How to Verify a Chinese Supplier by Phone (Script + 12-Point Checklist)
You’ve found a supplier on Alibaba. The website looks reasonable, the WeChat replies are fast, and the quoted price is good — maybe a little too good. You’re about to wire $5,000 for a sample order, or $50,000 for the first production run.
Before you do, pick up the phone.
A 15-minute call to the factory will catch about 80% of the problems that hurt sourcing rookies: trading companies pretending to be manufacturers, MOQs that quietly triple, “factories” that are actually empty offices, and quotes that omit half the real cost.
This is the actual script and checklist experienced FBA sellers and import buyers use. Steal it.
Why Phone Calls Catch Things Email Doesn’t
Email and WeChat give the supplier infinite time to compose the perfect answer. Phone calls don’t. On a live call, you can hear:
- Background noise. A real factory has machines running. An office-only trading company has keyboards and a quiet room.
- Hesitation. A factory owner answering “how many CNC machines do you have?” should know the number instantly. A sales rep at a trading company guesses or stalls.
- English level. A trading company exists to talk to foreign buyers — their English is excellent. The actual factory owner often has rougher English. Both are fine, but the mismatch is a clue.
- Who picks up. Calling the listed “company landline” and getting voicemail, a personal mobile, or a different company’s name is a major red flag.
You don’t need to be fluent in Mandarin. Most legitimate Chinese exporters have at least one English-speaking sales rep. If they don’t — that’s a signal too.
Before You Dial: The Setup
A few things to have ready:
- The factory’s actual landline number (not the sales rep’s WeChat ID or mobile). It should be on their Alibaba profile, business license, or company website.
- A call recording tool. This is non-negotiable. You want a recording for later review and dispute resolution. VoixCall has built-in recording — most carrier calls don’t.
- A custom caller ID. International calls from unknown numbers get ignored. Use a +86 China number, or a recognizable +1 / +44 / +91, depending on what the supplier already has saved.
- A pen, a notepad, and a quiet room. Take notes on tone, hesitation, and inconsistencies — not just answers.
- Time zone awareness. China factory hours: roughly 9 AM – 6 PM China Standard Time, with a 1.5-hour lunch break around 12:00–13:30. Don’t call during lunch unless you want to talk to whoever is left.
Cost-wise, the whole vetting flow runs about $1–2 in calling credit. Compared to a five-figure order, that’s nothing.
The 12-Point Checklist
Walk through these in order. Don’t skip questions because earlier answers were good — the trap is usually mid-list.
1. Confirm you’re talking to the manufacturer, not a trading company
“Are you the actual manufacturer, or a trading company that works with multiple factories?”
Trading companies are not automatically bad — many handle export paperwork and quality control well. But you need to know which you’re dealing with so you can price accordingly. Trading companies typically add 5–15% margin. If the price is “factory price” but you’re talking to a trader, you’re being lied to about something.
Red flag: “We have our own factory” combined with vagueness about location or worker count.
2. Where is the factory physically located?
“What’s the address of your factory? Which industrial zone? Which city?”
Real answers come instantly: “Bao’an district, Shenzhen, near the Liantang interchange.” Vague answers (“in Guangdong, somewhere south”) are a problem.
Cross-check the address against Google Maps and Baidu Maps satellite view. A real factory shows a building with a loading dock, parking, and workers’ dormitories nearby. An “office-only” address with no industrial zone in sight tells you they’re not making anything.
3. How many production lines do you have, and what’s daily capacity?
“How many production lines run this product? What’s your daily output?”
Capacity numbers should be specific — “two lines, 3,000 units per day per line, so 6,000 daily.” If the answer is a wide range or “we can do as much as you need,” push back.
4. What’s the real MOQ — and what happens if I want less?
“Can you do 500 units for the first order? What’s your cost difference between 500 and 1,000?”
Listed MOQs on Alibaba are often negotiable — but the price changes. You want to hear honest tradeoffs (“500 is fine, but unit price goes up by 12%”), not “no problem, same price.” Vague pricing here usually means the quote you got isn’t real.
5. What’s the lead time? Production + shipping?
“If I place an order today, when does production start? When does it finish? How long to load and ship?”
Total lead time for a typical FBA private-label order is 30–60 days. Anyone promising 15 days for a complex product is either lying, has stock sitting in a warehouse (which has its own implications), or is going to cut corners.
