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How to find and verify a manufacturer in China.
Where to look, how to tell a factory from a trading company, the seven checks that catch most problems before a deposit, and an honest answer on when you need an agent.
Search Alibaba, 1688.com, Made-in-China, or the Canton Fair and Yiwu markets to find a Chinese supplier, then confirm it is an actual factory, not a reseller. Check the business license on gsxt.gov.cn, match the registered address to a real production site, ask for a live video of the line, and get a paid sample before you commit to a bulk order.
Where to look for a manufacturer in China
Six channels cover most sourcing situations. None of them screens out resellers or scams for you. That is the next section's job.
| Channel | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba | First contact with hundreds of suppliers per category, fast quotes | Listings mix real factories with trading companies; a "Verified Supplier" badge confirms the business exists, not that it manufactures the product |
| 1688.com | China's domestic wholesale marketplace, often cheaper than the same supplier's Alibaba storefront | Chinese-language only, no buyer protection built for overseas orders, harder to vet without someone local |
| Made-in-China.com | Mid-size industrial and technical suppliers, machinery, components | Smaller pool than Alibaba, same verification limits |
| Canton Fair, Guangzhou (140th session, Oct 15-Nov 4, 2026, per the official Canton Fair site, accessed 2026-09-19) | Meeting people in person, handling product, judging a company's size and English level directly | Three phases cover different product categories; showing up for the wrong phase wastes the trip |
| Yiwu International Trade City | Small commodities, gifts, décor, low MOQ, thousands of stalls under one roof | Most stall operators are traders, not factories; strong for small-batch buys, weak for custom manufacturing |
| A sourcing agent on the ground | A shortlist already screened for export experience, faster than doing the legwork yourself | Only as reliable as the agent; ask exactly what they check (see below) |
Whichever channel you use, the verification work is the same. A supplier met at the Canton Fair still needs its license checked.
How to tell a factory from a trading company
A trading company buys from factories and resells to you, usually with English-speaking staff and lower minimum orders. A factory owns the production line. Neither label makes a supplier good or bad, but paying a trading company's price while believing you bought direct from the factory costs you margin.
| Signal | Factory | Trading company |
|---|---|---|
| Business scope on the license | Lists manufacturing or production | Lists wholesale, trading, or import-export |
| Product range | Narrow, usually one category | Broad, dozens of unrelated products in one storefront |
| Quote detail | References specific machines, materials, line capacity | Focuses on price and payment terms, vague on process |
| Registered address | Matches an industrial park or production zone | Often a city-center office building |
| Export history | Consistent volume in one product family | Scattered history across unrelated categories |
How common is this? Estimates vary widely: some sourcing blogs put the share of Alibaba's general-merchandise suppliers that are traders at 60 to 70%, others cite figures above 90%, according to KoiSourcing, SourcingArts, and Cheertone (accessed 2026-09-19). No independent audited study sets one number, and the ratio shifts by category, electronics and machinery skew more toward real factories than gifts or textiles. Treat any single percentage you read, including these, as directional, not exact.
A trading company is not automatically a bad deal, more on that further down. Either way, run the checks below before you pay a deposit.
7 checks to verify a Chinese supplier
Do these in order. Each one is cheap; skipping them is not.
- Check the business license on gsxt.gov.cn. Every legally registered Chinese company has an 18-character Unified Social Credit Code. Search that code, or the company's Chinese legal name, on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn), run by China's State Administration for Market Regulation. The result must show the same legal name, an active status, and the address the supplier gave you, per China Justice Observer and ChineseCheck (accessed 2026-09-19).
- Match the registered address to a real production site. Drop the address into a map service with satellite view. An industrial park with warehouse-sized buildings supports a factory claim. An office tower or residential block does not.
- Ask for export records. A supplier that has shipped abroad before can show past bills of lading or customs export declarations with the buyer's name redacted. No export history does not disqualify a small factory, but it means you are its test case.
- Verify certifications against the source. If the product needs CE, RoHS, BSCI, or an ISO certificate, get the certificate number and check it against the issuing body's own database, not a PDF alone that the supplier emails you. Scanned certificates get reused between suppliers.
- Request a live video call of the production line. Not photos, a live call, walking the floor, machines running, workers on shift. This is the hardest thing for a trading company posing as a factory to fake convincingly.
- Ask for references from other export clients. A factory with real export experience, including buyers in Europe, Russia, or North America, will have at least one reference willing to confirm the relationship existed.
- Get a paid sample before the bulk order. A supplier that stalls on shipping a paid sample will stall worse once you have wired a deposit for the full order.
Red flags that mean walk away
Any one of these is reason to keep looking.
- Refuses a video call of the factory floor, with a new excuse each time you ask
- Uses a personal email address (Gmail, QQ, Hotmail) instead of a company domain
- Quotes a price noticeably below every other supplier for the same spec, with no explanation. There is no reliable public threshold; treat any unexplained gap as a question to ask, not a bargain
- Will not share its business license number or registered address
- Pushes for payment to a personal bank account instead of the company's account
- Cannot answer basic production questions: monthly capacity, lead time, who supplies the raw material
When you need an agent
An agent is not the default answer. If you already have a verified factory, place repeat orders, and can negotiate and inspect in Mandarin yourself or through staff who can, you may not need one for every order.
Use an agent when:
- You are sourcing a first product and cannot tell which of several similar quotes comes from a real factory
- Your order size does not justify flying to Guangzhou or Yiwu yourself
- You need someone in China who can show up at the factory unannounced if something goes wrong
- You are ordering from more than one factory and want the shipments consolidated
Skip it when:
- You already have a verified supplier and place repeat orders on known terms
- Your order is small and low-risk enough to source directly, with a paid sample and a small first run
- You already have someone in China, staff, a partner, an existing agent, who can run the checks above
Haimai Global runs these checks for buyers sourcing out of Yiwu, on a single commission on the order value, no fixed fees. See what's included, how the process runs step by step on how it works, or send your product brief through the quote form. If you want the fee models compared in detail, read China sourcing agent fees explained.
Verification checklist
- Business license verified on gsxt.gov.cn, name and address match
- Registered address confirmed against a satellite view of an industrial site
- Export records or at least one verifiable reference obtained
- Certifications checked against the issuing body, not a PDF alone
- Live video call of the production line completed
- Paid sample received and matches the spec
- None of the red flags above apply
Questions
Is a trading company always worse than a factory?
No. A trading company can be the right choice for small volumes across several product types, or when the factory itself has no export department and only sells through agents, which is common in China. The problem is not the trading company, it is paying factory price while believing you bought direct. Confirm which one you are dealing with, then price accordingly.
Can I trust a supplier's Alibaba "Verified Supplier" badge?
A verified badge confirms Alibaba checked that the business is registered and its documents are genuine. It does not confirm the company manufactures what it sells, or that the factory shown in its photos is its own. Run the 7 checks above regardless of the badge.
How long does proper verification take?
Budget one to two weeks for a first-time supplier: a few days for the license and address checks, a scheduled video call, and time for the factory to produce and ship a sample. Rushing this to save a week costs far more if a deposit is lost. More questions are answered on our FAQ page.