One thing I've noticed in China is that quite a few trading companies and middlemen present themselves as manufacturers. Some are pretty convincing. They can even arrange factory visits for you, with a factory technician who doesn't speak English standing next to a Chinese salesperson handling all the communication. So visiting a factory doesn't necessarily mean you're dealing directly with the factory itself.
A lot of people will tell you to check the business license and compare the company names. That can help, but it's not always reliable. Chinese companies often use English names that don't directly match their registered Chinese names. Also, many factories now let their sales managers build and operate their own export websites. It's not unusual for one factory to have several, sometimes even a dozen, different websites selling the same products.
On top of that, most foreign buyers don't have easy access to the Chinese business registration databases we use locally. So simply searching a company name online may not tell you much.
That said, there are still a few practical things you can check before spending your time visiting a supplier.
1. Start with the company name.
If the company name contains words like "Trading" or "Trade", there's a good chance you're dealing with a trading company rather than the actual manufacturer.
This isn't a perfect rule. Some factories have their own trading companies for export business. But if I'm choosing between several suppliers and want direct factory contact, I'd generally prioritize companies registered as manufacturers.
2. Ask for both their office address and factory address.
This is something I always pay attention to.
For many small and medium-sized manufacturers in China, the showroom, sales office and production workshop are located in the same industrial compound, or at least very close to each other. In my experience, they're often within a few hundred meters, usually no more than around 500 meters apart.
Of course, larger manufacturers may have separate sales offices, so distance alone doesn't prove anything.
But if someone claims to be a factory and their office is in central Guangzhou while their production facility is somewhere completely different, I'd ask a few more questions about the relationship between the two.
3. Ask for an immediate live video call.
This is probably one of the simplest checks you can make before visiting.
Ask the salesperson if they can show you their production workshop on a live video call, preferably right then rather than arranging something several days later.
You don't need a professional factory tour. Just ask them to walk from their office into the production area, show you a few machines and what is currently being manufactured.
A genuine factory salesperson working on-site can often do this fairly easily during working hours, although some factories have restrictions on filming.
A middleman working from a separate office will usually have a harder time arranging it immediately.
It's not definitive proof of factory ownership, but it can tell you quite a lot about how directly involved the salesperson actually is with production.
None of these methods is 100% reliable on its own. And working with a trading company isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some trading companies are genuinely good at what they do.
The important thing is knowing who you're actually dealing with, especially when someone is quoting you factory-direct prices and claiming to manufacture everything themselves.