6. What certifications do you have, and can you send copies?
“Do you have CE / FCC / RoHS / FDA / GCC / [whatever your market needs]? Can you email me the certificates after this call?”
Real factories have these on file and can email a PDF within a day. “We can get them” is not the same as “we have them.”
7. Have you exported to my country before?
“Have you shipped to the US/UK/India/Germany before? Which customers?”
You’re not asking for a customer list to call (they won’t give it). You’re testing how the question is handled. Confident exporters mention countries, port pairs, or general customer types (“yes, mostly to Amazon FBA buyers in the US”). Vague answers here suggest a domestic-Chinese factory pivoting to export — fine for some products, risky for others.
8. What payment terms do you accept?
“Do you accept Alibaba Trade Assurance? What about LC, T/T 30/70, PayPal?”
Healthy suppliers offer Trade Assurance and standard T/T (30% deposit, 70% before shipment). A demand for 100% upfront, only Western Union, or only crypto is an instant walk-away. Cash-only payment to a personal account is a scam pattern.
9. Who handles QC, and can I do a pre-shipment inspection?
“Do you have an in-house QC team? Will you allow a third-party inspection (e.g., AsiaInspection, QIMA, V-Trust) before shipment?”
The answer should be a clear yes. Anyone who pushes back on third-party QC is hiding something.
10. What happens if defects exceed X%?
“If the defect rate is above 3%, what’s your remedy? Replace, refund, or credit on next order?”
Listen for a concrete answer. “We’ll discuss” is not an answer. You want a number and a process. Lock the agreement in writing afterwards, but get the verbal commitment first.
11. Can we do a video call to see the factory?
“Can we set up a 15-minute WeChat or Zoom video call so I can see your production line?”
This is the highest-leverage question on the list. A real factory will agree quickly. A trader will redirect (“the factory is busy this week”). Schedule the call within 7 days and actually do it. Walk through with the camera — see the machines, the workers, the boxes with the previous customer’s logo on them.
12. Get the WhatsApp/WeChat of the factory owner, not just the sales rep
“Can I have the boss’s WeChat for follow-up questions about production?”
Sales reps rotate. Boss owns the company. If something goes wrong six months in, you want a direct line. Suppliers who refuse to share the boss’s contact aren’t necessarily scammers — but it’s a signal about the relationship you’ll have if things go sideways.
The Sample Order Decision Framework
After the call, score them on three things:
Trust: Did they answer specific questions with specific answers? Did the story stay consistent? Did the factory address check out on satellite?
Capacity: Can they actually produce your order in the timeline at the quality you need?
Communication: Can you reach them when something goes wrong? Did they answer the phone? Did they offer a video call?
If any of the three is shaky, don’t send sample money yet — push for a video factory tour first. The 30 minutes you spend there saves the four months you’d spend chasing a lost order.
A Note on Language
About 70% of Chinese export-focused factories have an English-speaking sales rep. The other 30% rely on translation tools or a freelance translator. If your supplier has poor English, that doesn’t disqualify them — many of the best factories in Yiwu, Foshan, and Dongguan are run by founders who’d rather make products than learn business English. Use shorter sentences, avoid idioms, confirm key numbers in writing after the call, and consider hiring a sourcing agent or translator for the high-stakes calls (negotiations, defect disputes, factory visits).
What This Costs You
A full vetting flow for one supplier — 5 questions over WeChat, then a 20-minute phone call, then a video tour — runs about $1–2 in VoixCall credit. If you’re shortlisting 10 suppliers, that’s $10–20 total. Compare that to:
- $5,000–50,000 wired on the first production run.
- 30–60 days of lead time you can’t get back.
- The Amazon ranking you’ll lose if defective inventory tanks your reviews.
Phone vetting is the cheapest insurance in the entire sourcing process. The friction has always been the cost of international calling — at $1–3/minute on a traditional carrier, a thorough vetting flow ran $50+ per supplier and most buyers skipped it. At $0.02/minute, there’s no excuse.
The TL;DR
- Get the factory landline (not the sales rep’s WeChat).
- Use a recognizable caller ID — set up custom caller ID through your VoIP provider.
- Record the call.
- Walk through all 12 questions in the checklist above.
- Insist on a video factory tour before the first production run.
- Score on trust / capacity / communication. If any is shaky, dig deeper before sending money.
Cheap, reliable phone calls turned supplier vetting from “expensive optional step” into “part of every shortlist.” Skip it at your own risk — or use it to shortcut six months of bad sourcing decisions.