Service · China & Hong Kong counterparty check
Know who you are paying, and what still needs to be proved
Before the deposit leaves your account, Sinospect examines the supplier, any separate invoicing company, the beneficiary instructions and the person negotiating your order, establishes how they connect to your transaction, tests the evidence that the factory can make what you are buying, and tells you what the evidence supports and what remains unresolved. A named analyst prepares the file and a reviewer signs the recommendation and the conditions for the order. Desk work from Ningbo and Hong Kong, four business days, report in English or French.
- Buyer-side control point
- Before the advance or milestone payment
- Turnaround
- Four business days after payment and the last document
- Fee
- USD 490 one Mainland entity · USD 690 with a Hong Kong company · paid in advance
- Report language
- English or French · registers read in Chinese
Quick answers
What does pre-payment due diligence on a Chinese supplier cover?
The object of the check is the relationship between the parties: how the supplier, any invoicing company, the beneficiary instructions and the person negotiating connect to your order. Each of them can be real while the connection between them is unproven. The two companies behind the quotation are read at their registers, the supplied payment instructions and the person you are dealing with are compared with those filings, the evidence for the factory's claimed role and capability is tested against business scope, licences, certificates and export records, the published court, enforcement and penalty records are searched with their limits stated, and the file closes with cleared, cleared with conditions, or not cleared, plus the clauses the order should carry. The report supports the buyer’s decision on this transaction.
| Layer | What it settles | Read at |
|---|---|---|
| Entity | Registration, status, capital, business scope, legal representative, shareholders, and the same for any Hong Kong company that invoices for the factory | GSXT, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System; Hong Kong Companies Registry e-Services Portal and Inland Revenue business registration |
| Money and people | Account name and jurisdiction stated in the supplied payment instructions compared with the registered contracting entity; the negotiator’s name and role compared with the filings, with the findings of a call-back where you authorise one and an independently sourced number exists | Bank details, proforma or draft agreement supplied by you; registry records; call-back where authorised |
| Capability | Whether the evidence supports this entity making this equipment: business scope against the product, production licences the equipment class needs, certificates checked with the issuing body, export record, site footprint, manufacturer or trading company; capability the desk leaves open is named for the next control | Licence and certificate registries, customs credit records, satellite and street imagery, supplier documents |
| Litigation and enforcement | Published judgments, enforcement entries, dishonest-debtor listings, administrative penalties and abnormal-operation records on both entities, each reported as a dated search with its limits | China Judgments Online, the enforcement information platform, Credit China; Hong Kong Judiciary cause lists and the Gazette |
| Verdict and conditions | Cleared, cleared with conditions, or not cleared, each finding weighted, and the conditions written for the order: milestone split, acceptance gate, stop rule on any change of account | Prepared by a named analyst and reviewed before issue; certification page signed |
Documentary review from Ningbo and Hong Kong, with registers and documents read in the original language. Further factory checks are scoped separately when required.
How does this differ from a company verification report bought online?
Online reports return register fields on one Mainland entity, usually automated, for a few tens or hundreds of dollars, and leave the decision to you. Sinospect reads both companies behind the quotation, compares the supplied payment instructions and the person with the filings, tests the evidence that the factory can make the equipment on order, and writes the verdict with the conditions for the purchase order. The same team can then continue in the factory when a finding calls for it.
What does the check cost and how long does it take?
USD 490 for one Mainland contracting entity, USD 690 when a Hong Kong contracting or invoicing company is added, and USD 190 for a 48-hour beneficiary-and-entity check when a supplier you already work with sends new bank details. The fee is paid in advance by bank transfer or card, and the report follows four business days after the later of the payment and the last of your documents. For context, automated register products sell at roughly USD 10 to 50, manually researched single-entity reports at USD 100 to 400, and a lawyer's legal opinion at USD 1,500 to 2,500.
01 · Scope
Where Sinospect intervenes
The check examines the counterparty you are about to pay. It starts from the documents you already hold, the quotation or proforma, the draft agreement, the registration papers the supplier showed you and the bank details you were given, and reads each of them against the public record.
Engaged when
- A deposit or milestone payment is due to a supplier you have not met, under a quotation, a proforma or a draft manufacturing agreement.
- The quotation, the contract and the bank details name different companies, or a Hong Kong company invoices for a Mainland factory.
- The supplier has sent new bank details, or asks to be paid through a third company or a personal account.
- A partner, a board, a bank or a tender file needs an independent record on the counterparty before the transfer is approved.
