Scams are rare relative to the sheer volume of legitimate trade that moves between China and the rest of the world every day — but when they happen, they're expensive, and first-time buyers are the most common target. The good news is that almost every China sourcing scam follows one of a handful of recognizable patterns. Learn the patterns, and you can screen out the risk before you ever send a deposit.
The personal-account payment request
Legitimate factories get paid through a business bank account tied to their registered company name — that's how they pay their own suppliers, staff, and taxes. A request to wire money to a personal account, or to a personal Alipay or WeChat, is the single most common pattern in supplier scams. If the deal falls apart afterward, there's no verifiable company on the other end to chase, and no paper trail tying the payment to a real business.
The quote that's dramatically lower than everyone else's
An outlier-low price on an otherwise identical spec usually means one of three things: the supplier is quoting a lower spec than you asked for and hoping you won't notice, they're planning a bait-and-switch after your deposit clears, or the listing was never backed by real production capacity in the first place. Get the exact spec confirmed in writing before comparing quotes — a price that looks too good almost always is.
Refusing a video call or live factory walkthrough
A real factory has nothing to hide about its production floor, and most are used to buyers asking for a quick video call before committing to a first order. Refusing this request doesn't prove fraud on its own — some legitimate smaller workshops are simply camera-shy — but combined with any other flag on this list, it's a strong signal to slow down and verify further.
Pressure to pay 100% upfront
The industry-standard structure is a deposit — commonly 30% — before production starts, with the balance due before or at shipment. A supplier who insists on full payment upfront, especially early in the relationship, is removing your only real leverage if the goods don't show up, don't match the sample, or never ship at all.
How to protect yourself
- •Ask for the business license (营业执照) and verify the registration number independently before sending any payment
- •Insist on a business bank account for payment — never a personal account or personal payment app
- •Request a video call or live walkthrough of the actual production floor, not just photos
- •Get the exact product spec confirmed in writing, then compare quotes like-for-like rather than by headline price alone
- •Stick to standard deposit + balance terms — a 30% deposit before production, balance before shipment, is normal and reasonable to ask for
- •Order a paid sample before committing to a bulk order, even if it costs a little more upfront
None of these checks take more than a day or two to run, and together they catch the overwhelming majority of supplier scams before any money changes hands. This is essentially the same checklist a sourcing agent runs before ever recommending a factory — if you'd rather have someone else run it for you, that verification is built into how we vet every supplier we work with.