Documents to request from a Chinese supplier before paying a deposit
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A deposit, meaning here any advance payment, may be difficult to recover once sent. Before sending it, you want a small set of documents that together answer one question: is the entity I am about to pay the entity I think I am dealing with, and do the papers agree with each other?
This is a checklist of six documents. The first four are worth asking for on every order. The fifth applies when the person signing is not the company’s legal representative. The sixth is optional and more useful for larger or repeat orders. For each one, this guide sets out what it shows and what it does not, because the second half is where the misunderstandings live.
These are practical document requests, not a universal legal checklist. Agree a reasonable response time, taking account of bank processing and legitimate confidentiality concerns. A complete set of documents is useful evidence to investigate, not proof that payment is safe. How quickly a supplier responds is not, on its own, a test of whether it is genuine.
1. Business licence (营业执照)
Ask for a clear, complete, current image of the supplier’s business licence, with the QR code visible.
What it shows: if genuine, that a legal entity or other registered organisation with this Chinese name and this 18-character Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) was registered with the stated authority, with the particulars shown, as of the licence’s issue date. For a company that will include the legal representative and registered capital; other entity types, such as individual businesses and branches, may not carry those fields. The licence gives you the identifiers you need to check everything else.
What it does not show: that the entity is still registered today; that the image is unaltered; that the sender is employed by the entity; that any capital has been paid in; that it owns a factory; or that any bank account belongs to it. An image that has not been checked against the registry records a claim, not a confirmed fact.
See the guide on reading a Chinese business licence for a field-by-field explanation.
2. Quotation or proforma invoice (PI)
Ask for the PI to show the supplier’s full Chinese registered name, its USCC, its company seal, the goods, the price, the payment terms and the beneficiary bank details.
What it shows: which entity is offering to sell to you and on what terms, as that entity chooses to present itself. When the Chinese name and USCC on the PI match the licence, you have a first internal consistency check. When the PI names the beneficiary, you have the supplier’s own statement of where it wants the money to go, in a document you can later put alongside the contract.
What it does not show: that the entity on the PI is the entity on the licence, unless you have compared the Chinese name character for character and the USCC; that the seal is genuine; or that the bank details on it were not altered before it reached you. A seal or payment instruction on a PI can be forged as easily as an email. A PI that carries only an English name does not give you enough to match the entity against the mainland registry, which is why you ask for the Chinese name and USCC; it is not evidence that no entity stands behind it.
3. A contract that names the payee
Ask for a contract, or an order confirmation with the same content, that states the seller’s full Chinese registered name, the buyer, the goods, and the beneficiary bank account by account name, account number, bank name and address. Asking for it to be both signed and sealed is a reasonable buyer’s requirement; it is not a description of what makes a contract valid in every case.
What it shows: that the supplier has committed, in a document it executed, to the identity of the payee. If the payee is a Hong Kong affiliate or an export agent, the contract is where that relationship should be written down, together with whether payment to the payee discharges your obligation, so that a later change of bank details is a change to the contract rather than a change to an email. The contract also records who is named as seller, which is the starting point for working out who owes you delivery, quality and refund obligations.
What it does not show: that the contract is enforceable in practice; that the person who signed had authority (see item 5); or that the seal is the company’s registered seal rather than something ordered from a stationery shop. Who you ultimately have recourse against depends on the applicable law, the terms and the actual entities involved, not only on the name in the seller field. A contract is evidence of what was agreed, not of the counterparty’s honesty.
A practical note: if the supplier’s staff send a “new account” after the contract is signed, the contract is your reference point. Any change should be confirmed through a contact method established independently of the change request and documented as a signed amendment before you pay.
4. Bank account evidence
Ask for recent bank-issued evidence linking the named account holder to the exact account you will pay. Mainland enterprise account-opening permits were phased out in 2019; do not rely on an old permit as proof of current account details. Ask your bank which verification options are available for the proposed transfer.
Suitable evidence includes a bank confirmation letter or a stamped statement header with balances redacted, showing the account name and number. Make sure it covers the actual account you are being asked to pay: a foreign-currency receiving account may not be the company’s basic deposit account, and evidence for one does not cover the other.
What it shows: if genuine, that an account with this number existed at this bank in this name as of the document’s date. The account name is the fact you want. It lets you compare the beneficiary to the licence name, or to the name of the affiliate or agent the supplier has told you about.
What it does not show: who controls the account, who has signing authority over it, or that the document is genuine. Bank documents are as easy to alter as any other image, so authenticate them independently where you can. Beneficiary-name checks offered by remitting banks and payment channels vary in which countries and currencies they cover, what they return and what they are responsible for, so do not treat them as a guarantee; ask your own bank what is available for this transfer and what its result would mean.
5. Authorisation for the signatory, if not the legal representative
If the person signing the contract is not the legal representative shown on the licence, ask for a power of attorney or an authorisation letter, sealed by the company, naming the signatory and the scope of their authority.
What it shows: that the company has, on its own paper, stated that this person may bind it for this purpose. Combined with the licence, it connects the individual you are dealing with to the legal entity.
What it does not show: that the authorisation was actually issued by the company rather than by the signatory using a seal they have access to. A sealed authorisation is supporting evidence, not conclusive evidence, and its weight increases when you confirm it with the company through a channel you established independently. Other people may also bind a company through their position or applicable agency rules, so the absence of a letter is a gap to close rather than proof that the signature is worthless.
If the person signing is the legal representative, a separate authorisation to themselves is not normally needed. You should still confirm that the signatory is in fact that person, and for matters outside ordinary business, whether any further internal approval applies.
6. Recent export records or a factory audit report (optional)
For larger orders, ask for evidence that the supplier has shipped goods like yours before, such as redacted bills of lading or customs declarations from the last year, or a third-party factory audit report.
What it shows: export records show that the named shipper has exported goods before, which supports the claim that it is an operating exporter. An audit report from a recognised inspection firm records that the firm assessed a site on a date, by a stated method, within a stated scope. Both bear on capability, which the identity documents above do not address.
What it does not show: the shipper on a bill of lading is not necessarily the manufacturer, and not necessarily the entity you are paying, so check the name. An audit report does not show that the audited site belongs to the supplier rather than a partner factory, or that current conditions match a report from last year, and the report itself may not be genuine.
Verify any audit report with its issuer and read its scope, methods and date. Establish how the named company relates to the audited site and to this order. Several entities may legitimately participate in a transaction; their roles and obligations should be clear. Consistent paperwork does not, by itself, establish authenticity or performance capability.
Putting the six together
The value of the checklist is not in any single document but in whether they agree, and in whether each divergence has an explanation you can test. The licence gives you a name and a code. The PI and contract should carry the same name and code, or name a different seller you have identified. The bank evidence should carry either that same name or a name the contract explains. The authorisation connects the signatory to the entity. The export records or audit connect an entity to actual trade.
A transaction can legitimately involve several entities: a factory, a trading company, a receiving entity. The aim is not that every document points to a single legal person, but that the role of each entity is stated, explained and verified. Where documents diverge without explanation, you have a specific question to put to the supplier, and the response is your next data point. Where they all agree, you have consistency; you do not yet have authenticity, and you do not have a payment-safety conclusion.
What this guide does not cover
This guide is about identity and consistency. It does not cover product specification, quality inspection, Incoterms, payment instruments such as letters of credit or escrow, or what to do after a payment has gone wrong. It does not cover the detection of forged seals or edited images beyond the general caution that any image can be altered, and it is not legal advice on the enforceability of contracts in China or Hong Kong.
If you have gathered some or all of these documents and want them checked against each other and against the registry record, you can start a verification with what you have.