Bucket 3 · Independent service, not affiliated with Alibaba Group, 1688, Made-in-China, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Department of Commerce, CourtListener, or any government body.
How can I check if an Alibaba supplier is a real factory before I pay a deposit?
Ask the supplier for its business licence and check that the name, 18-character unified social credit code and address match its store page and invoice, and whether the business scope includes manufacturing. Then search US import records for shipments naming it, US federal court dockets and public complaints, and run the name through the free US screening searches. This report does those checks from public sources and your documents, and lists red flags and questions to ask before you send money.
How it works
- Pay US$59 at checkout, then send the supplier's store link, the text of its company profile page, and its business licence, quote or proforma invoice if you have them.
- We read the business licence you send and check that its name, unified social credit code and address are consistent with each other, the store page and the invoice.
- We check whether the licensed business scope includes manufacturing or only trading, and compare it with the supplier's claims.
- We search public summaries of US import records, US Federal Register notices, US federal court dockets on CourtListener, and public complaints and reviews.
- We give you the links to run the name yourself on the US Consolidated Screening List and OFAC's sanctions search, and the steps to confirm the code on China's registry.
- You receive the report by email within 48 hours, with red flags and questions to ask.
What you get
- Business licence facts from your document, with a structure check of the unified social credit code
- Consistency check of names, code, address and payee across the licence, store page and invoice
- Business scope reading: manufacturing terms or trading only, quoted in Chinese and translated
- Search of public US import record summaries naming the supplier as shipper
- Search of US Federal Register notices and US federal court dockets (CourtListener)
- Public complaint and review search
- Links and steps to run the name on the Consolidated Screening List, OFAC search and China's registry yourself
- Factory or trading company indication, red flags and questions to ask before you pay
No subscription and no extra fees. Delivered by email within 48 hours of your order. Covers one supplier in mainland China.
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Who it's for
For small e-commerce sellers and importers about to pay a deposit to a supplier found on Alibaba, 1688 or a trade show. It suits buyers who want an independent desk check of the supplier's documents and of public US records before sending money.
What it isn't
- Not a promise that the supplier will deliver, or a check of product quality.
- Not a physical factory audit or site visit.
- Not a direct lookup in China's national registry, a check of Chinese court records, or a full sanctions or export-control screening.
- Not legal, tax or financial advice.
- Not account access: we never ask for passwords, and we do not contact the supplier.
Sample excerpt
Questions
Can this report make sure I won't be scammed?
No. It reduces risk but cannot remove it. The report shows what the supplier's documents and public US records say and flags mismatches, such as a trading-only scope on a supplier calling itself a factory, or an invoice payable to another company. Keep using samples, written specifications and staged payments even when nothing is flagged.
Do you look the company up in China's national company registry?
No. China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System uses an image check our process cannot pass, so we do not query it. We read the business licence you send, check the credit code's structure and consistency with the store and invoice, and give you the steps to confirm the code on that registry yourself in a few minutes.
Can you see if they have shipped to the US before?
Often, yes. We search public third-party summaries of US customs bill-of-lading records, which can show shipment counts, US customers and product types for a named shipper. They do not show prices or order values. If none names the supplier, the report says so; that is not proof of a problem, because many suppliers ship through forwarders.
Do you check sanctions lists?
We search US Federal Register notices, where Entity List additions and many sanctions designations are published, and report any that name the supplier. That is a notice search, not a full list screening. The report gives you the free Consolidated Screening List and OFAC Sanctions List Search links so you can run the exact name yourself before paying.
How do you tell a factory from a trading company?
We look at several signals together: whether the licensed business scope includes production terms, whether the address is an office or an industrial site, the company's age against its claims, who appears as shipper in US import summaries, and whether the payee matches the licence. No single signal is final, so the report gives an indication with its reasons.
What documents should I send?
The most useful is the business licence the supplier sends you, as a photo or PDF, plus the proforma invoice or quote and the text of its company profile page. Asking for the licence before a deposit is a normal request. Without a licence we can still run the US searches, but the licence and scope checks are marked not done.
Do you contact the supplier for me?
No. We work only from public sources and the documents you send, so the supplier does not know a check is being done. The report ends with specific questions to ask, such as why an invoice names a different company, or whether it will do a live video call from the production line. You decide what to ask and when.
How is this different from a factory audit?
A factory audit sends an inspector to the site, usually for a day, and costs several hundred dollars. This report is a desk check of your documents and public US records for US$59, delivered within 48 hours. Many buyers use a desk check first, before a deposit, and book an on-site audit only for larger orders.
Refunds
Full refund if we can't deliver: if we can't produce your pack, or it arrives later than the stated delivery time, you get all your money back. We don't control decisions made by other companies (for example a platform's review team or a card network), so the refund covers our delivery, not their decision.
Contact
Email james@bucket3.ai. We reply within one business day. Bucket 3 sells fixed-price digital packs; see all products, refunds and contact.