---
title: Prove Who Made Your Goods in China | China Agent
description: When CBP asks who made your China goods, match the real factory name, address, and payee before the box moves.
---

[Blog: Straight Talk for US Importers | China Agent](https://www.china-agent.com/blog)

# [Prove Who Made Your Goods in China | China Agent](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/prove-who-made-your-goods-in-china)

 Written by [Eldad Shashua](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/author/eldad-shashua) | Oct 5, 2026, 8:15:00 PM

You prove who made your goods in China with a dated China-side record that names the Chinese company that actually made them, the place production happened, and the payee you wired, and shows those three tell the same story.

Your broker can file the entry. Your supplier can email a polished PDF. Neither carries your importer duty for you. China Agent verifies and documents the China side. We do not file entries. We do not give US customs legal advice. Confirm current requirements with your licensed broker or customs counsel.

Look at the names on your last order. English name on Alibaba. Chinese name on the business license. Name on the PI. Bank beneficiary on the wire. If those four do not point at one company, you do not have manufacturer proof yet. You have a commercial story with gaps.

That gap is the problem. Not quality sampling. Not a scramble after a letter arrives. Identity match of maker name, address, and payee, built before the goods move.

## What does "who made it" mean for a China importer?

CBP's UFLPA enforcement FAQs describe the manufacturer as the entity that manufactures, produces, or grows the imported commodity: the party that turns material into the finished article, or assembles it into one. That is not automatically the English storefront you messaged. It is not automatically the trading company on the invoice. It is the party that did the making.

For some product rules, CBP says the actual manufacturer name and address must be used at entry. Where that rule does not apply, a seller or invoicing party may still show up as the manufacturer identifier on the entry. That filing choice does not erase the bigger problem. If you cannot say who made the goods when someone asks for supply-chain evidence, you are already behind.

Forced-labor enforcement makes the identity question sharper. CBP's June 2026 Forced Labor Enforcement Operational Guidance for Importers ties reasonable care under 19 U.S.C. § 1484 to knowing your supply chain. For UFLPA applicability reviews, CBP expects ordinary-course documents: parties in the manufacture, manipulation, or export; roles; material flow; payment and transport records, translated when needed.

Appendix B of that guidance is where small importers lose the file. If you cannot provide production information on even one supplier in the chain, the submission is insufficient and the shipment is denied entry. One missing tier. You will not invent that tier during a detention clock.

Under § 1484, the importer of record must use reasonable care when filing entry information. CBP's Reasonable Care Informed Compliance publication explains that duty in plain trade language. Exact entry questions sit with your broker or counsel, not with a China-side verifier.

## Where does the China identity file usually break?

**Wrong entity on the papers.** English brand name, Chinese legal name on the business license, name on the PI: three different stories. Your MID and your commercial file only help if they point at a real licensed company: Chinese name, Unified Social Credit Code, registered address. Not a WeChat nickname.

**Alibaba name is not the factory.** A marketplace profile can be a trading desk sitting inside someone else's factory. Stop treating the storefront as the manufacturer. Match the license to the place you believe production happens. If they will not show the license, or the address on the license is a mailbox while the goods come from another city, write that gap down. A yellow file with a named hole beats a clean PDF that hides it.

**Payment to a third party.** Goods are "from" Company A. The wire goes to Company B, or to a personal account. That is not a paperwork quirk. That is a break in the identity chain. Before the next deposit, get the beneficiary name to match the licensed entity, or stop and ask why it will not.

**Subcontractor opacity.** Supplier says everything is made in-house. Capacity, machinery, and lead times say otherwise. Goods may be packed at one site and made at another. For forced-labor and origin questions, CBP's guidance asks for the roles of entities at each stage and whether a supplier is also a manufacturer. If your file only names the company that emails you, the production tier is still blank.

None of this means your supplier is a criminal. It means the commercial story and the manufacturing story have not been tied together yet. That tie is the proof.

