How to Verify Canton Fair Suppliers Before Ordering

Appearing on the exhibitor list means a company took a booth. It does not mean that company manufactures everything on display. What you really need to know is who makes the product, who you will sign the contract with, and who is responsible for quality and delivery.

Canton Fair exhibitors include factories, trading companies and mixed models, and none of these is automatically bad. A trading company that openly names its partner factories, explains its quotation and handles quality control can still be a good partner. The risk is not the type of company. The risk is not knowing which type you are dealing with.

This guide is the verification half of a fair week. The fair itself — the three phases, what is in each, and how the switch-over days work — is in the Canton Fair buyer guide.

Step 1 — Capture the legal company details at the booth

Before you leave the booth, photograph or note:

• The full legal company name in Chinese, not only the English brand name.
• The 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code, if the licence is displayed or can be shown.
• The business card, with a direct phone number and email.
• The name of the person you spoke with, and their role.

Ask politely: “Could you send us a colour scan of your business licence showing the full page?” A cropped photo is not enough.

Step 2 — Check the company on the official registry

The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System is the official, free, public database of company registration records. Search by the exact Chinese legal name or the 18-digit code — English names usually return nothing.

Practical note: the site is in Chinese and its slider captcha can be hard to complete from a phone or from outside mainland China. If you cannot complete the search, a local assistant or a company-check service can do it for you.

Step 3 — Read the business scope, but do not over-trust it

Production wording in the business scope, next to the product category, is a good sign. Trade, wholesale or import/export wording suggests a trading business. Treat this as a screening signal, not proof: the scope is declared at registration, and some trading companies include production wording to keep their options open. A scope with no production terms at all tells you more than a scope that includes them.

Step 4 — Ask production questions a real factory can answer quickly

1. In which city is your factory?
2. Which production steps do you do in-house, and which do you outsource?
3. What are your main machines?
4. Where do you source your core raw materials?
5. Can you show me a short live video of the workshop today?
6. Can I visit your factory after the fair?

A supplier who answers clearly and offers a visit is a better candidate than one who stays vague. A booth displaying many unrelated categories at once, with staff who cannot explain production steps, is worth a closer look.

Step 5 — Compare the factory address with the registered address

The factory and the registered office are often in different places, so a mismatch is not automatically a red flag. But the supplier should be able to explain the relationship without difficulty. If they cannot name the factory address at all, note it.

Step 6 — Make sure the names match everywhere

Before you pay, check that the same legal company appears on:

• The business licence
• The quotation or proforma invoice
• The contract
• The bank account holder
• The company chop (seal)

If the bank account belongs to a different company or to a private individual, pause. Ask the supplier to explain in writing, and do not pay until you are satisfied.

Step 7 — Confirm with a factory visit for orders that matter

Documents and a booth conversation cannot show you the workshop. A visit lets you see equipment, raw materials, semi-finished goods, the finished goods warehouse and packaging. For larger or custom orders, schedule a visit before you commit — here is how to plan one, and if the shortlist came from the fair, this is the route from the booth to the factory floor. If you are still inside the fair, the three-day switch-over gaps between phases can carry one or two of those visits — here is what is realistic in them.