How to Verify a Chinese Business License

The short answer

Verify the legal name, unified social credit code, legal representative, registered address, business scope, and status shown on the license or registration record. Compare them to the entity on the quotation, contract, invoice, bank account, website, and contact signature. Resolve mismatches before sending a deposit.

Details to record

• Chinese legal entity name and any translated name.
• Unified social credit code.
• Registration status and dates.
• Legal representative.
• Registered address and business scope.
• Whether the business scope reasonably covers the goods or services discussed.

A practical comparison process

1. Ask for a clear copy or official registration reference, not a cropped screenshot with key fields missing.
2. Transcribe the legal name and code exactly; do not rely on a translation alone.
3. Compare the entity with the supplier's quotation, contract, invoice, and payment beneficiary.
4. Ask why an operating address, sales company, or export agent differs from the registered entity.
5. Record the date of the check because registration and operating status can change.

Mismatches that need explanation

• A personal account is requested for a company purchase.
• The beneficiary is a different company with no documented relationship.
• The business scope appears unrelated to the product and no supply relationship is explained.
• The company name changes between the quote, contract, and invoice.
• The supplier refuses to identify which entity carries the commercial obligation.

What a license cannot tell you

A business license can support identity and registration checks, but it cannot confirm current inventory, product quality, factory ownership, authorization, export performance, or honest commercial behavior. Pair it with contact and supply evidence, samples, and transaction controls.

Use this with FactoryRoster

FactoryRoster is a research directory, not a transaction intermediary. Use supplier profiles to compare public business details and verification checks, then confirm current product, commercial, compliance, and payment details directly with the supplier.

Next steps

• Search verified China suppliers by industry and supplier type.
• Review the verification checks and evidence notes on the profile.
• Use the Verification page to understand what each check does and does not prove.