## What belongs in a working identity file?

I do not hand buyers a fantasy list that covers every product and every CBP request. Supply chains differ. CBP says the evidence required varies with the facts. What I tell clients is the minimum China-side identity layer that has to exist before anyone asks:

1. **Chinese legal name and Unified Social Credit Code** on a current business license, not only the English trading name.
2. **Operating address** you believe is where production happens, separated from a showroom or registered mailbox if those differ.
3. **Payee match.** License, invoice or PI, and bank beneficiary tell the same company story.
4. **Role map.** Who sells, who manufactures, who packs, who ships, and which of those you have actually verified.
5. **Dated steps.** What you asked, who answered, what documents you got, what was refused, on which date.
6. **Production evidence when the stakes call for it.** Visit notes, capacity notes, photos of the line with your goods, production orders, volume that can be reconciled. CBP's Appendix E lists factory visit reports and production records among the kinds of manufacturer evidence importers may submit. That is supporting evidence for your broker and counsel, not a release stamp.

Keep open gaps visible. If the supplier will not let anyone in, the refusal stays on the page. We do not soften a refusal into a clean report.

A person at the factory does not stop a CBP detention. The legal duty stays with you as importer of record. What changes is whether you have a China-side record worth putting on the table when someone asks who made the goods.

## How is this different from a CBP letter scramble or a quality report?

This page is the hub for identity match before the goods move. The neighboring posts answer the scramble, the quality mix-up, the longer ask list, and the file shape.

[When CBP asks for Chinese factory information](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/cbp-asked-chinese-factory-information) is what you do after a letter already landed: roles, what to send, what not to invent.

[QC inspection is not manufacturer proof](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/qc-inspection-not-manufacturer-proof) separates quality sampling from identity. A passed AQL is not the same evidence as naming the Chinese legal maker with matching papers.

[10 things CBP will ask you to produce](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/10-things-cbp-will-ask-you-to-produce) is the wider list. Identity of the maker is item one on that list. This hub is how you build that item before the box moves.

[Reasonable care records for China importers](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/reasonable-care-records-china-importer) is the file shape: ordinary-course papers, entity first, what to keep between shipments.

Use those for the scramble guide, the quality limit, the longer ask list, or the filing shape. Come back here for name, address, and payee match before the goods leave China.

## What should you do before the goods move?

Stop assuming the Alibaba "factory" is a factory. Pull the Chinese legal name and license. That legal name has to match the top of the PI and the bank beneficiary at the bottom.

Write the role map. Seller, manufacturer, packer, shipper, named, with addresses. Mark what you have verified and what is still open.

Ask for ordinary-course documents early. Purchase orders, invoices, payment proofs, packing lists, bills of lading, production or capacity records where your product risk needs them. CBP's public guidance expects that kind of file for forced-labor reviews, not a single affidavit.

Put a dated China-side pass on the file. Paper first if you have never matched the entity. Face to face at the factory when paper cannot answer "is this the place making my goods?"

Keep one living file through the order: PO and PI, confirmed material, sample and labels, visits, shipping samples, tests, container loading, packing list, invoice, and bill of lading. One file for the shipment. You do not always hand it over. You keep it organized.

When the file is ready, hand the organized China side to your broker or counsel. They decide what goes into an entry response. We prepare the China side. We do not file.

If one company in the chain will not provide production information, CBP's June 2026 guidance says the submission can fail on that alone. That decision is yours. The China-side job is to surface the gap before the box is on the water.

## How do you keep the identity file alive between shipments?

A one-time license pull answers yesterday. The identity problem returns when the PI changes, a new bank account appears, or production moves to a subcontractor nobody named.

