I walked into a factory in Zhejiang last year. The owner was proud. Clean white desk. Digital calipers still in their foam packaging. Nobody at the QC station. It was 10:30 AM on a Tuesday. I said nothing. But I knew: this was not a factory. This was a showroom with a production line behind glass.
The company you find online may not be the factory. Most Alibaba suppliers are trading companies. Some disclose this. Most do not. Here is how to tell which one you are talking to.
Check the business license. Every Chinese company has a unified social credit code. Enter it on the National Enterprise Credit Information system. Look at the registered address. Is it in an industrial zone? A factory in a residential building is not a factory. Look at the business scope. Does it say manufacturing or trading? Look at the registered capital. One hundred thousand RMB is a desk. Ten million RMB is a factory.
Watch the video call. Do not accept a pre-recorded tour. Ask them to walk from the QC station to the raw material warehouse in one continuous shot. A factory that can do this is real. A trading company will say the warehouse is in another building. Ask to see the defect bin. Every real factory has rejected parts somewhere. A factory that says they never have rejects has never inspected anything.
Count the people at the QC desk. It is 10:30 AM on a weekday. The QC station should be occupied. Production is running. Parts are coming off the line. Someone should be measuring. An empty QC chair means QC happens only when customers visit. That is not QC. That is theater.
Ask for a reference call with an existing customer. Not a testimonial. A phone call with someone who received product from this factory. A factory that refuses is hiding something. A factory that gives you a reference who speaks only Chinese and hangs up after 30 seconds gave you their cousin.
The gap between what a factory looks like on a website and what it looks like on the floor is the most expensive gap in importing. Close it before you send money.
Written by Xinya Zhang. I walk factory floors in China so my clients do not send deposits to showrooms. Tell me what you are sourcing