5-Step AI Supplier Due-Diligence Checklist (Before You Wire)

The deal you worked so hard to close can fall apart the moment you wire the money. Scammers love one target above all: the SOHO seller or small exporter with shaky English, no team, and a tight budget. A photoshopped business license, a borrowed "showroom" factory, and a personal bank account with an "urgent" deposit request are all it takes to make tens of thousands of dollars vanish. This checklist breaks supplier due diligence into 5 steps. For each one you'll get: what to check, how to make AI cross-verify it for you, and the red flags that mean you should stop wiring money immediately. You don't need good English — just copy and paste.

How to use it: drop each step's "How to verify with AI" prompt into ChatGPT / Claude / DeepSeek, paste in the license, quote, or certificate the supplier sent you, and let the AI act as your due-diligence assistant. It won't make the decision for you, but it will list every suspicious point within two minutes.

1. Business License & Legal-Entity Verification 🔎

Step one is always confirming that the company on the other end really exists — and that it's the same entity you're actually negotiating with.

Checklist

☐ Get a photo of the original business license (not a blurry screenshot) and note the 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code
☐ Enter the company name or credit code into China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn) and confirm it matches
☐ On Tianyancha / Qichacha check: years in operation, whether registered capital is paid-in, business anomalies, lawsuits, equity pledges
☐ Confirm the receiving account name = license name = contract-signing entity — all three must match exactly

How to verify with AI

You are my export due-diligence assistant. Here is the info on a
supplier's business license: Company name ___, Unified Social Credit
Code ___, registered capital ___, date established ___,
business scope ___.
Please: 1) check whether the 18-digit credit code format is valid;
2) tell me if the business scope covers the product I'm buying (I'm
buying: ___); 3) list the 5 most important fields I should still
verify on Tianyancha/Qichacha; 4) give me a checklist of anything
I should be cautious about.

🚩 Red flags

Only willing to send a "company brochure/name card," keeps stalling on the actual license
Business scope has nothing to do with the product (a license for "apparel trading" selling machinery)
Huge registered capital but founded under six months ago, with zero employees on social insurance
Receiving account name doesn't match the license entity

2. Production Capacity: Real Factory vs. Trading Company 🏭

Working with a trading company isn't necessarily bad — but you must know who you're dealing with. Price, payment terms, and quality accountability are completely different. Many "factories" are just renting someone else's workshop for a video.

Checklist

☐ Request a live video factory tour: have them hold up a paper with today's date and walk the production line, warehouse, and door plate
☐ Confirm the license address = factory address, and use satellite map view to check it's actually an industrial building
☐ Ask for the equipment list, headcount on social insurance, and monthly capacity data
☐ Check whether they have import/export rights (can they export directly, or must they borrow another company's name for customs)

How to verify with AI

A supplier claims to be a factory. Here's what they gave me:
registered address ___, self-reported monthly capacity ___,
insured headcount ___, equipment list ___.
Please: 1) judge whether this looks more like a "real factory" or a
"trading company posing as one," and list your reasoning; 2) give me
an 8-shot checklist of what I must see during the live video tour;
3) write 6 questions to ask live to expose a "borrowed factory."

Pitfall: a video tour must be live. Never accept a pre-recorded clip. Have them walk to a corner you name at random and film the nameplate on a specific machine — a recording can't follow live instructions.

🚩 Red flags

Refuses live video, only sends "previously recorded" workshop footage
Registered in an office tower or apartment but claims to be a big factory
Quote is clearly below market, with pressure to "lock the price if you order today"

3. Certifications & Compliance: Verifying CE / FDA / ISO 📜

Forged certificates are a disaster zone. Anyone can edit a PDF — the point is to go back to the issuing body's official site and verify the number.

Checklist

☐ CE: look for the 4-digit Notified Body (NB) number on the certificate and check the EU NANDO database to confirm that body is authorized for this product category
☐ FDA: check the FDA site for the establishment Registration number and device/food listing. Remember FDA is "registration," not "certification" — don't fall for the "FDA-certified" pitch
☐ ISO 9001 etc.: take the certification body's name + certificate number and verify on that body's site or the IAF member directory
☐ Confirm the company name on the certificate = the entity you're dealing with, the product model matches, and it's within the valid date

How to verify with AI

Here is the text/screenshot of a certificate a supplier provided: ___.
Please: 1) identify the type of certification (CE/FDA/ISO/other) and
explain exactly what it proves and does NOT prove; 2) extract the key
verification fields (issuing body, number, validity date, covered
product models); 3) tell me which official database and which field
to use to check authenticity; 4) flag anything suspicious or
inconsistent on this certificate.

