Start with the free national company registry, not with the documents the supplier sent you. A business licence photo proves that somebody has a licence; it does not prove that the company you are paying is the one in the photo. The registry entry and the two names on the payment instructions are what you compare.
The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn) is the official public registry, run by the market regulation authority. It is free and it needs no account. If that domain does not open from your country, search for the registry by its Chinese name instead of trusting a lookalike site.
The second source is the sanctions and export-control lists: OFAC, UK, EU, UN and the US BIS lists. These are name lists, so they answer a different question. You can run that part yourself on our free check, which needs no account.
Do both, and keep the date. A registry entry read today and a list checked today are worth more than either one read last year.
The registry shows the same fields that are printed on the licence. Read them against the story you have been told.
A registry entry that matches, a status that reads as active, a scope that covers your goods and a code that shows up on the invoice is the ordinary shape of a company worth dealing with. It is not a character reference. It means the identity checks out, which is exactly the part you can verify from outside.
Two things stay outside the registry even then: whether the bank account belongs to that legal person, and whether anything about the counterparty has changed since the entry was last updated. Both are answered by asking for the payment details in writing and comparing them to the registered name, and by repeating the lookup before the next payment.
| Field | What it proves | What a fake usually looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Company name | The exact legal name, in Chinese characters and in the registered Latin form if one exists | The name on the invoice, the name on the bank account and the name in the registry are three slightly different strings |
| Unified Social Credit Code | One 18-character identity for one legal person | No code at all, or a code that does not match the registry entry of the same name |
| Registered capital | The amount the owners committed to contribute, not money that has been paid in | A very large figure presented as proof of strength. Since 2014 most Chinese companies register on a subscription basis, so this number is often not paid-up cash |
| Establishment date | How long the legal person has existed | A company registered a few weeks ago taking a large first order, or a name that has been reused by a newer registration |
| Business scope | The activities the company is registered to carry out | Scope lists wholesale and retail of unrelated goods, but nothing covering the product being sold to you; or a trading company introduced as the factory |
| Registration status | Whether the company is still active | Status reads as deregistered or with its licence revoked, while the website is still taking orders |
| Registered address | The address on file, which may be a shared or serviced office | The same address returning dozens of unrelated companies, or an address that does not match where the goods are said to be made |
None of these fields is a verdict on its own. Two or more disagreeing with what you were told is the point at which you stop and ask, before any money moves.
No. A licence photo shows that a company exists. It does not show that the company exists today, that the scope covers your goods, or that the bank account you were given belongs to the same legal person. Check the registry entry yourself.
Reach it from a search for the registry's Chinese name rather than from a link in a message. Lookalike registry sites exist, and they are usually paid and incomplete.
Then there is no registered legal person to pay. Some sellers trade through a Hong Kong or offshore entity, which is a different registration in a different system. Ask which entity will issue the invoice and which entity owns the bank account.