Factory or Middleman? Four Checks Small Importers Make Before a First Lighting Order

Since May 2, 2025, goods made in China and Hong Kong have not qualified for the de minimis exemption that once let parcels worth up to $800 enter the United States duty-free with minimal paperwork. For many small online sellers of home goods, that ended the model of shipping single orders straight from an overseas warehouse. The alternative is to import in bulk, which means choosing a supplier rather than a listing, and in decorative lighting nearly every supplier page now says “factory-direct.” Some of those suppliers run a production floor. Many are trading companies that place orders with several workshops. Either can be a good partner, but they differ in who fixes a defective batch, how quickly a sample can be changed and what the price is paying for, so experienced buyers settle the question before the deposit with four checks that fit into a week.

Start with the registration

Every business registered in mainland China has an 18-character Unified Social Credit Code, printed on its business license. The code can be searched on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn, in Chinese only), which shows the registered name, address and business scope. The scope is written by the company itself, so it is a clue rather than proof: a plant may also list sales and export, and a trader may list production. The registered name will be in Chinese and usually differs from the brand on the supplier’s website, so ask the supplier to show how the two connect. Some manufacturers publish these details up front. One candle warmer lamp maker in Nanhai, Foshan, for example, prints its registration code and address, along with the size of its production floor, at beginlighting.com/factory; even then, the details should be checked against the license itself.

Put the address on a map

Lighting manufacturing in Guangdong is concentrated in a few places, most famously the town of Guzhen in Zhongshan and the districts of Foshan, where industrial parks are lined with multi-story factory buildings. A satellite view will not settle anything alone, since many genuine plants occupy a floor or two of a shared building, but a registered address in a downtown office tower is worth a follow-up question. If production happens somewhere other than the registered office, ask for both addresses and look at both.

Ask for a live walk-through

Ready-made factory footage can belong to anyone, so ask for a live video call instead. Have the supplier carry the camera from the office onto the floor, show what is being assembled that day and hold up a unit of the exact product on your quote, ideally beside the sample you were sent. Time zones make this an early-morning or late-evening call for most US buyers, which is one reason the checks take days rather than an afternoon.

Ask how a run is inspected

A supplier that inspects its own output should be able to describe the method: the sampling plan, the defects it treats as major and minor, and who signs a batch off before packing. Most buyers and inspectors use ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 or its international equivalent, ISO 2859-1, with the inspection level and the AQL limits agreed in writing before production starts. Trading companies more often rely on a third-party inspector at the end of the run. That works, but the fee belongs in the cost sheet, and on a first order an independent pre-shipment inspection is worth buying whichever kind of supplier wins the business.

Keep the license copy, the notes from the video call and the agreed inspection terms with the purchase order, and repeat the walk-through before any large reorder, because the floor that made the first batch is not guaranteed to make the second.