Most Indian importers who lose their deposit don't get scammed by a criminal mastermind. They get talked out of doing four checks that would have taken an afternoon.
New importers optimise hard for unit price and treat supplier verification as due diligence they'll "get to" once the deal looks good. This is backwards. The realistic downside of overpaying by 5% on unit price is a slightly worse margin. The realistic downside of an unverified supplier is a lost deposit, a shipment that doesn't match the sample, or goods that fail a certification requirement you were never told about. Verification isn't a formality that slows down a good deal — it's the thing that tells you whether it's a good deal at all.
| Layer | What it confirms | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Legal existence | The company is a real, registered entity | Cross-check against China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System |
| Manufacturing capability | Factory vs. trading company; actual production capability | Video walkthrough, or in-person/third-party factory audit |
| Production capacity | Can they hit your MOQ and timeline against their existing order book | Ask directly; cross-check against factory size and staff count observed |
| Trade history | Export experience, especially to India specifically | Ask for references or prior shipment documentation; platform trade-assurance history |
A supplier check that stops at layer one — confirming the business license exists — is not verification. Licenses are inexpensive to obtain and don't tell you whether the company can actually make your product to spec, at your volume, on your timeline. Go through all four layers before any meaningful deposit changes hands.
A significant share of Alibaba and 1688 listings are trading companies (sometimes called SOHO exporters) rather than factories. This isn't automatically a problem — a good trading company can consolidate multiple factories into a single shipment and handle export paperwork you'd otherwise manage yourself. The risk is not knowing which one you're dealing with, because it changes two things: your realistic minimum achievable price (a trading company's margin sits on top of the factory's own price) and where accountability sits if quality goes wrong (a factory owns the problem directly; a trading company has to go back to its own supplier, adding a layer and a delay). Ask directly, and cross-check the answer against the factory-walkthrough video — a trading company will usually struggle to arrange one on short notice for a factory it doesn't operate.
Beyond checking who you're paying, structure how you pay to limit downside. A staged deposit (commonly 30% deposit, 70% before shipment) means the supplier only sees the balance once goods are ready to ship — giving you leverage to withhold final payment if a pre-shipment inspection finds a problem. Where available, platform trade-assurance or escrow arrangements add a dispute-resolution layer a direct bank transfer doesn't have. For larger orders, a letter of credit shifts risk further toward the bank verifying conditions are met, though it adds cost and complexity that's usually only worth it at real volume.
A sample approved from photos or a video call is not a reliable predictor of a bulk order produced weeks later under different conditions. Get a physical sample shipped to India, inspect it against your written specification (not the supplier's description of it), and keep it as your reference standard. Negotiate sample-fee recovery against the eventual bulk order — suppliers rarely offer this unprompted, but it's a normal ask. For any order of real value, follow up with a pre-shipment inspection against that exact sample before the goods are loaded, not after they land in India.
Yes, to a meaningful degree — China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System lets you check business registration status for free, and video calls with a factory walkthrough catch a lot. What's harder to self-serve is trade-history verification and an in-person factory audit, which is where a local presence adds real value.
No — a business license confirms legal existence, not manufacturing capability, capacity, or trade history. It's a necessary first check, not a sufficient one.
For a new relationship, 30% deposit with the balance before shipment is common; it can sometimes be negotiated lower for a repeat category or a supplier eager for the business, but treat a supplier who insists on 100% upfront from a brand-new buyer as a real caution flag.
A live video walkthrough on request, cross-checked against the address on their business registration, is the most accessible check; for higher-value orders, a third-party or in-person factory audit confirms it definitively.
Send us the listing or the business details you have. We'll run all four verification layers and tell you honestly what we find — typically within 3–5 working days.
