How to Find and Verify Reliable Chinese Suppliers

There are many scams online and in e-commerce. This problem is so common that for every scam shop caught and shut down, two new ones open up. Most scams revolve around selling branded products, computers, laptops, cameras, and other electronic devices.

Scammers use whatever they can to get you to their online store, claiming they sell branded, new goods at low prices, with free delivery and similar "offers." One of the most important things in business is trust — no one wants to pay for goods they'll never receive.

This is a classic scam that happens worldwide, including in China. On our site, we try to build a trust network to reduce scams of this type.

Ways to buy goods from China

Generally, there are three ways to buy goods.

1. Hire a company in China that helps you find goods, inspects them during loading, and arranges delivery.
2. Buy directly from Chinese companies on your own from home.
3. Travel to China and buy goods with personal inspection.

In the rest of this article, we'll talk about the first two buying methods.

Buying with help from someone

If you want to order goods from China, our advice is to definitely hire someone to help you. In this way, for a relatively small fee, you get multiple benefits: greater security, the ability to check quantity and quality before loading, and potential savings since local companies can often find goods at better prices than you can on your own.

What a well-written purchase inquiry should include

If you want us to help you find a product, you need to provide the following information:

• A more detailed description of the product with the features and details it should meet (more details is better — a photo or link works too)
• The quantity you're interested in (price per unit usually depends on order size)
• The price per unit you think would make buying from China worthwhile (target price)

Without the details above, few people will start searching for the product you want.

Example of a bad inquiry

hello
how can we buy a concrete mixer?
hello
Axxxxx
0xxxxxxxx

Buying on your own

Of course, you can contact a Chinese seller on your own, pay them, and hope everything goes well. However, the risk is higher in this case.

We often get emails asking things like: we paid for the goods but never received them, or we received goods that were poor quality. Be especially careful with the third or fourth purchase from the same seller — that's when you gain confidence and want to buy a larger quantity for more money, which scammers often exploit.

Basic steps for verifying any company

1. Check the company registration.
2. Confirm business licenses.
3. Research the company's reputation.
4. Check their business history.
5. Confirm the company's physical address.
6. Request references.

Our contribution to verifying companies is marking links on our site to companies that had web presentations at the time we posted them on our site. Today, you can see if they still operate and confirm whether it's some type of scam.

We know that a company website, especially if it's just a presentation on a larger site like Alibaba, is absolutely not enough. A company you want to work with simply must have its own unique website. That's why our site only includes companies with their own presentation.

Since launching the Uvoz iz Kine site, we've noticed that many links to companies have disappeared, even though they were correct when we posted them. The reasons vary: domain expired, site neglected, domain changed, company failed, or — most often — scam activities. So we're introducing a Year-year label that shows how long a link to a company has been on our site.

Payment exclusively to the company account

Unlike many countries, China has a strict policy that every company must have its own bank account. This is one of the best indicators of whether a company is legal or not.

Beneficiary name: Zhou Jianming
Bank name: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Account No.: 35000********************
Swift Code: ICBKBJHLJ

or

Beneficiary name: Harbin Freedom Energy Sootblowing Co., Ltd
Bank name: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Account No.: 35000********************
Swift Code: ICBKBJHLJ

In the first example, the Beneficiary name is a personal name, and in the second, it's the company name. Export companies should have both a regular account and a foreign currency account. Never pay anyone for anything to a personal account in China, or do it at your own risk!

A company website reveals a lot

• Eliminate suppliers who don't have their own website.
• Check if they've shown the company's detailed address and if the city matches the phone number's dialing code — https://www.wayp.com/eng/china.htm can help as an online directory.
• Avoid companies that won't publish their address on their site.
• Check if the site has an "About us" page — avoid companies that don't introduce themselves.
• Search the internet for their website URL + "scam."
• High ranking on Google and an older domain are a plus.
• A site in both Chinese and English shows seriousness; be cautious with sites only in English.

Communication tips

In communication with a potential future partner:

1. never swear, insult based on race, or pledge to anything
2. provide contact details that help communication but don't allow misuse of financial data
3. write as correctly as possible in English, without slang or abbreviations
4. be clear, thorough, and precise in details — the more information you share, the better
5. use email from your company domain, not just free services (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.)

