How to verify a Chinese supplier: a checklist for Canadian importers

Five checks, all but the last free

1. Match the business licence to the company on your invoice.
2. Look for real export shipments under the supplier's name.
3. Check every certificate at the body that issued it.
4. Ask the Trade Commissioner Service and EDC, at no charge.
5. Book an on-site audit before a large first order.

The business licence comes first

Every Chinese company has an 18-character unified social credit code and a registered Chinese name. Ask the supplier for both, then look them up. The official registry is China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn), run by the State Administration for Market Regulation. It asks for a real-name login tied to a Chinese ID number and phone number. QCC, the international service of Qichacha, shows the same registry record in English with free daily searches and no sign-up: status, date of incorporation, address, shareholders and directors.

Four fields carry the weight. The status reads active, not revoked or deregistered. The legal name matches the name on the invoice and on the bank account you pay. The business scope printed on the licence covers manufacturing of your product; a scope limited to wholesale and import-export points to a trading company. The registration date and registered capital fit the size of the order. A licence proves the company exists, not that it makes your product.

Shipping records show who really exports

ImportYeti is a free search over about 70 million US sea-freight bills of lading released under the US Freedom of Information Act, back to 2015. A factory that has shipped to American buyers appears there with dates, product descriptions and customers. A supplier that ships dozens of unrelated product lines is a trading company. An empty result is not proof of fraud: air shipments, Canadian imports and importers who requested confidentiality are not in the data.

Certificates are only as good as the issuer's database

An ISO 9001 certificate is checked on IAF CertSearch, the global database of accredited management-system certificates. Product safety marks such as CSA, cUL and ETL are checked in the certifier's own online listing, by file number and factory name. An Alibaba Gold Supplier badge is a paid membership: it confirms a registered business at a stated address, not product quality or a clean legal record.

Two Canadian services cost nothing

The Trade Commissioner Service in China runs a preliminary check on a local company from its Chinese name and office phone number: registration with the local market regulator, registered capital, chief representative and years in business. It does not do full background checks; it refers buyers to firms that do. Export Development Canada's Company InSight covers more than 100,000 international businesses and is free with a MyEDC account.

An audit settles what records cannot

Records describe a company; an auditor sees the factory. Third-party inspection firms publish their rates: V-Trust charges US$398 per man-day and QIMA starts at US$669, travel included. One day on site confirms that the factory exists, has the machines and staff to make your product and runs basic quality control. On a US$10,000 first order, that day costs 4 to 7 percent of the order.

The Canada import check runs the registry, shipment-record and certificate checks for one supplier, together with the product's HS code and landed cost.