You’ve found a supplier on Alibaba. The photos look professional, the price fits your budget, and the salesperson replies fast with polished English. So you ask for the proforma invoice and start thinking about payment.
Stop.
Wiring a deposit to the wrong supplier is one of the most costly mistakes a first-time machinery buyer can make — and it happens to experienced buyers too. After more than fifteen years helping overseas importers source wet wipes, hygiene, and packaging equipment from China, I’ve seen the full spectrum: ghost companies, traders masquerading as manufacturers, real factories with terrible quality control, and genuinely excellent suppliers who are hard to find because they don’t spend money on Alibaba rankings.
Here is the process we use to separate the real ones from the rest — before a single dollar leaves your account.
Step 1: Verify the business exists and is who they say they are
A glossy website and a Gold Supplier badge cost almost nothing to buy. Start with the basics:
- Ask for the business licence (营业执照). A legitimate Chinese company will share this without hesitation. Check the registered company name, registered address, and business scope — manufacturing machinery should appear explicitly in the scope.
- Cross-check on the National Enterprise Credit Information System (qichacha.com or aiqicha.com). Search the company name and confirm it’s active, when it was founded, its registered capital, and whether there are any legal disputes or enforcement actions.
- Match the bank account name to the registered company name. This one step blocks most fraud. If the payment instruction says wire to “Linda Chen Personal Account” or any name that doesn’t match the registered entity, walk away.
Step 2: Establish whether they are a manufacturer or a trader
This matters enormously for price, accountability, and after-sales support. A trader can be fine for simple products, but for a wet wipes machine you need someone who can actually engineer a fix when something breaks 10,000 km from their office.
Ask these questions and listen carefully to the answers:
- “Can you send me photos of your factory floor and the machines currently in production?” Real manufacturers send these within hours. Traders delay or send generic stock images.
- “Who designed the mechanical and electrical systems on this machine?” A manufacturer’s sales engineer will know immediately. A trader won’t — they’ll say something vague like “our engineers.”
- “What is the lead time from deposit to FAT?” Manufacturers quote this from their own production schedule. Traders have to check with the actual factory first.
- “Can we do a live video walk-through of your production workshop?” Schedule it with one hour’s notice, not one week’s notice. This prevents a borrowed factory tour.
Step 3: Ask product-specific questions that reveal real expertise
A supplier who truly makes wet wipes machines will answer these fluently. A reseller will stumble:
- “What nonwoven basis weights has this machine been validated on, and what’s the minimum gsm it runs cleanly?”
- “What lotion pump type and viscosity range does the standard configuration handle?”
- “How does the machine handle a film splice — does the line stop or continue?”
- “What’s the standard sealing bar material, and what’s the replacement interval at rated speed?”
- “Which PLC and HMI brands are standard on this model?”
Wrong, vague, or wildly inconsistent answers are a red flag. If the salesperson needs to “check with the technical team” on all of these, you’re likely talking to someone who has never stood next to the machine.
Step 4: Request references from existing buyers — and actually call them
Every serious supplier has customers. Ask for three to five references from buyers in countries similar to yours — similar voltage, similar materials, similar scale. Then contact those buyers directly (email or WhatsApp, not through the supplier) and ask:
- Did the machine arrive as specified?
- How was the commissioning experience?
- What problems came up in the first six months, and how did the supplier handle them?
- Would you buy from them again?
A supplier who hesitates to provide references, or only offers references you must contact through them, is a supplier who doesn’t trust what those references will say.
Step 5: Scrutinise the contract before the deposit
The proforma invoice is not a contract. Before any money moves, you need a signed agreement that covers at minimum:
- Full technical specification — output, reject rate, power consumption, dimensions, and a named key-component list (PLC brand, motor brand, pneumatics brand).
- Delivery milestones and penalties — what happens if they miss the completion date.
- FAT protocol — what tests the machine must pass, with your materials, before you release the balance payment.
- Warranty terms — duration, what’s covered, response time, and how spare parts are supplied.
- Payment structure tied to milestones — deposit on order, partial on completion, balance on FAT or site acceptance. Never pay 100% upfront. A 5–10% retention held until site acceptance changes the supplier’s incentives considerably.
If a supplier refuses to sign a contract and asks you to rely on the proforma invoice alone, treat that as a serious warning sign.
Step 6: Do a video call factory inspection before you commit
You don’t need to fly to China before placing a deposit — but you do need eyes on the factory. A structured video call of 45–60 minutes should cover:
- The production floor and the specific machine type you’re buying, ideally running
- The QC area and the test station
- The warehouse and current inventory
- The engineering team — have them explain a technical feature live
Pay attention to what happens at the edges: what’s behind the camera, how they handle an unexpected question, whether the machine they show matches what’s on the spec sheet.
The Quick Checklist
Before you wire a deposit, confirm all of the following:
- ☐ Business licence verified and company name matches bank account
- ☐ Confirmed manufacturer (not trader) via video inspection and technical questions
- ☐ Product-specific technical questions answered fluently
- ☐ At least two buyer references contacted and verified
- ☐ Signed contract with full spec, milestones, FAT protocol, and payment terms
- ☐ Live video factory walk-through completed
None of this takes more than two weeks. A machine takes three to five months to build. The vetting happens before the clock starts — and it is the difference between a supplier who delivers what you paid for and one who delivers what they felt like building.
If you’d like help running this process — including supplier verification, technical vetting, and contract review — that’s exactly what we do at Zhenbao Trade. We’ve done it for buyers in Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe, and we’ve turned down suppliers that passed the first look. The deposit you protect is worth far more than our fee.