Why we wrote this page ourselves
Sourcing from China usually means wiring money to a company you've never met, on the other side of the world, based on a WeChat conversation and a few factory photos. That setup is exactly what fake sourcing agents rely on — take a deposit, disappear, block the account. It happens often enough that it's covered in the scams section of our own Guangzhou travel guide, written for buyers regardless of who they end up working with.
We'd rather answer the "is this a scam" question directly than let it sit unanswered on Google while a buyer decides whether to trust us. Everything below is checkable independently of anything we tell you — that's the point.
Our registered company, and how to check it
Manor Sourcing trades under Guangzhou Manor Technology Co., Ltd, a company registered in Guangzhou, China, operating since 2015. Chinese company registrations are public record. You can search for us — or any company you're considering working with — on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统, gsxt.gov.cn), the Chinese government's official business registry lookup. Search the Chinese company name, confirm the registration is active, and check how long it's been registered.
If you can't read Chinese or navigate the registry, ask us for the exact registered name and registration number and check it yourself, or have a local contact do it — don't take a screenshot we send you as the verification step; go to the source.
Our office — visit it, or verify it remotely
Our office is Room D15, 2/F, No. 53-57 Huale Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (广州市越秀区华乐路53、57号二楼全层自编D15房). Three ways to check it without wiring us anything first:
• Street view: look up the address on Google Maps or Baidu Maps — a real office in a real building, not a residential address or a shared mailbox service.
• Video call: ask for a live video call from the office. We do these routinely for buyers who haven't visited China before and want to see who they're dealing with before committing to anything.
• In person: we welcome walk-ins — bring a translator if you'd like, we won't mind.
A fake operation built around a WeChat account and a stock photo can't do any of these three things convincingly. That's the test.
How payment works here
The single biggest tell for a fake sourcing agent is being asked to pay before anything is in writing. We don't do that. Every order starts with a written, itemized agreement — product specs, quantities, pricing, and fees — before any payment changes hands.
When you do pay, check that the payment is going to a corporate account under the same registered name on the contract — Guangzhou Manor Technology Co., Ltd — not a personal account, a different company name, or a middleman. Any mismatch between the name on your contract and the name on the payment instructions is a reason to stop and ask why, whoever you're working with.
Talk to a real person before you pay anything
Email: info@manor-sourcing.com
WhatsApp / phone: +86 180 2420 2971 (the same number on our invoices — you can cross-check it)
WeChat: scan the code below
We answer in English, French, German, Chinese, and Arabic. If a "sourcing agent" only communicates through a single messaging app and goes quiet when you ask to move the conversation elsewhere, that's worth noticing.
Red flags of fake sourcing agents
None of this checklist is specific to us — run it against any sourcing agent you're evaluating, including this one:
• No verifiable office address, or an address that turns out to be a residential apartment or a mailbox rental.
• Contactable only through personal WeChat/WhatsApp, with no company email domain or public business registration.
• Asks for a deposit before any written contract or itemized pricing exists.
• Can't produce a registration number you can independently look up, or gets evasive when you ask.
• Refuses a video call or won't discuss meeting in person.
• Unusually low prices, paired with pressure to pay quickly before you "lose the deal."
One or two of these alone aren't automatically disqualifying — a small, newer operator might genuinely have a thin track record. But stacking three or more of them on the same agent is the pattern fake sourcing agents follow almost every time.
Independent ways to verify any China-based company
• gsxt.gov.cn — the official Chinese business registry, searchable by company name.
• Street view on Google Maps or Baidu Maps for the claimed office address.
• A live video call, ideally unscheduled or on short notice, from the claimed location.
• Name consistency: check that the company name is identical across the contract, the invoice, and the payment/bank details — not just similar.
• References: ask for references from past clients, and actually contact them.
• Track record: check how long the company's website and public presence have existed — a sourcing brand with years of consistent history is a different risk profile than one that appeared last month.
Still want to talk it through first?
Ask us anything before you commit to anything — including questions from this page.
Get a QuoteFrequently asked questions
No. We're a registered company, Guangzhou Manor Technology Co., Ltd, operating from a real office in Yuexiu, Guangzhou, since 2015. Everything on this page is meant to be checked independently, not taken on our word.
Because it's exactly what a buyer searches before sending money to any China-based sourcing agent, including us. Answering the question, and inviting the check, is something a fake operation generally won't do.
Search our registered name on gsxt.gov.cn, check our office on Google Maps/Baidu Maps street view, ask for a live video call from the office, or visit in person.
No. Every order starts with a written, itemized agreement before any payment. A request for money before that is a red flag regardless of who's asking.
Ask for a video call, request references from past clients, and cross-check the registered company name against the payment details before you send anything.
Yes — Manor Sourcing is the trading name; the registered legal entity is Guangzhou Manor Technology Co., Ltd. Both names appear on our contracts and invoices.