Global buyer sequenceBefore any deposit
The China supplier verification sequence: fourteen numbered checks.
Advice on checking a Chinese supplier is scattered across trade-body guides, sourcing-agent blogs, platform help pages and forum answers. Each covers part of the work. This page carries the whole order in one place, and states for every step what it proves and what it still does not.
BUYER SEQUENCE / V1–V14
Run these in order, before the deposit.
Why the order exists in this form: the two most widely cited industry guides to the changed-bank-account fraud both stop at telephone confirmation. One asks for a stamped written explanation when the invoice name differs. It does not compare that name with the business licence. Neither guide checks the licence or the 18-character code at the payment step. One of them notes that the fraudulent account is usually opened under a company whose name differs slightly from the seller, which is the observation without the remedy. Steps V1, V2 and V9 below are that remedy.
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V1 · STEP 01
Collect the legal identity
Ask for the current business licence and copy the registered Chinese name, the 18-character code and the registered address. Keep any English trading name as an alias, not as the identity.
What it proves. Fixes which legal entity the supplier is claiming to be, so every later check has one subject.
What it does not prove. A licence photo proves none of: that the company exists, that the licence is genuine, or that the person who sent it may act for that company. Read the detail
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V2 · STEP 02
Recalculate the check character
Check the code is 18 characters from the permitted set, then recompute the 18th from the first 17 under GB 32100-2015. A mistyped or invented code fails arithmetic offline.
What it proves. The string satisfies the structural rule and the check equation, so an invented or mistyped code is caught before any lookup.
What it does not prove. A code copied from another company's licence passes. Passing proves the string is well-formed, never that it belongs to this supplier or that the company is trading. Read the detail
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V3 · STEP 03
Match the registry record
Obtain a dated registry record — yourself or through someone China-side — and compare the Chinese name, code, status, address and business scope against what you were told.
What it proves. That the source consulted returned, on the stated query date, registration facts matching the identity you were given.
What it does not prove. Nothing about actual operations, capacity, who may act, or future performance. An empty result is not proof the company is unregistered. Read the detail
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V4 · STEP 04
Compare the business scope
Read the registered business-scope wording against what the supplier claims, especially a claim to be the factory. Trading-only wording cannot support a manufacturing claim.
What it proves. Whether the registered wording is consistent with the claim being made about this supplier.
What it does not prove. Manufacturing wording does not prove an owned plant, and scope wording says nothing about capacity for your specific order. Read the detail
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V5 · STEP 05
Review adverse records
Query current and historical abnormal-operation listings, administrative penalties and enforcement records. Read each one for reason, date, status and outcome.
What it proves. Which events the consulted source recorded publicly, and what each record says.
What it does not prove. An empty result is not a clean record, and a record is not proof of fraud. Neither exhausts debts nor establishes solvency. Read the detail
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V6 · STEP 06
Check who may sign
Identify who is signing for the company and in what role, ask for the basis of their authority, and confirm it through a channel you chose rather than one they supplied.
What it proves. Builds an evidence chain of signer, claimed authority and independent confirmation.
What it does not prove. A legal-representative field, a chop photo or a job title proves none of actual authority, chop authenticity or contract validity. Read the detail
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V7 · STEP 07
Test the production claim
Establish who actually produces, where, with what process and capacity, and what is subcontracted. Commission a scoped on-site check where it matters.
What it proves. Within the evidence date and the scope checked, supports a judgement about capability for this order and about each party's role.
What it does not prove. Video does not prove site control, and a past audit does not guarantee a future batch. Read the detail
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V8 · STEP 08
Tie evidence to this order
Fix the specification and the sample baseline, then verify each certificate or report with its issuer: who holds it, its status, its scope, and whether it covers your model, material and destination.
What it proves. What the documents actually cover, and what the sample and test results can support for this order.
What it does not prove. A certificate is not batch conformity, a management-system certificate is not a product certificate, and none of it proves import requirements are met. Read the detail
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V9 · STEP 09
Reconcile the four names
Put the licence, the contract seller and signature block, the invoice issuer and the bank beneficiary side by side. Where a name differs, get documented evidence linking the entities and confirm it independently.
What it proves. Whether the four names agree, and what written relationship supports any difference.
What it does not prove. Matching names prove none of account ownership, chop authenticity, payment authority or that the money is safe. Read the detail
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V10 · STEP 10
Confirm any change to payment instructions
If bank details or payment instructions change at any point, pause and confirm them through a contact channel you obtained independently of the change request — never through the channel that carried it.
