About to pay a Chinese supplier? Check the entity behind the account first.

What we check before you pay

The selection covers ten record checks: identity matching, licences, certificates, taxpayer status, regulator inspections, dishonest-debtor records, penalties and abnormal-operation flags, terminated enforcement cases, consumption restrictions, and bankruptcy filings. Check each result against the entity you intend to pay. Returned records do not guarantee solvency or delivery.

The classic pre-payment trap is an entity chain that quietly forks. The company you vetted, the company on the contract, the company on the invoice and the bank beneficiary can be four different names. How to compare them is set out in a free guide. This check gives you the registry side of that comparison for the entity you name.

Compare the four parties yourself, before you pay

Copy the company names from your contract, invoice and bank instruction. Compare the wording and ask for evidence of any relationship between different entities. This tool cannot verify who owns a bank account.

Registered entity you checked optional

Do not have a registered Chinese name you checked yourself? Find candidate registered names from the English name, free, or ask the supplier for a photo of their business licence (营业执照). Names copied from the invoice belong in the fields below, not here.

Seller named on the contract Company issuing the invoice — as written on it Beneficiary on the bank instruction, the account holder name, never the account number Bank location on the instruction optional

The beneficiary name alone cannot show where the account sits. If the instruction names the bank’s city or territory, add it here, the comparison still runs entirely in your browser.

Two questions that change the reading

The payment instruction changed after it was first agreed I already hold written evidence of the relationship between these companies

Compare the parties

This runs entirely in your browser. The names you type are not transmitted, stored or logged, and we never ask for an account number. We count only that a comparison happened, never what was in it.

A comparison is not a verdict. It tells you whether the names line up. It cannot tell you whether an entity abroad exists, and it is not advice about this transaction. When the names do not line up, the next step is the supplier explaining the relationship in writing, and this free guide sets out what to ask for.

One measured figure sets the size of the problem this check is for. Of 106 Chinese manufacturers searched by registered English name, 42.5% returned nothing at all and 50.9% returned exactly one row. One row is what most buyers read as confirmation. 13.1% of the rows returned were Hong Kong registrations, not mainland ones. So the common failure is not an empty result. It is a single plausible result that nobody reconciled against the licence and the payee.

How to read a missing result

An empty search result does not clear a supplier. This sample shows why the report names the record queried and the gaps alongside the results.

This is a historical sample of three query types, not the contents of every payment check. Zero returned records does not prove there were no underlying issues. Check your selected items and the delivery and refund terms before ordering.

What this cannot show

• A matching identity does not mean the company is active, solvent or able to export. Status, scope and the court record are separate lines. That is why this check bundles them.
• No court result is not a payment guarantee. Records may be incomplete or delayed, and an unresolved problem may not have reached a court.
• It reads records about the entity you name. If the beneficiary on the payment instruction is a different company, that company needs its own check. A mismatch is the thing to resolve before paying, not after.
• It is not an escrow and does not touch your payment. We do not receive, hold or forward your payment to the supplier.

How it runs: no account, one private case

• 1. Build. Review the selected checks. Add or remove items and see the price before ordering.
• 2. Order. Email is optional. If you leave it blank, save your private case link: it is your way back to the order.
• 3. Track. One private link shows status, payment and the report. The order confirmation states the delivery window; the manual window in the terms applies if a line needs a person. Lines we cannot deliver are refunded in full.
• 4. Read. Read each result with its source, query date and limits. See a full specimen report.

Questions buyers ask

What should I check before paying a Chinese supplier?

Three things, in order. Match the registered entity and its current status to the company in your deal. Review the dated court and enforcement records already attached to that entity. Then reconcile the contract seller, invoice issuer and bank beneficiary. The first two are record checks. The third runs free in your browser on this page, because only you hold the payment instruction and it never needs to leave your screen.

The supplier's bank account is under a different company name. Is that fraud?

Not automatically. Affiliated export entities are common in China trade, and a third-party exporter of record can be legitimate. But it is the situation to resolve before money moves. Check the beneficiary entity itself. Ask for the relationship in writing. Treat an explanation that cannot be documented as the answer.

How fast is the check, and what do I get?

Delivery uses a private case link, with no account needed. The order confirmation states the delivery window. Every line names its source and query date, states what the record shows, why it matters, and what it cannot show. Lines we cannot deliver are refunded in full.

Start the payment check

A record check cannot approve a supplier, inspect goods or guarantee delivery.