Guide · Verified 2026-08-13
How to check whether a Chinese supplier is real
A hanfu studio on TikTok. A private driver someone recommended in a Facebook group. A photographer on Rednote, a day tour on a site you've never heard of. The same question sits under all of them and almost nobody answers it in English: how would I even know if this is real? The useful surprise is that in China you often can check — the registers are public, and most travellers simply don't know they exist.
The 18-digit key
Every legally registered business in China carries a unified social credit code — eighteen characters, printed prominently on the business licence that shops are required to display. It is the country's equivalent of a company number, and the register behind it is open to anyone.
So the first move with any supplier is simply to ask: what's your company name and credit code? Or ask for a photo of the licence, which carries both. Then search it on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System(gsxt.gov.cn), the official registry. What comes back tells you four things worth knowing:
- Does the company exist at all — no result means the code is invented.
- Is it still active — a registration can be revoked or cancelled and the shopfront stay open.
- What is it licensed to do — the registered business scope should include what they're selling you.
- How long has it existed — a company registered three weeks ago taking a full year's deposit is a different proposition from one registered in 2016.
Tours, drivers and guides have their own register
Travel services sit under a second layer of licensing, and it is equally public. Agencies need an operating licence, and the national tourism regulatory platform lets you search by agency name or licence number. A genuine operator comes back with a registered company name, licence number, permitted business scope, and confirmation that the required deposit has been paid. Nothing coming back means unlicensed or forged — there is no ambiguous middle.
One detail that catches visitors: domestic and inbound tourism are separate permissions. An agency licensed only for domestic business is not licensed to handle foreign visitors, however good its reviews are. If you're being taken around China as a foreign tourist, inbound scope is the one that matters.
Guides are individually licensed too. A licensed guide holds a card with a number beginning with D, and the same platform has a lookup returning the name, card number and affiliated agency. Asking to see the card is an ordinary, unremarkable request — a licensed guide produces it without fuss. The unlicensed ones tend to change the subject and, on the day, to push shopping stops hard.
Chinese consumer coverage describes the profile of an unlicensed operator consistently: no inbound licence, no local filing or deposit, no physical office, and cars and guides all subcontracted to freelancers. Every one of those is something you can ask about before you pay.
The platform test — thirty seconds, no Chinese needed
Registers are the thorough version. There's a faster check that catches most problems: look for the business on Chinese platforms, not just the one where you found it.
A real operator has a life on Dianping or a Chinese map app — a pinned address, photos taken by customers rather than by a marketing team, reviews spread over years, a phone number. A supplier that exists as a polished account on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook and has no Chinese footprint at all is either brand new or is not the business it appears to be. Reading those reviews properly is its own skill, and we've written it up separately in how locals read Chinese ratings — the same signals apply to a photo studio or a driver.
How you're asked to pay is the loudest signal
Verification is useful; payment structure is decisive. Almost every story that ends badly runs through the same step: the whole amount, transferred to a personal account, before anything happens.
A legitimate business takes money into a company account or through a platform that holds it until the service is delivered. Deposits are normal and reasonable. What should stop you is a request for the full sum, up front, into someone's personal WeChat or Alipay — at that moment you have no platform, no receipt that means anything, and no complaint route.
The six-signal check
Before you commit, run down this list. One flag is a question worth asking; three is an answer:
| Signal | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| No physical address anywhere | A real operator has premises on a Chinese map app with photos and reviews attached. Online-only customer service, no address, is the single strongest signal. |
| Pay this personal account | Legitimate businesses take money into a company account or through a platform. A request to transfer to someone's personal WeChat or Alipay removes every protection you have. |
| Full payment up front, by transfer | Deposits are normal. All of it, in advance, outside a platform, is not. |
| Exists only on a foreign platform | A studio with a beautiful TikTok or Instagram account and no footprint at all on Chinese platforms is either brand new or not what it appears. |
| No licence number offered | Ask directly. A real operator produces it without drama; the reaction to the question tells you as much as the answer. |
| The price is far below everyone else | In a market this competitive, a price well under the going rate is usually paid for later — in shopping stops, add-ons, or a service that doesn't happen. |
When you genuinely can't check
Sometimes there is nothing to look up — an individual photographer, a driver a hotel recommends, a workshop run out of someone's studio. Plenty of these are excellent. The answer isn't to refuse; it's to change the shape of the risk:
- Let an intermediary carry it. Book through your hotel, a licensed agency or a platform with a complaint process — you pay slightly more for someone else's accountability.
- Pay late. On the day, in person, after the thing exists.
- Keep it small. Try a two-hour version before the full-day version.
- Write it down. Get the price, inclusions and time in a chat message rather than a phone call — a written record is worth a great deal if you later need a platform to arbitrate.
And when the answer really matters and the paperwork is all in Chinese, that's precisely the gap we set out to close — tell us what you're trying to arrange and we'll look at it in Chinese for you.
Frequently asked questions
- How can I check if a Chinese company is real?
- Every legally registered business in China has an 18-character unified social credit code, printed prominently on its business licence, and the register is public. Ask the operator for the code or the licence photo, then search it on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn). You'll see the registered name, status, business scope and registration date. If nothing comes back, or the registered scope has nothing to do with what they're selling you, stop there.
- How do I know if a Chinese tour agency is licensed?
- Travel agencies need a business operating licence, and the national tourism regulatory platform lets you search by agency name or licence number — it returns the registered company, the licence number, the permitted business scope and whether the required deposit has been paid. Not appearing at all means unlicensed or forged. Note that domestic and inbound tourism are separate permissions: an agency licensed only for domestic business isn't licensed to handle you.
- How do I check a Chinese tour guide's credentials?
- Licensed guides carry a guide card with a number beginning with D, and the same national tourism platform has a guide lookup that returns the name, card number and affiliated agency. Asking to see the card is completely normal and a licensed guide will show it. Unlicensed guides tend to avoid producing documents and to push shopping stops hard.
- Is it safe to book a Chinese tour through Instagram or TikTok?
- It can be, but the platform gives you nothing to fall back on. Foreign social platforms are marketing channels in this market, not booking systems with escrow or dispute resolution — if the arrangement fails you have a chat log and no recourse. Treat a social account as an advert, then verify the business behind it and pay through a channel with a complaint process.
- What's the safest way to pay a Chinese supplier I don't know?
- Through a platform that holds the money until the service happens, or a deposit now and the balance on the day. What you want to avoid is a full transfer to a personal account before anything has been delivered — that is the pattern behind most of the stories that end badly, and it's also the point at which every consumer protection disappears.
Verified 2026-08-13. The registries described here are official Chinese government systems and their interfaces change; the red-flag patterns come from Chinese consumer and regulatory coverage. This is practical guidance for travellers, not legal advice —tell us if a lookup no longer works the way it's described.