What a China supplier check actually costs, and what you get for the money

Short answer: on the open market a desk check runs $200-500, a basic on-site verification audit $200-500, a full technical quality audit $400-1,000, and the large inspection firms charge $600-1,500 and up for the same day of work. Remote video audits sit at $100-250.

There is no shortage of articles explaining how to verify a Chinese supplier. There is a shortage of articles telling you what it costs and what you actually receive at the end. This one is the second kind.

What the market charges

Type of check	Market price	What it usually covers
Remote or video audit	$100-250	a walk-through on camera, guided by the supplier
Desk check	$200-500	registry, licence, court records, credit report
Basic on-site verification	$200-500	one visit, does the factory exist and match the claim
Full technical quality audit	$400-1,000	process, equipment, capacity, quality system
SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek	$600-1,500+	the same visit under a global brand
Social compliance audit	$1,000-2,500	separate scope, usually required by the buyer’s own customers

Our prices sit deliberately inside this: $300 for a desk check, $500 for the extended version, $500 for a day at a factory in Guangdong. Outside Guangdong travel is added at cost.

Why the big names cost two to three times more

You are not buying a better pair of eyes. You are buying a name your own customer will accept, a global escalation path, and an audit trail that survives a dispute. If a retailer or a certification body is going to read your report, pay for the brand.

If the report is for you, so that you can decide whether to wire the deposit, the brand adds nothing. The inspector who shows up is a local contractor either way. What differs is who trained them and who you call when something goes wrong.

What should be in the report

This is where cheap checks quietly fail. A report that lists documents is not a check, it is a photocopy service. A usable report answers questions in this order:

1. Is this a real registered company? Unified Social Credit Code, licence status, registered capital, date of establishment.
2. Is it a manufacturer or a trader? The business scope on the licence says one or the other, and the difference decides your margin and your control over quality.
3. Is the entity you are talking to the entity that will invoice you? The name on the bank account has to match the licence. Most payment scams live in this gap.
4. What does the record say? Court cases, enforcement actions, unpaid judgments, administrative penalties.
5. Does the physical site match the story? Address, floor space, machines, workers, what was actually running on the day.
6. What do other buyers say? References, and whether previous customers stayed.
7. The verdict. One paragraph, in plain language: proceed, proceed with conditions, or do not pay.

If the last line is missing, you have bought data and you still have to make the decision alone.

What a check cannot tell you

Honesty is cheaper than a refund, so: a check is a photograph, not a guarantee. It tells you what was true on the day. A factory that passes in March can be sold, moved or overloaded by September. Nothing about a good report removes the need for an inspection before shipment, and nothing removes the need for a contract.

Two more limits worth knowing. Credit reports on Chinese companies reflect what has been filed, not what is true. And a clean court record can simply mean the company is young.

When each check is worth it

• First order, under $5,000: desk check. The point is to avoid paying a company that does not exist.
• First order over $5,000, or a new category: desk check plus one day on site. You want to know whether the machines exist before the deposit leaves.
• Recurring supplier, growing volumes: full technical audit once, then inspections before each shipment.
• You are being asked to pay a different company than the one on the licence: stop and check that first. Everything else can wait.

What we do differently

Two things, and neither is magic.

The report ends with a verdict, not a folder. We write what we would do with our own money.

And the person who goes to the factory is ours, not a contractor found for the job. Twelve years of buying in Guangdong means we usually know someone who has already dealt with the factory, and that off-record answer is often worth more than the paperwork.

If you have a supplier in front of you and a deposit to pay, send us the company name in Chinese and the licence if you have it. We will tell you what the check would cost and what it would cover before you commit to anything.