When a hard-to-find part only shows up with one broker, the price looks right and the lead time is “3 days” — it is tempting to click buy. Before you wire money to a new distributor, run through these five checks. Each one takes minutes; getting them wrong can cost you a production lot.
1. No Certificate of Conformance (COC)
Any legitimate distributor issues a COC with every shipment: part number, quantity, date code, country of origin and the company stamp. If a seller says “we do not provide COC” or the document has no company letterhead, walk away. A real COC is traceable to the selling entity — if the parts fail later, that paper trail is your only recourse.
2. Suspiciously Low Price
If a quote is 30–50% below the open-market average, ask why. The usual reasons are not pleasant: remarked dies, recycled pulls, or parts recovered from scrap boards. Deep discounts do exist on genuine excess stock — but a trustworthy seller will tell you why the price is low (factory excess, discontinued line, aged date code) and put it in writing.
3. Date Codes Older Than the Promise
Repacking and re-marking old date codes is one of the most common counterfeit tricks. Insist on photos of the actual date codes before shipping, and verify them again on arrival. Ink that smears, fonts that do not match the manufacturer standard, or codes that skip a manufacturer convention are all red flags.
4. No Physical Address or Test Capability
Check the company address. A trading account registered to a virtual office with no warehouse, no incoming inspection and no microscope is not “quality controlling” anything. Ask what incoming inspection looks like: visual check, marking verification, and — for critical parts — electrical testing or third-party lab reports.
5. Payment Terms That Skip Escrow
Full prepayment by wire to a personal account, or pressure to move off-platform before you have seen documentation, is the classic setup for outright fraud. Established distributors accept standard business payment terms and can issue a formal invoice with matching company details.
How We Screen at Jisheng
Every batch we ship from Shenzhen goes through visual and functional inspection: marking verification under magnification, date-code and packaging checks, and counterfeit screening against known- bad samples. Every order leaves with a COC, and our quote tells you the source channel — authorized stock, factory excess, or vetted open market — so you know exactly what you are buying.
Sourcing a tight BOM and want a second opinion on a risky line item? Send us the part number — we will tell you what is available and at what risk level, free of charge.
Need These Parts in Your BOM?
Send your bill of materials — 24-hour quote, 1-piece MOQ, ships worldwide from Shenzhen.
