How to verify a Chinese vape factory, and the six red flags
The first question most buyers ask a Chinese supplier is “what is your price”. It is the least useful question you can ask, because the price is the easy part to fake. What is hard to fake is being a factory, being licensed to export, and shipping the same device you were shown.
This is the process we would use before wiring a deposit.
Step 1: factory or trading company?
Neither is automatically bad — a good trading company adds logistics and QC value — but they should not cost the same, and you should know which one you are talking to.
Check the business licence. In China this is the 营业执照 with a 统一社会信用代码. Look at the 登记的经营范围 (registered scope): a real manufacturer will have 生产 or 制造 in scope, not just 销售/贸易. Ask for the PDF, not a cropped screenshot.
Check the footprint. A company registered in a 20 m² office in Futian claiming a 5,000 m² plant in Bao’an is a normal structure for a trading company, and a red flag for a factory. Ask for the plant address, then ask for a live video call walking through it. A real factory will do this in a day. A trader will offer to “arrange it later”.
Cross-check the entity. Public company databases index registration capital, establishment date, employee count and litigation. A supplier claiming 12 years of operation with a company registered 18 months ago is worth asking about, politely.
Step 2: can they legally export?
This is the step almost every sourcing guide skips, and it is the one that can void your order.
Vaping hardware is regulated in China as a tobacco product, and manufacturers need a 烟草专卖生产企业许可证 (tobacco monopoly production licence) to make it, with export activity subject to filing requirements. Not every workshop that can assemble a device holds one.
Ask for the licence number and the export filing, then verify rather than admire the scan. If the answer is “our partner handles that” — find out who the partner is and who is on the invoice.
This matters because an unlicensed supplier can be shut down mid-order, and because goods produced outside the licensed system are the ones that turn into customs problems at your end.
The six red flags
| # | Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A quote 20%+ below every other quote, with no explanation | Either different internals, different QC, or a bait price that moves after the deposit |
| 2 | The people you talk to are not the entity on the invoice | You have no recourse against a company you never contracted with |
| 3 | Refuses a live video walkthrough, or only sends a promo video | Promo videos are shot once and reused; a walkthrough is where the truth leaks out |
| 4 | An MOQ that does not match the process | 300 units of a custom-moulded device is not a price, it is a promise they cannot keep |
| 5 | Payment to a personal account, or crypto | Standard practice is payment to a company account matching the contract |
| 6 | No answer on destination-market certification | If they do not know what TPD or PMTA requires, they are not exporting there |
The twelve questions
Ask all of them in writing, and keep the answers. Half the value is in how they answer.
- Is the factory address the same as the registered address?
- Are you the manufacturer, or a trading company?
- Do you hold a 烟草专卖生产企业许可证? What is the number?
- Is your export filing in place? Under which entity?
- What is your monthly capacity for this product line?
- Is this model your own design, or an open-mould platform?
- What exactly is in the quoted price — coil, packaging, testing, certification?
- Is MOQ counted per model or per colour?
- How long for samples, and how long for bulk?
- What is the inspection standard (AQL), and who inspects?
- Who owns the tooling, and can that be put in writing?
- What are the payment terms?
A supplier who answers all twelve, quickly, in writing, is a different animal from one who answers four and asks you to send a deposit first.
Step 3: documents, and how to actually check them
Test reports. Look for the lab, not the logo. Reports from ISO 17025 accredited labs carry a report number that the lab can confirm. Check that the model on the report is the model you are buying — a very common trick is a genuine report for a different SKU.
Destination certifications. The UK requires notification; the EU requires TPD compliance; the US requires premarket authorisation. Ask what the plan is for your market, in writing. “We have CE” is not an answer, because CE does not exist for vaping products in the way suppliers imply.
Material declarations. RoHS and REACH statements, and a BOM that names the cell supplier. If the battery is unspecified, it is the cheapest one available.
The golden sample. Before bulk, agree a sealed, signed sample — one unit in a tamper-evident bag, photographed, kept by both sides. This is the only document that settles a dispute about “the colour is slightly different”.
Step 4: the sample-to-bulk gap
Samples are made by the best operator on the line, on a quiet day. Bulk is made by whoever is available, at speed.
Three things narrow the gap:
- A pilot run. 500–1,000 units before the main order. Costs more per unit and saves the whole order.
- Third-party inspection. Pre-shipment inspection to an agreed AQL, by a lab or inspection firm that has never met the factory.
- In-line checkpoints. Ask for photos at three points: after assembly, after packaging, before loading. Cheap to ask, hard to fake consistently.
Step 5: payment terms
The standard structure is a deposit and a balance on inspection. What matters is not the split but the conditions attached to the second payment: it should be released against an inspection report, not against a photo of a pallet.
For larger orders, a letter of credit removes most of the trust problem. It costs money, and it is still cheaper than a deposit you never see again.
Put tooling ownership in the contract. “The mould is yours” means nothing without a clause saying so, and a price for transferring it.
What we will not do
We are not a sourcing agency, and we do not take a commission from factories for writing about them. We also will not help anyone source into a market where the product is illegal to sell — that is not sourcing, it is a customs case waiting to happen.
FAQ
Does “Alibaba Gold Supplier” mean anything? It means the company pays for a membership tier. It is a signal that they invest in trade, not a quality certification.
What is a realistic MOQ? Stock models: 100–500 units. Custom colour or packaging: usually 1,000+. Custom moulding: 3,000+. Anyone quoting far below these is either quoting a different product or planning to renegotiate.
How long from sample approval to bulk? Commonly 25–45 days for stock platforms, longer with custom packaging or certification. Add two weeks if your destination market needs a notification you have not started.
Is a factory visit worth it? If the order is above roughly US$20,000, yes. If it is below, a live video walkthrough plus a third-party inspection gets you most of the value for a fraction of the cost.
This guide is based on how buyers actually get burned: deposits to the wrong entity, samples that never become bulk, and licences that turn out not to exist. If you have a case that contradicts something here, tell us and we will correct it.