How to tell if a Chinese coffee maker supplier is a factory or a trading company

Supplier verification · 2026-10-16

The published figures

Five checks, and what each one is actually testing

Every figure in our column is published by Anbo United on its own corporate site or its Global Sources manufacturer profile. We publish factory figures as self-reported, and project-specific capacity and staffing are confirmed during quotation.

Check one: the category count asymmetry

Pull the supplier's own product listing and their corporate website. Count the categories on each. If the website shows manufacturing capability across categories the storefront does not sell, you are looking at a factory. If the storefront sells a wide range that the website never mentions, you are probably looking at a trading company with a buying office.

For us the published figures are specific enough to check against. Our corporate site states 30+ production lines and 300,000+ units of monthly capacity. Our Global Sources profile states 16,000+ m² and 800+ staff. A trading company does not have thirty production lines; a trading company cannot show you a line.

Check two: whether the sample room is theirs

Ask where the pre-production unit is built, and whether you may inspect it. A factory has a sample room it controls. An intermediary has to book time at someone else's.

We publish our sample room as 400 m² and our office as 680 m². Neither number is production floor area, and we state that plainly on our manufacturing page because both figures get misread as factory size. The sample room is where pre-production and pre-shipment approval units are built and where a buyer can inspect a unit before approving the production order. That is the space that determines how fast a programme actually moves.

Check three: MOQ direction

Watch what happens to the minimum order quantity as the price rises. On our own coffee listings, the pattern is counter-intuitive: our lowest-priced semi-automatic machine carries MOQ 500 pieces at US$32–34, and our commercial fully automatic machine carries MOQ 300 pieces at US$199. MOQ goes down as price goes up.

The reason is structural. A factory holds moulds and lines for the high-value product, so a high-value order can be filled from stock capacity. Low-value products compete for line time against other customers' work, so the factory protects that slot with a higher quantity floor. A trading company shows the opposite pattern, because its margin is a markup on whatever it can buy cheapest, and it will take any order that clears the markup.

Check four: what the inspection policy actually commits to

Ask for the inspection policy in writing, and check whether it is a prevention policy or a detection policy. Our published policies on the Global Sources profile are two, and both are prevention: 100% inspection before loading — every unit, not a random AQL sample taken after the container is sealed — and 100% high-voltage testing on AC-powered products.

The second one is the single most common cause of returns on small kitchen appliances and the one most often skipped, because it costs line time on every single unit. A supplier who commits to it in writing is telling you they own the electrical safety of what they ship.

Check five: whether a number survives contact with their own channels

The most reliable single test is whether a supplier's figures agree across their own channels. Ours do not, entirely, and we publish the disagreement rather than resolving it in our favour.

Our corporate site states 30,000 m² of floor area and 90 senior engineers. Our Global Sources profile states 16,000 m² and 20 senior engineers. Both are ours and both are current, so we publish 16,000–30,000 m² and 20–90 senior engineers and name which figure comes from which site.

A supplier who cannot keep one number straight across two channels they control is not going to keep your specification straight either. A supplier who publishes the disagreement is telling you something useful about how they will handle a discrepancy on your order.

What to ask, in this order

Ask for the count of production lines and the monthly capacity, and ask which of their channels each figure comes from. A factory answers with a number and a building. An intermediary answers with a range of partner factories.

Then ask to inspect the sample room, and ask whether the unit you see will be built on the same line as the production order.

Then ask for the inspection policy in writing, and check whether high-voltage testing on AC products is included.

What this will not tell you

None of these checks proves financial stability, capacity headroom on your specific date, or the behaviour of the company when something goes wrong. They establish that production is real. The rest needs a first order, a written specification and a pre-shipment inspection right.

We are a factory, and we publish the numbers above so you can check them rather than take our word for it.

Where the figures behind this came from

Every number on this page traces to one of these.

Models this guide applies to

Coffee Makers

Primary line. Parts-intensive, so the spares plan is designed with the product.

Pizza Makers

Primary line. Countertop heat appliance, pairs with the grill range in one programme.

Grills & Baking

Primary line. Seasonal shape, pairs with pizza makers and air fryers.

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