Importing from China
How to check a factory before you pay
How to tell a real factory from a trading company, and what to inspect before the final payment leaves your account.
By Sami Al-Hajri1 min read
Most suppliers presenting themselves as factories on the platforms are trading companies. That is not necessarily fraud — a good agent earns their margin — but you are paying it without knowing.
How to tell:
Ask for the business licence. The registered company name and business scope show whether it is manufacturing or trading.
Ask about a production line for a slightly different product. A factory answers in detail about its capability and its limits; a trading company says "yes we can do that" to everything.
Ask for a live video from inside the workshop, not photographs. Photographs get borrowed.
Compare the registered address with the factory location. A mismatch is not proof of anything, but it is a question worth asking.
Before the final payment, inspect:
Dimensions and weight against the written specification, not against the sample alone.
The actual quantity. Counting is not a formality.
Packaging: will it survive the voyage? Is the barcode right? Is the importing country’s required labelling printed as customs demands?
The defect rate, on a randomly drawn sample rather than units the factory selects.
A dated, photographed report. That is what makes it possible to negotiate over a problem while the goods are still in China — afterwards it is far harder.
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