier described. Take screenshots. Save them. If anything doesn't match, ask the supplier to explain the discrepancy in writing before proceeding.

Step 3: Check Court Records and Enforcement Actions

A clean business license doesn't mean a clean legal history. Search the company name (in Chinese) in China Judgments Online (wenshu.court.gov.cn) and the China Enforcement Information Platform. You're looking for: civil lawsuits — especially contract disputes or product quality claims filed by other buyers, enforcement actions — court orders requiring the company to pay debts or fulfill obligations, and dishonest enterprise (失信企业) blacklist status — if a company is on this list, they have been found by a court to have the ability to pay but refused to do so. One or two minor disputes over several years of operation may be normal. A pattern of lawsuits from foreign buyers, multiple enforcement actions, or blacklist status should stop the transaction.

Step 4: Verify the Bank Account Matches the Business License

When you receive payment instructions, check that the beneficiary name on the bank account matches the Chinese legal name on the business license — character for character. A legitimate company receives money into an account registered to its own legal name. Warning signs that demand an explanation before you send money: the bank account is under a personal name (not a company name), the bank account name is a different company than the one on the license, the bank is in a different city or province than the company's registered address with no reasonable explanation, or the supplier asks you to send money to a Hong Kong or offshore account "for convenience" without a clear commercial relationship between the two entities. Some Chinese exporters legitimately use Hong Kong entities to receive foreign currency, but you need to verify the connection — don't take their word for it.

Step 5: Cross-Check Pricing Against Domestic Benchmarks

Before you pay, understand whether you're paying a reasonable price. Search for the same or similar product on 1688.com — Alibaba's domestic wholesale platform where Chinese factories sell to the domestic market. The domestic price on 1688 establishes a baseline. If your supplier quotes a price 50–100% above the 1688 range and claims to be a factory, they are likely a trading company adding their margin. If their price is significantly below the 1688 range — 30% or more below the domestic wholesale price — the risk of bait-and-switch or quality compromise increases. Factories don't consistently sell to foreign buyers below what they charge domestic wholesalers. The 1688 check takes 10 minutes and can reveal whether you're dealing with a factory, a trader, or a scam before you've paid a cent.

Step 6: Verify References Independently — Don't Call the Numbers the Supplier Gave You

If the supplier provides client references, do not simply call the phone numbers or email the addresses they give you. Scammers set up fake reference networks — colleagues posing as satisfied clients, fabricated companies with convincing websites. To independently verify a reference: search the reference company's name independently and find their contact information through their own website or LinkedIn, not through the supplier; ask the reference specific questions the supplier couldn't coach them on — "What was the exact shipment date of your last order?", "What was the incoterm?", "Who signed the contract on the supplier's side?"; and check whether the reference company's import records (via Panjiva or ImportGenius) show actual shipments from the supplier. A reference who can only speak in generalities has been coached. A reference who can cite specific dates, names, and shipment details is likely real.

Step 7: Run the "Would This Hold Up in a Dispute?" Test

Before you press send on the wire transfer, imagine this scenario: the supplier doesn't deliver. The product that arrives is defective. The company goes silent. Now ask yourself: do I have a contract with the legal entity that matches the bank account I sent money to? Do I have the supplier's real Chinese legal name, USCC, and registered address — information I could give to a Chinese lawyer? Is the company I'm paying actually the company on the license — not a trading name, not a brand, not "the factory we work with"? Do I have payment records showing the exact amount, date, and beneficiary? If the answer to any of these is "no," you are not ready to pay. Fix the gap first. The wire transfer can wait. The money, once sent, cannot be un-sent without the supplier's cooperation — and scammers don't cooperate.

The Pre-Payment Checklist: Quick Reference

How Long This Takes (And Why "I Don't Have Time" Is the Most Expensive Excuse in Sourcing)

Steps 1 and 2 — getting the name and checking the license — take 15 minutes if you know where to look. Step 4 — verifying the bank account — takes 5 minutes. Step 5 — the 1688 price check — takes 10 minutes. The entire checklist can be completed in under an hour for a single supplier. Compare that to the time and money you'll spend recovering from a fraudulent transaction: weeks of emails, months of disputes, and a median loss of $8,700 (based on cases we've handled). "I don't have time to verify" is a decision to pay the risk premium instead — and the risk premium on unverified Chinese suppliers is uninsurable.