02 · Controls and evidence
Control points checked
Control point
Both entities checked at the official registers
The Mainland licence is read at GSXT for status, registered capital, business scope, legal representative and shareholders; the Hong Kong company at the Companies Registry e-Services Portal and the Inland Revenue business register for incorporation, standing, directors and annual returns. The papers the supplier gave you are then compared with the record, and any difference is a finding in its own right.
Control point
Payment instructions compared with the company records
Account name compared character for character with the registered legal name, bank and jurisdiction compared with the seat of the contracting company, and the invoicing party compared with the party that signs the agreement. A personal account, a third company or a second jurisdiction is recorded as a stop condition. The finding records consistency between the supplied payment instructions and company records, together with the call-back findings where one was made. Whether the receiving bank has confirmed the account holder is stated separately; without that confirmation, the finding is documentary consistency, which is what a desk check establishes.
Control point
The negotiator located in the filings
The name and role you were given are searched in both companies' filings, the person's authority to bind the company is stated, and, where you authorise it, a call-back on an independently sourced company number records whether the company confirms the person's role, with the limits of the Hong Kong register stated plainly.
Control point
Evidence of capability to produce the equipment
Business scope read against the product on order, production or export licences the equipment class requires, ISO and product certificates checked with the issuing body, customs credit rating and export record, and the site footprint on imagery, so a trading company presenting another factory's line, or a scope that leaves out the equipment, shows in the evidence before the deposit. Capability the desk leaves open is named for the next control at the factory.
Control point
Courts, enforcement lists and penalties searched on both sides
China Judgments Online, the enforcement information platform and Credit China for the Mainland company; the Judiciary cause lists and the Gazette for the Hong Kong company. Each entry is weighted as clear, noted low, noted material or failing, and the weighting is explained. A no-record result is reported as a dated search with its sources and limits.
Evidence reviewed
Evidence read for the check
Each material finding records its source, date and limitation, using five grades: verified at the register, corroborated, no adverse record in the searched sources, asserted by the supplier only, or unanswered. The report records any certificate or document whose issuer verification remains unresolved. It identifies open questions and the evidence needed to resolve them; the reviewer assesses the verdict against the available evidence.
- Public registers
- GSXT record, court and enforcement platforms, Credit China, customs credit record.
- Hong Kong Companies Registry e-Services record, business registration enquiry, Gazette.
- Your documents
- Quotation or proforma, draft agreement, registration papers as shown by the supplier, bank details, the negotiator's name and role.
- Capability evidence
- Licences and certificates checked with the issuing body, export record, site imagery, and the supplier's technical file where one exists.
03 · Deliverables
Deliverables issued
Deliverable
For · Buyer, partner or boardThe due-diligence report
Six to eight pages. The first page states the transaction assessed, the material findings, the strength of the evidence behind each one, the questions still open, and the recommendation with its conditions. The evidence annex and the seven scope sections follow, and the certification page is signed by the preparing analyst and the reviewer.
Deliverable
For · Whoever signs the agreementVerdict with conditions for the order
Cleared, cleared with conditions, or not cleared, and the conditions written as clauses: milestone split, acceptance gate before the balance, the account to pay and the stop rule on any change.
Deliverable
For · FinanceDocumentary review of payment instructions
The account name, bank and jurisdiction stated in the supplied payment instructions, their consistency with company records, the call-back findings where one was made, whether any bank-originated confirmation of the account holder exists, and the steps to take if different instructions are proposed.
Deliverable
For · Project ownerNext step, if one is needed
Where a finding cannot be settled from the desk, the report names the next control in the same order: a recorded video verification, a one-day visit, or a witnessed acceptance test, each quoted separately.
04 · Risks controlled
Risks controlled
Risk
The deposit goes to an account that is not the contracting entity's, through a redirected email or a third company presented as the supplier's collector.
Control response
The account name is matched character for character with the registered entity, the jurisdiction with its seat, and any later change is treated as a stop condition to be confirmed by voice on a number held before the change or independently sourced.
Risk
The agreement is signed with a Hong Kong company that neither owns nor controls the factory, so the remedies sit against an entity with no assets.
Control response
The link between the two companies is established from shareholders and directors on both registers, and where none exists the verdict says so and the conditions bring the factory into the order.
Risk
The licence is real but the company cannot make the equipment: a trading company, a scope that does not cover the product, or a certificate whose authenticity remains unconfirmed by its issuer.
Control response
Scope, licences, certificates and export record are checked for this equipment class, and an unresolved capability finding triggers the next control at the factory rather than a cleared verdict.
05 · Background resources
Related
- Service · Supplier qualification in ChinaThe parent service: qualifying a shortlist before award, with an on-site audit where the file warrants it.
- Service · Hong Kong company verificationWhat the Hong Kong register shows, what it protects, and how the company is tied to the Mainland factory.
