DOMAIN LOOKUPS
WHOIS domain age does not reveal a supplier's company age
Use WHOIS or RDAP to read domain dates and available contact details. Hidden contacts or a failed lookup do not establish who runs the supplier website.
Field notesCN / WORLD
Understand your supplier’s records.
Choose the document or claim you need to check: a licence photo, company name, capital figure or factory address. Each guide explains what to compare and what still needs separate evidence. For a record lookup, start with the China company registry guide. For datasets and methods, see the research index.
Choose the document or claim to check
- No “safe supplier” guarantees
- Sources and dates on every note
- Limits stated, not hidden
NOTES / 01
Published notes.
Choose a question below. For the underlying datasets, methods and limits, see the research index.
2026-08-09
LICENCE PHOTOS
A genuine Chinese licence can belong to a different seller
Compare the name and code on the photo with a dated record. The image alone does not authenticate the document or its sender.
THE LICENCE ITSELF
Chinese business licence: identity is not factory capacity
Find the company name, code, address, status and capital fields. Learn what each field means before comparing it with your order documents.
FACTORY OR TRADER
Factory vs trader: business scope cannot settle the choice
Read the registered business scope, then seek evidence about the production site. A registration record alone does not prove who makes your order.
REGISTERED CAPITAL
Registered vs paid-in capital: neither is cash on hand
Separate subscribed capital, paid-in contributions and cash available for your order. Check the relevant dates before interpreting a capital change.
STATUS LINE
China company status: revoked does not mean deregistered
存续, 在业, 吊销, 注销: what each state means for a buyer, and why revoked-but-not-deregistered is the one that catches people mid-deal.
SCOPE LINE
Import-export scope wording does not prove export history
Read import-export wording in its dated context. The scope line alone does not establish current export eligibility or identify the exporter for your order.
CONTRACTING IDENTITY
China contracts: the signer need not be the legal rep
How to keep a public legal-representative field, a deal signatory and supplier-provided role statements as separate dated evidence records—without deciding signing authority or contract validity.
ENTITY HISTORY
41 of 45 selected company codes returned change records
How to keep an official company change, the current record and deal documents as dated evidence lines—without treating a change as proof of fraud or supplier risk.
ENTITY IDENTITY
China supplier names vs codes: names change, codes stay
How to preserve an English sales label, Chinese legal entity, Unified Social Credit Code and deal documents as four dated evidence lines—without converting a match into a safety verdict.
SOURCING RISK
A registered address does not prove a factory site
How to keep an official registered address and a claimed production site as two dated evidence questions—without calling an address difference proof of fraud or proof of a factory.
PUBLIC RECORDS
China abnormal-list entries stop displaying after removal
How three China-side public-record categories become dated questions, not a composite judgement about a supplier, factory or transaction.
FACTORY SHOWCASE
Factory profiles need site evidence beyond registration
The evidence threshold for a future public profile: legal identity, named site relationship, scoped product and document evidence, commercial boundaries, dated sources and visible gaps.
SOURCING RISK
Chinese business scope cannot prove who makes your goods
What the 经营范围 line can and cannot tell you before you pay for any deeper check. It stays a wording signal, never proof of where your order is made.
Research behind these notes
| Measurement | What it establishes | Frame | Taken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered-scope count | 197 of 264 saved records contained import-export wording (74.6%) | Saved 264-name frame; original-list checks remain open | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Change-log count | 145 of 264 had a change in the prior 12 months (54.9%); median source-reported lifetime count: 39 | Same 264 companies | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Official-source availability | Five of eight target hosts returned no HTTP 200 in the three recorded rounds; this did not test a company search | 8 hosts: 3 browser-user-agent rounds and an extra CLI request; 2 controls | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Check-character strength | Injected single-character errors detected in this experiment: USCI 100%, VIN 92.5% | 1,080,000 USCI and 1,088,000 VIN single-character substitutions; fixed seed | 9 Aug 2026 |
| Name-search result counts | 45 of 106 names returned no candidate (42.5%); 54 returned one (50.9%); 7 returned several (6.6%) | 106 selected names queried through a commercial source; a candidate is not confirmed identity | 18 Aug 2026 |
These articles explain what registry fields mean. These are the measurements they draw on when a number is quoted, so you can see what sits behind the number instead of taking it on faith.
Some guides reuse the same samples
Several guides ask different questions about the same selected company records. Reusing a sample does not provide independent confirmation. When you cite a result, include its source, observation date and sample limits. Find the datasets and methods in the research index.
NEXT CHECK
Reading a supplier?
Run the free first-pass checks.
Paste the Chinese company name and business scope for a free wording screen; it does not verify the company. Self-service reports use a licensed business-information platform when available. Request a separate manual check when you need an official-source recheck.