How to evaluate a Chinese OEM skincare factory
Placing an order is easy. Undoing the wrong one is not. This is the sequence we would follow if we were the buyer — what to verify, in what order, and which answers are hard to fake.
Step 1 — Establish what the site is licensed to make
Two documents do different jobs, and suppliers sometimes present one as if it were the other. Ask for both, and read them separately.
- The production licence covers what the site is permitted to manufacture. Read the permitted scope, not just the cover page.
- The product registration covers one specific item. Match it against the exact product you are buying — the same name and the same specification.
- Check who the certificate holder is. It is not always the company you are negotiating with, and that is not automatically a problem — but you should know the name before you sign.
A site can hold more than one production licence for different product categories. Our own site holds two — one for medical devices and one for cosmetics — and every registration we hold is listed on our Certifications page, with the certificate numbers as filed.
Step 2 — Read each document for what it actually proves
A document is only useful if you know the question it answers. These are the ones worth asking for, and the specific question each one settles.
Business licence
Answers: which legal entity exists, and under exactly what registered name.
Production licence
Answers: which product categories this site is permitted to manufacture.
Product registration certificate
Answers: whether this specific item has been registered, and under which number.
Quality system certificate
Answers: whether an independent body has audited the quality system, and against which standard.
Batch certificate of analysis
Answers: whether the batch you actually receive was tested — and against which specifications.
Free-sale certificate and certificate of origin
Answers: whether the product may be sold in its country of origin, and where the goods were made.
Ask for the technical file and the formulation data separately from the certificates. Certificates describe the product; the technical file is what your own laboratory or your regulator will actually work from.
Step 3 — Work out whether you are talking to a factory or a trader
Buying through a trading company is a legitimate choice. Not knowing which one you are dealing with is the problem — the two have different costs, different minimums and different control over quality.
- Who owns the production equipment, and at which address does it physically sit?
- What is the production licence number, and does its scope actually cover my product category?
- Which laboratory tests the batch — in-house or independent — and who signs the release record?
- Can I see the filling line running for my product category, not a different one?
- Who outside your company can see my formulation documentation, and under what agreement?
The pattern to watch for is not an evasive answer. It is an answer that changes between your first email and your fifth.
Step 4 — Know what a remote audit can and cannot settle
What a video walkthrough can confirm
The shape of the site, the layout of the production and filling areas, the existence of the laboratory, and whether the people answering your questions are the people who run the line. That is more than a catalogue gives you.
What it cannot confirm
Whether a cleanroom is maintained at its stated condition on an ordinary working day, how the line behaves when nobody is filming, and how the site responds when a batch fails. Those are process questions, and process shows up over orders rather than in a single call.
Step 5 — Treat the sample and the pilot batch as two separate tests
- Ask for samples produced on the same route as the bulk order, and ask which route that was.
- Ask for the batch record behind the sample, not only the sample itself.
- Test the sample in your own laboratory. A supplier's own report is a starting point, not a verification.
- Then order a pilot batch and compare it against the sample before you commit to volume.
A sample prepared by hand in a laboratory and a production batch are different artefacts. The question worth asking is not whether they differ — it is whether the factory will tell you when they do.
A note on how to read this page
We are a manufacturer, so everything on this page is also a description of what you should ask us for. If a question here is inconvenient for a supplier, that is usually information in itself.
Where to go next
- Factory — See the production and filling areas, the laboratories and the site itself.
- Certifications — See every licence and registration held by this site, with certificate numbers.
- Market Access — Understand what registration in your own market will require.
- FAQ — Read the commercial questions buyers ask us most.
