Mark ZhongIdentity refusal · Before contracting
The supplier refuses to provide a Chinese business license
You do not need to accuse the seller of fraud. You do need a legal name before you can match the contract and payment.
A Chinese business license normally supplies the Chinese legal name and unified social credit code needed to identify the company in official records. An English trading name is not a reliable substitute because multiple entities may use similar translations.
Possible explanations
The contact may be a salesperson who does not understand the request, a trading company avoiding disclosure of its upstream factory, or a seller concerned about document misuse. It may also mean the storefront is not operated by the company the buyer thinks it is. The refusal alone does not establish which explanation is true.
A neutral response
“For our supplier onboarding, we need the Chinese legal company name and unified social credit code so that the contract, invoice and beneficiary can be matched. You may watermark the license ‘for customer due diligence only.’ If another company will invoice or receive payment, please explain that relationship in writing.”
If the seller still refuses
- Do not send a deposit to an unidentified entity.
- Ask the platform to confirm the legal entity operating the storefront.
- Check whether the Chinese name appears on an audit report, certificate, invoice stamp or platform company profile.
- Do not treat a certificate or factory video as proof of the contracting company.
Long-tail searches this case answers
| Query | Intent |
|---|---|
| Chinese supplier refuses business license | Identity risk |
| Alibaba supplier will not send company registration | Platform seller identification |
| how to ask Chinese factory for business license | Buyer procedure |
| supplier only gives English company name | Legal-name discovery |