Government resources for verifying companies in China

State Administration for Market Regulation – SAMR

SAMR Official Website
This is the main page of the state administration that oversees the market, industry, and trade in China.

Ministry of Commerce – MOFCOM

MOFCOM Official Website
This page provides information on trade policies, industry standards, and economic data.
If you have doubts about trading with a Chinese company, you can contact them — they often respond quickly or direct you to the relevant institution.

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – CCPIT

If something goes wrong in your transaction and you can't resolve the issue with your partner, contact: CCPIT Official Website

CCPIT provides support to companies in international trade and investment.
Link for checking Chinese contract laws: http://www.china.org.cn/

Local administration for industry and commerce

If you're looking for information on local administrations, it's recommended to visit the official pages of provinces or cities in China. For example, for Shanghai, you can visit Shanghai Municipal Government.

If you know the province where your supplier is located, you should contact the local administration for industry and commerce directly. There, you can confirm whether the company is legally registered and whether it has a foreign trade certificate.

Every Chinese province has its own Administrative Bureau for Industry and Commerce. You can find contact links for these bureaus by province at the following links:

• Beijing - Beijing Administration for Market Regulation
• Shanghai - Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation
• Guangdong Province - Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation
• Zhejiang Province - Zhejiang Administration for Market Regulation
• Jiangsu Province - Jiangsu Administration for Market Regulation
• Fujian Province - Fujian Administration for Market Regulation
• Shandong Province - Shandong Administration for Market Regulation
• Sichuan Province - Sichuan Administration for Market Regulation
• Chongqing - Chongqing Administration for Market Regulation
• Tianjin - Tianjin Administration for Market Regulation
• Hubei Province - Hubei Administration for Market Regulation
• Hunan Province - Hunan Administration for Market Regulation
• Hebei Province - Hebei Administration for Market Regulation
• Henan Province - Henan Administration for Market Regulation
• Liaoning Province - Liaoning Administration for Market Regulation
• Shaanxi Province - Shaanxi Administration for Market Regulation
• Yunnan Province - Yunnan Administration for Market Regulation
• Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region - Guangxi Administration for Market Regulation
• Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region - Xinjiang Administration for Market Regulation
• Xiamen (Fujian Province) - Xiamen Administration for Market Regulation
• Shenzhen (Guangdong Province) - Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation
• Qingdao (Shandong Province) - Qingdao Administration for Market Regulation
• Dalian (Liaoning Province) - Dalian Administration for Market Regulation
• Ningbo (Zhejiang Province) - Ningbo Administration for Market Regulation

For many registries, you'll need to enter a verification code that includes Chinese characters, so count on that challenge too. If you lack data about your partner, ask them for as much information as possible — your money is at stake.

On local administration websites, you can also file a complaint if something wasn't right with the transaction.

How to verify Hongkong offshore companies

You've probably come across companies from Hongkong with addresses in China, mostly in the southern areas (Guangdong). These are called Hongkong offshore companies. The reasons for setting them up often include:

1. avoiding tax payments
2. looser rules for registering businesses compared to China

The danger is that these companies often don't have a physical presence in Hongkong, so in case of problems, you have no one to contact, and you're not protected by Chinese authorities because the company is formally Hongkong-based.

Here are some tips:

• call the company and check the dialing code (keep in mind calls can be redirected)
• visit them in person if possible — that's the safest
• pay attention to which banks they have accounts with
• check the company at this address: https://www.icris.cr.gov.hk/csci/

Further complaints and reporting scams

If you've been clearly scammed or believe you've been scammed, you should report the scam to your local police, as well as to the Internet Crime Center. This center is American, but no matter which country you're from, the report enters the international database.

On this site, you can find all types of online scams and how to recognize them.

Three categories of companies by reliability

To sum up — we can roughly divide companies into three categories:

1. Verified companies — cooperation is long-term and correct.
2. Companies that partially fulfilled the agreement — some goods are missing or there are misunderstandings about quality and timelines.
3. Companies to avoid — they deal in scams or operate unethically, asking for extra payment for already-paid goods, and so on.

The goal of the "trust network" is to get you to the first category as quickly as possible and avoid the third, with as few attempts and mistakes as possible.