What it proves. That the changed instruction was confirmed by the counterparty through a route the requester did not control.
What it does not prove. Confirmation does not prove the account belongs to the supplier, nor that the original instruction was ever safe. Read the detail
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V11 · STEP 11
Read the platform's own limits
Open the report behind the badge and the protection terms for this order: subject, date, scope, payment route and claim conditions. Save what you read.
What it proves. What the badge report assessed, and which protections the order terms actually list.
What it does not prove. A badge does not guarantee this order, does not assure a refund, and off-platform payment is generally not covered at all. Read the detail
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V13 · STEP 12
Screen the party against the lists that bind you
Run the supplier's registered Chinese name, and any parent or affiliate it discloses, against the restricted-party and forced-labour lists your own customs authority enforces against you as the importer. Record which list, which version date, and what came back.
What it proves. Whether the entity you are about to pay appeared, on the day you looked, on a list your own border agency acts on.
What it does not prove. A clear screen covers the name you entered and the list version you read. It says nothing about suppliers further up the chain, about entries added after your check, or about whether a shipment will be released. Read the detail
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V14 · STEP 13
Reconcile the exporter on the transport documents
Read the shipper or consignor named on the proforma invoice, the bill of lading and the export declaration, and set it beside the seller on your contract. Where a third party exports on the supplier's behalf, ask for the written arrangement and confirm it through a channel you already trust.
What it proves. Which entity is presented to customs as the exporter, and what written arrangement supports it differing from your contract party.
What it does not prove. An agreed export agent is ordinary practice, not a warning sign. A matching exporter still proves nothing about who owns the goods, who receives the money, or whether the shipment exists. Read the detail
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V12 · STEP 14
Record the limits and the decision
Summarise sources, dates, unresolved items and what the whole sequence still cannot prove. Record who decided, and whether this order proceeds, pauses or escalates.
What it proves. The evidence the decision rested on, the limits carried forward, and who owns the next step.
What it does not prove. None of this constitutes supplier certification, a delivery guarantee, or any assurance of recovering money. Read the detail
LIMITS / SUMMARY
What the whole sequence still cannot prove.
| Step | Check | What it still does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| V1 | Collect the legal identity | A licence photo proves none of: that the company exists, that the licence is genuine, or that the person who sent it may act for that company. |
| V2 | Recalculate the check character | A code copied from another company's licence passes. Passing proves the string is well-formed, never that it belongs to this supplier or that the company is trading. |
| V3 | Match the registry record | Nothing about actual operations, capacity, who may act, or future performance. An empty result is not proof the company is unregistered. |
| V4 | Compare the business scope | Manufacturing wording does not prove an owned plant, and scope wording says nothing about capacity for your specific order. |
| V5 | Review adverse records | An empty result is not a clean record, and a record is not proof of fraud. Neither exhausts debts nor establishes solvency. |
| V6 | Check who may sign | A legal-representative field, a chop photo or a job title proves none of actual authority, chop authenticity or contract validity. |
| V7 | Test the production claim | Video does not prove site control, and a past audit does not guarantee a future batch. |
| V8 | Tie evidence to this order | A certificate is not batch conformity, a management-system certificate is not a product certificate, and none of it proves import requirements are met. |
| V9 | Reconcile the four names | Matching names prove none of account ownership, chop authenticity, payment authority or that the money is safe. |
| V10 | Confirm any change to payment instructions | Confirmation does not prove the account belongs to the supplier, nor that the original instruction was ever safe. |
| V11 | Read the platform's own limits | A badge does not guarantee this order, does not assure a refund, and off-platform payment is generally not covered at all. |
| V13 | Screen the party against the lists that bind you | A clear screen covers the name you entered and the list version you read. It says nothing about suppliers further up the chain, about entries added after your check, or about whether a shipment will be released. |
| V14 | Reconcile the exporter on the transport documents | An agreed export agent is ordinary practice, not a warning sign. A matching exporter still proves nothing about who owns the goods, who receives the money, or whether the shipment exists. |
| V12 | Record the limits and the decision | None of this constitutes supplier certification, a delivery guarantee, or any assurance of recovering money. |
Running all fourteen produces a dated, reviewable record. It is not supplier certification, not a delivery guarantee, and not an assurance that money can be recovered. Buyers import under their own country’s rules, and this page is not legal or compliance advice. Currawong is the trading name of 济南深与国际贸易有限公司.