Guides
Organised by what actually goes wrong.
Not a list of keywords. Each guide starts from a documented case, states the answer in the first paragraph, and says plainly where the evidence runs out. Sorted by the moment you are standing in.
01
Before you pay anything
Nothing has been sent yet. Every option is still open, and this is where the cheapest information lives.
- The factory tour was real. It just wasn’t their factory. A video walkthrough proves that somebody can stand in a factory and film it. It does not prove that the factory belongs to the company you are paying, or that your order will be made there. The only reliable test is a person at the address you were given, filming the sign, the licence on the wall, and the street outside in one unbroken take.
- Trading company or factory — the three documents that answer it Whether a Chinese supplier is a factory or a trading company is answered by documents, not by asking. The business scope on the licence shows whether manufacturing is legally permitted, the discharge permit shows whether production is registered at that address, and customs records show whether goods actually leave. The salesperson’s answer is the least reliable of the four.
02
After the money has gone
The money has gone. This is where leverage is thinnest and disputes are decided by clocks.
- What Trade Assurance actually covers — and when the clock runs out Trade Assurance is a dispute process operated by the platform, with a claim window that usually runs from shipment, not a hold on your money. Quality problems tend to become visible after that window closes. Treat it as a documented complaint channel, not as escrow, and price the remaining risk yourself.
- The sample was fine and the bulk order was not — and why we do not sell the fix Quality fade is when a supplier meets the sample and then substitutes cheaper materials or components in production. It is not a verification problem and a site visit will not catch it. It is solved by a written specification, in-process checks and a pre-shipment inspection against measurable criteria — before the balance is paid.
Reading is free. Being wrong is not.
When the reading is done and the address still needs confirming, that is the part we do.