- Resource · Before you pay a Chinese supplierThe transaction map: factory, Hong Kong company, negotiator, contract, invoice and beneficiary, and the decision at the end.
- Resource · The supplier changed its bank detailsThe hold-and-verify procedure before you pay, and what to do if the money has already gone.
- Resource · Protecting a deposit on China equipmentHow supplier evidence, payment terms and quality gates work together before funds are committed.
06 · Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you verify the person I am negotiating with?
Sinospect checks whether the name you were given appears in the filings of either company, in what role, and whether that role carries signing authority; where you authorise contact and an independently sourced company number exists, the report records the findings of a call-back to it, and otherwise states that no contact was made. In Hong Kong the public register shows a director's name and correspondence address; residential addresses and full identity numbers have been protected since October 2022, so the report records a match to the name and role shown in the register.
What happens when the supplier or a register does not answer?
The report records the enquiries made and any question still open. It identifies the evidence needed to resolve the question, and the reviewer assesses the verdict against the available evidence. Further checks needed to resolve a finding are added to the same order: a recorded video verification with the factory, a one-day visit in Zhejiang or Jiangsu, or a witnessed acceptance test, each quoted separately.
What does the verdict establish?
The verdict states what the public registers and your documents show on the search dates, with each finding weighted and the conditions proposed for the order. It compares the counterparty and the beneficiary named in your payment instructions with the records examined, and reports each court, enforcement or register search as a dated result with its sources and limits. A later request to change the beneficiary account triggers the 48-hour bank-change check before payment.
Can I see what the report looks like before ordering?
Yes. A six-page fictional worked example is downloadable from this page. It shows the report structure and the evidence treatment: recommendation, evidence register, entity and payment-instruction checks, open conditions and review record, with role placeholders for preparation and review.
What can the check leave unresolved?
Four things regularly stay open after a desk check, and the report names each with the evidence that would close it: the identity and capability of the actual manufacturer where the seller subcontracts, bank confirmation of who holds the beneficiary account, ultimate ownership beyond the shareholders the public filings show, and proceedings outside the published court records. An open point is reported as unresolved, which describes the evidence and says nothing about the supplier's intent.
Who does the work
The people behind your check also work on real orders
Sinospect’s team works across supplier sourcing, technical clarification, samples, inspection coordination, finance and shipping. That experience shapes the questions asked before payment: which company is making the commitment, who is entitled to speak for it, where the money is going, and which claims still need evidence. Your assignment has a named preparing analyst and a reviewer. Where the uncertainty needs a factory visit, a technical test or another specialist check, the report says so and names the next step.
What that looks like on real files
Engine power packs sourced through the maker’s own channels
For a set of engine power packs, the team went through the engine maker’s regional office to reach a nominated supplier instead of taking marketplace quotations. One quotation was kept as a price reference and left off the buyer’s shortlist because the engine identification and the radiator configuration could not be confirmed before purchase.
A custom press accepted on documented evidence
For a custom magnetic press, the team arranged factory access, custody of the test material, instruments and calibration, recorded where the demonstration conditions differed from the powder maker’s stated condition, obtained the buyer’s written decision on each open point, and issued a release recommendation that separates what was verified from what the buyer chose to close.
Samples kept as the reference for the production check
For glass containers, the buyer tested the samples in production and approved them. The team keeps the approved samples as the physical reference and checks the production order against them for weight, thickness and finish before it ships, so approval and inspection refer to the same object.
07 · Getting started
What to send for a pre-payment check
The check starts from what the supplier has already given you. Send it as it is; Sinospect confirms the fee and what is missing before any work starts.
The companies
The registered Chinese name or the 18-character Unified Social Credit Code of the factory, and the name and company number of any Hong Kong company on the quotation, the agreement or the invoice.
The quotation, proforma or draft agreement
Whatever names the contracting party, the signatory and the payment schedule, even as a draft still under discussion.
The bank details you were given
Account name, number, bank and SWIFT code exactly as supplied, with the email or document they came in.
The person negotiating
Name in Chinese if you have it, role as stated, and the phone or messaging contact used so far.
The equipment
Equipment list, specification or datasheet, so the capability layer is checked for what you are actually buying.
Your documents are handled confidentially for this assignment. Contact with the company is made only where you authorise it, and is limited to a call on an independently sourced number; the buyer’s identity and purpose stay confidential. For this check, Sinospect works for the buyer and is paid by the buyer only. Any subsequent visit, inspection or supply is scoped separately.
Check the supplier before the deposit
Send the company names, the bank details and the draft agreement. Sinospect confirms the fee, the documents needed and the questions requiring further checks. The report follows four business days after payment and the last of your documents.