That is what [Monthly Support](https://www.china-agent.com/monthly-support-packages) is for: China Supplier Control for US importers who already have suppliers. No sourcing, no commissions. Our team reads what the factory sends in Chinese, watches entity and payee drift, follows up on missing documents, keeps the China-side record current, and walks into the supplier when the plan calls for a visit. Visibility starts from $995 a month plus $1,000 setup, month to month, for up to three suppliers, with one China Agent factory visit each month on that plan. You keep the commercial relationship. We are the China-side layer that makes the identity file grow while orders keep moving.

If you need someone in that city full time on your instructions, samples, deeper local follow-up, see [Employee in China](https://www.china-agent.com/employee-in-china). That is a different door. Monthly Support is our people on your existing suppliers. Employee is your person, employed under Chinese law through our hubs, legally registered in each city, working only for you. Service fee from $595 a month without an office, or $895 with a seat in our office. Setup from $1,800. Payroll and costs paid out in China run at cost plus a 10% handling fee for bank transfers, currency conversion, government and related fees. The handling fee is never charged on the service fee.

For a first paper verdict on one supplier you already chose, start with the [$95 Supplier Reality Check](https://www.china-agent.com/supplier-reality-check). Monthly Support is how you keep proving who made the goods after the first order.

## Limits

China Agent verifies, prepares, and drafts on the China side. Your licensed customs broker files. You, as importer of record, certify. We do not give US customs legal advice, we do not file entries, and we do not promise release of any shipment. No sourcing, no commissions. We are not a QC firm or a design firm. Confirm current customs requirements with your licensed broker or customs counsel.

## What to do

Match the Chinese legal name, the production address, and the payee on your next order before you wire. Put the mismatches on the page with dates. Hand the organized China side to your broker. If you want that identity trail kept alive across shipments on suppliers you already have, put [Monthly Support](https://www.china-agent.com/monthly-support-packages) on the file.

[WhatsApp](https://wa.me/8615322086875) [Book a call](https://www.china-agent.com/booking)

If [Monthly Support](https://www.china-agent.com/monthly-support-packages) or a full-time [Employee in China](https://www.china-agent.com/employee-in-china) fits better, we will say so on the same call. Bring the supplier name, the PI, and the bank details. We will tell you what the China side can and cannot support. We do not get anyone through CBP.

I'm Eldad Shashua, founder of China Agent. I've spent 17 years in China reading licenses, sitting with owners, and matching who you actually pay. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eldad-shashua-36519040)

China Agent has worked on the client side in China since 2009. Today it is a Hong Kong company with people in Guangzhou, Foshan, Yiwu, Shenzhen and Jinan.

## FAQ

**How do I prove to CBP who manufactured my goods in China?**  
Build a dated China-side record that names the Chinese legal entity that made the goods, the production address, and the payee, and shows they match. Keep ordinary-course documents (license, POs, invoices, payment proofs, shipping records, and production evidence where needed). Your broker files; you certify as importer of record. Confirm exact entry and review requirements with your broker or customs counsel.

**Is the Alibaba company name enough to identify the manufacturer?**  
Usually no. CBP describes the manufacturer as the party that manufactures, produces, or grows the commodity. A marketplace English name is often a trading desk, not the factory. Match the Chinese business license, operating address, and bank beneficiary before you treat the storefront as the maker.

**What if the bank account on the PI does not match the Chinese company on the license?**  
Treat it as an identity break, not a minor paperwork issue. Stop and reconcile the payee to the licensed entity, or get a clear written explanation of why a different party is receiving the money, before the next deposit. Put the mismatch in the file.

**Does a factory visit prove my goods to CBP?**  
A dated visit can support your file: who went, where, who sat down, what was seen, what was refused. It is not a customs release stamp and does not replace your importer-of-record duty. China Agent does not file entries and does not certify admissibility.

**What does China Agent do versus my customs broker?**  
China Agent verifies and documents the China side (entity, payee, production follow-up, ongoing supplier control). Your licensed broker handles entry filing. You remain the importer of record responsible for certifications and reasonable care. China Agent does not give US customs legal advice.

[View full post](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/prove-who-made-your-goods-in-china)

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