Supplier Risk Assessment

Free Tool · No signup · 2 minutes Supplier Risk Assessment Answer 12 questions about the supplier you are considering and get an instant risk score across the four areas that decide whether your order arrives right: legal entity, factory substance, quality system and transaction safety. No email required to see your result. Start the Assessment The 4 dimensions Where supplier risk actually lives Most buyers only check price. These are the four things that decide whether the goods arrive right — and which one is your weakest link. Legal entity Is the company real, registered, and is the bank account in its name? Factory substance Do they actually make the product, or resell it with a markup? Quality system How defects are prevented, inspected and reported before shipping. Transaction safety How money moves, and what stops you paying for goods that fail. Supplier Risk Assessment Question 1 of 12 Back Your supplier risk score 0% safety score Your score by dimension What to fix before you pay Want the factory actually checked? We audit suppliers and inspect first orders in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan and Zhongshan — licence check, live factory walk, AQL inspection and a photo + video report. Send us the factory Get a free quote Retake the assessment Get the inspection report template Get the AQL sampling table This assessment is a decision aid, not a guarantee. It flags where an order is most likely to go wrong so you can verify before paying. Free quote Get a quote for your next order Your figures are ready to send — reply within 12 hours with a factory price and a freight estimate. No obligation. Your numbers Get my quote Get factory prices on WhatsApp Why this mattersThe cheapest audit is before the deposit Buyers rarely lose money on the price they negotiated. They lose it on the four things this tool scores: paying a reseller who billed itself as a factory, discovering the material was substituted after the deposit, receiving a container nobody independently inspected, or transferring the full amount with nothing in writing that ties payment to quality. All four are checkable in a single afternoon — and every one of them is far cheaper to check before you pay than to fix after the goods land. An invisible markup inside the unit price What a trading company adds when it quotes you as if it were the factory. A rejected container The cost of skipping one inspection before shipment, measured in full order value. Payment with no trigger Money released without an inspection clause in the PO has no way back. FAQSupplier risk questions What is a supplier risk assessment?A structured check of a supplier before you pay, scored across legal entity, factory substance, quality system and transaction safety. The weakest dimension is where the order is most likely to fail. How do I check if a Chinese supplier is legitimate?Get the business licence and verify the unified social credit code in China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System; confirm the bank account matches the licensed company; video-call the production floor live. A real supplier produces all three quickly. What are the biggest risks with a new Chinese supplier?A reseller pretending to be a factory; material substitution after the deposit; no independent inspection; and 100% payment up front with no inspection clause. All four are checkable before you transfer money. Should I pay a deposit to a supplier I have not visited?Yes, if the verification is done first: licence verified, live factory video tour, factory invoice seen, paid sample checked, and a pre-shipment inspection written into the PO with the balance released only after it passes. 30% is a normal deposit. How is supplier risk scored here?12 questions across four dimensions, each answer worth 0–3 points. You get a percentage with a risk band plus a per-dimension breakdown, so you see exactly which area to fix before ordering. What if my supplier scores high risk?Turn the gaps into conditions: licence before payment, third-party inspection before the balance, a small trial order first, factory invoice required. If a supplier refuses the verification itself, that refusal is your answer. Next steps Verify, then inspect Checking the supplier is step one. These free tools and guides cover what comes next. All free tools Free Tool Inspection Report Template (Excel) The fill-in report for your first order: 6 checkpoints, defect log, photo index, PASS/FAIL. Get the template Free Tool AQL Sampling Table (Excel) How many units to inspect and how many defects are allowed, by batch size (ISO 2859-1). Get the table Guide China Factory Audit: The Complete Guide How to verify a factory is real before you send a deposit — the red flags that catch fakes. Read guide