Table of contents (6 sections)
Anyone can put "manufacturer" on a listing. Telling a real factory from a trading company that drop-ships from three others is the single most important thing you do before your first order. Here's the same checklist we'd use if we were the ones buying.
1. Make them prove the factory is theirs
Ask for a live video walk-through of the production line this week — not a pre-recorded clip. A real manufacturer can put a phone on the floor in 24 hours and show you injection molding, PCBA, and final assembly. Trading companies stall, reschedule, or send the same stock footage everyone else has.
2. Verify certifications, don't collect PDFs
For US/EU markets the floor is FCC + CE + RoHS, and for wireless charging, Qi2 issued by the WPC. A PDF proves nothing — ask for the certificate number and look it up in the issuing body's public database. If they can't give you a lookup ID, treat the cert as decorative.
3. Ask the claim-rate question
A genuine factory tracks its own defect data and will give you a real number — typically under 1–2% for mature SKUs. The honest answer to "what's your claim rate, and how do you handle DOA?" tells you more than any sales deck. Vague reassurance ("very low, don't worry") is a red flag.
4. Test flexibility with a small order first
A real manufacturer can support a low trial quantity so you validate the market before committing capital. We keep ours low on purpose — stock models from just 2 pcs, custom-logo orders from 50 pcs. A supplier who only quotes 1,000-pc minimums for everything is either a trader padding margin or a factory you don't want to learn on.
5. Read one real BOM and one shipping doc set
Ask to see a Bill of Materials for an OEM project they delivered last quarter, plus a sample document pack (CO, BL, packing list, AQL report). Factories that actually ship containers have these on hand. Middlemen improvise.
The supplier who answers all five within 24 hours — with numbers, lookup IDs, and a live camera — is the one worth a sample order.
Ready to run the checklist on us?
We're happy to do the factory video, send verifiable certificate numbers, and quote any quantity — from a 2-pc wholesale test to a full OEM run. Message us on WhatsApp and put us through all five questions.
