Someone should stand in that factory before your deposit does.
On-the-ground verification by a 25-year operator based in Shanghai. Buyer-paid only.
Factory verification is an in-person visit to your supplier's factory in mainland China, carried out by me, with a written go or no go verdict inside 5 business days of the visit. The visit itself is scheduled inside 10 business days of your intake form. Three flat prices depending on where the factory is, travel included. The buyer pays. The factory never does.
Who this is for
Importers about to wire five or six figures to a supplier they have never seen in person.
What you get
- •Walkthrough video of the factory, unannounced where practical.
- •Live video call from the floor while I walk the line. You join and ask questions in real time. Where the factory will not permit a live call, you get the recording. If all cameras are refused, that refusal is itself a finding and it goes in the verdict.
- •Photos of the actual production line running.
- •Business licence verified against what the supplier claimed.
- •The 7-Factor check applied on site.
- •Written verdict as a PDF within 5 business days of the visit: go or no go with reasons, red flags, and negotiation notes.
What it costs
Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang — the day-trip belt I reach and return from by high-speed rail. Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nanjing, Nantong, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Jiaxing and Wenzhou.
Everywhere else in mainland China I reach on one flight. Guangdong (Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan), Fujian, Shandong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Guangxi and Liaoning.
The provinces that cost a full day of travel each way: Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Yunnan and Guizhou. Tibet is not covered.
Mainland China only. Travel is inside the price. Priced in USD.
Mainland China only. Travel is inside the price. Priced in USD.
Cancellation, rescheduling and liability
- •Cancel or reschedule 5 or more business days before the visit: full refund, or one free reschedule.
- •Inside 5 business days: 50% refund, minus any travel already purchased.
- •Inside 48 hours, or a no-show caused by you: no refund, the fee is earned.
- •The factory refuses entry on the day: the fee is earned in full, and the refusal goes in the verdict.
- •If I cancel: you choose a full refund or priority rebooking.
- •Liability is capped at the fee you paid. The verdict is professional opinion, not a guarantee.
These terms apply to this service. The Terms of Sale cover the digital products and do not apply here.
How it works
- 1Book and pay.
- 2Fill the intake form the same day.
- 3The visit is scheduled inside 10 business days.
- 4Live call or recording during the visit.
- 5Written verdict inside 5 business days after the visit.
Independence
The factory I am checking never pays me. Only the buyer pays.
What can go wrong, and what I do about it
- •Refusals are findings. If a factory will not let me film, or will not let me past the meeting room, that goes in the verdict.
- •Unannounced where practical. Some sites require an appointment. The verdict states which one happened.
- •If the address turns out to be a trading office and not a factory, that is the verdict, and it is worth the fee.
Common questions
How is this different from a $300 inspection?
An inspection firm sends a junior with a checklist. He counts cartons, measures a few units against your spec, and files what he saw. That is useful, and it is not this. I am not filing observations, I am giving you a decision: go or no go, with the reasons written down. Twenty-five years of walking these floors is what tells me whether the machines match the capacity they claimed, whether the line I am shown is the line that will run my order, and whether the man across the table is the owner or a broker in a borrowed office. A checklist cannot see that.
How long does it take?
The visit is scheduled inside 10 business days of your intake form. The written verdict is with you inside 5 business days of the visit. If I am fully booked, you will see the next available window before you pay, not after.
What happens if the supplier turns out to be a trader, not a factory?
Then that is the verdict, and it is the most valuable one you can get. A trading company posing as a manufacturer is the single most common thing I find. You will get the evidence: the licence, what is actually at the address, and who really makes your product. Finding that out for the price of the visit is a good outcome, not a wasted fee.
Is any of this shared with the supplier or with anyone else?
No. What you tell me and what I find stays between us. The supplier is not told who sent me unless you want them told. There is a checkbox on the intake form if you are willing for me to tell the story later with every name removed. If you leave it unticked, the story is never told.
Why mainland China only?
Because I live here and I know how these factories work. I could fly to Vietnam and file a report, but you would be paying for a stranger's first impression. When I can do this properly somewhere else, I will say so on this page.
Do you cover Tibet?
No. Access there is not reliable enough for me to promise a date, so I do not sell it.
What if I am not ready for a visit?
Start with the desk verdict. The Supplier Risk Diagnostic is $497 and puts your supplier, your quote and your contract through the same 7-Factor system from here, without the travel. If it comes back clean and the order is large, the visit is the next step.
Book the visit
Pay for the territory the factory sits in, then fill the intake form. The visit is scheduled inside 10 business days.
Mainland China only. Travel is inside the price. Priced in USD.
The intake
Already paid? Fill this in and I will confirm the date.
Not ready for a visit? Start with the desk verdict, the Supplier Risk Diagnostic, $497.
Operated by SourceProGZ Limited (HK) · Payments by Stripe · Founder: Cengiz Gündüz →