Is my Chinese supplier a factory or a trading company?

Look up its business licence on China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn): a factory's registered scope lists production or processing (生产, 加工, 制造) of your kind of product, a trading company's lists only sales or import and export (销售, 进出口). Then check that the registered address is an industrial site and that the social-insurance headcount in its annual report fits the size it claims. Answer the seven questions below for a read on your supplier, or send us its name and Anvol, Inc. will look up its public record for free.

Updated 2026-10-28

1. Its business licence scope includes production or processing (生产 / 加工 / 制造) of your kind of productSearch the Chinese legal name or the 18-character credit code on gsxt.gov.cn. An English name is not enough. 2. The registered address is a factory building or industrial park, not an office towerPut the Chinese address into a map with street view or satellite. 3. The insured headcount in its latest annual report fits the size it claimsSocial-insurance (参保) headcount, in the annual report on the same site. A "200-worker factory" with 6 insured staff is not one. 4. It sells one family of processes, not everythingA factory is built around its machines: injection moulding, CNC, PCB assembly. A catalogue of unrelated products usually means it resells. 5. An engineer answered your process questions directlyAsk about tooling steel, the tolerance they can hold on your part, process order and machine models. 6. On a live video call they walked to the machine that would make your partAsk at a moment you pick, and ask them to show something specific: a nameplate, the floor next to it. 7. The quote, invoice and bank account are all in the licence's legal nameA Hong Kong or other company on the invoice can be a factory's export arm, but then it is the company you contract with: check it too.

A trading company is not a scam: it can be the right choice for small orders or many product types. You pay its margin and talk to the factory through it. We report each check as matches, does not match or could not check, and never call a supplier certain.

Send us one supplier, free

Our engineers in Shenzhen read the Chinese records directly. Within 2 business days we email you what its public record shows: legal Chinese name and credit code, registered scope, registered address, insured headcount, and which way that points. No call, nothing to buy.

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Every name and contact, no factory commissions · chris@anvol.dev