🚩 Red flags

Only sends a PDF/image, won't give a certificate number or the issuing body's official link
Claims "FDA certified" but can't produce a registration number
Product model or company name on the certificate doesn't match the actual goods
Blurry logo, misaligned fonts, or an expired validity date

4. Payment Security: Never Wire to a Personal Account 💰

This step most directly decides whether you end up with "no money and no goods." One rule: corporate account, traceable, third-party protected.

Checklist

☐ Only pay a corporate account whose name matches the license/contract entity exactly — never a personal account, never a third-party collector
☐ For the first order, use platform payment + Trade Assurance (e.g. Alibaba.com Trade Assurance) or third-party escrow
☐ Tie the large balance payment to inspection passing: release only after seeing the B/L copy or a passing third-party QC report
☐ Put the installment ratio in the contract (e.g. 30% deposit / 70% against B/L), and keep every chat and email record

How to verify with AI

Help me review an export payment clause to protect the buyer's funds.
The supplier is asking: ___ (e.g. "full payment upfront to a personal
account"). Please: 1) point out the risks in this payment method;
2) give me a safer installment alternative (with ratios and trigger
points); 3) write a professional, polite reply I can send that holds
the line; 4) list the documents I must keep before paying.

Pitfall: any "we changed our account," or "our old account is frozen, just send it to my personal card" line is a 100% stop signal — this is the classic email-intrusion / payment-hijack scam. An account change must be re-confirmed face-to-face on video.

🚩 Red flags

Asks you to pay a personal account, or changes the receiving account at the last minute
Refuses any platform escrow / Trade Assurance and insists on full T/T upfront
Offers "a lower price" in exchange for "skipping the platform and paying offline"

5. Samples & Inspection: Third-Party QC + AI-Compiled Report ✅

A good sample doesn't guarantee good bulk goods — many scams happen through a "bulk swap." Third-party inspection plus an AI-compiled report is your last gate before the balance payment.

Checklist

☐ Seal the sample: once approved, both sides sign and seal it as the reference for the bulk order
☐ Arrange third-party QC before shipment (e.g. SGS, BV, TÜV, or a reliable independent inspector) with AQL sampling
☐ Inspection covers: appearance, dimensions/specs, function, packaging & shipping marks, quantity
☐ Tie the balance to the inspection report: release payment only after it passes

How to verify with AI

Here is the description of a third-party inspection report/photos: ___.
Please: 1) summarize in a table: inspection item, standard, actual
result, pass/fail; 2) flag every failed or risky item, ranked by
severity; 3) draft a corrective-action request to the supplier
(specify the items and a deadline); 4) advise whether I can release
the balance based on this report, with your reasoning.

🚩 Red-Flag Cheat Sheet (at a glance)

| Stage | Danger signal | What to do | |---|---|---| | Entity | No license / account name mismatch | Cross-check gsxt.gov.cn + Tianyancha | | Capacity | Refuses live video / office-tower address | Live tour filming the nameplate | | Certs | PDF only, no number | Verify the number on the issuer's site | | Payment | Wants personal account / last-minute switch | Corporate only + platform escrow | | Inspection | Blocks third-party QC / rushes your payment | Pass QC before releasing balance | | Price | Far below market + "order today" pressure | The more urgent, the slower you go |

One-line takeaway: the harder they push you to hurry, to keep it secret, or to switch accounts, the more dangerous it is. AI lists every suspicious point for you — but the decision to stop and verify is always yours.

How to Get the Printable Checklist 🎯

We've turned this 5-step due-diligence checklist into a printable PDF (with ☐ checkboxes + the red-flag cheat sheet + ready-to-use AI prompts) — tape it next to your monitor and run through it before every wire.

How to get it:

Message us on WhatsApp / WeChat with the note "Supplier Checklist," or email justindujw@gmail.com, and we'll send you the PDF;
Want us to run an AI due-diligence pass on a specific supplier? Send over the documents and we'll walk you through the full process once.

Thirty extra minutes of verification before you wire beats three months of chasing a refund afterward. Save this checklist — you'll use it on your next order.

Written by Justin Du, Chief Growth Officer at OKdjw, helping small Chinese exporters use AI to run a safer business.