This page covers the four things that go wrong most often: goods that do not match, money sent to the wrong place, goods held at customs, and a person in trouble in China. For each one, it says who to take it to. It is part of our China sourcing series. It is not legal advice. For a real case, talk to a lawyer in the city where the problem sits.
What do you do in the first hour when the goods do not match?
Your order, your consignee, your name as the buyer on the contract. The checking is yours too: nobody stands between the factory and you. You run the batch against the sealed sample before it ships, and when it does not match you refuse it — the goods do not travel. If an agent runs the order, that check is the agent's job; and a mismatch usually only reaches you after the carton is open. The claim is yours to bring either way, because the contract is in your name.
Then the first hour looks like this. Stop, film, and write. Do not sign a clean receipt, do not move the goods into your own stock, and do not accept a promise on the phone.
- Film the unopened carton. One continuous shot: the container or truck, the seal, the carton label, the tape being cut, the first unit out. A cut in the video is an argument you will lose.
- Photograph the documents. Packing list, invoice, bill of lading (the paper that lists what is on the ship), and the carton markings next to the carton.
- Count and separate. Keep the bad batch apart from the good one, and write the count per carton.
- Compare against the sealed sample. Take the photo of the approved sample, put it next to the delivered unit, and shoot both in one frame.
- Write a defect list with numbers. "Colour 300 pcs is Pantone 186, approved sample is 485" is a finding. "Wrong colour" is an opinion.
- Send it in writing within 24 hours. One message: what you received, what you expected, the count, the photos, and what you want — replacement, credit, or a price adjustment.
- Give a deadline. Ten working days for an answer is a working range in our experience.
If the value is large, book a third-party inspection. Inspection companies such as SGS, Bureau Veritas, TÜV or CCIC issue a report you can put in front of a platform or a court. A report usually takes several working days in our experience, so start it early. Nobody issues a report for you unless you buy one. What you can produce yourself is a self-check record: the items checked, the number for each one, and who signed it. The sample guide covers how to seal and store the reference unit.
Who do you take it to: the supplier, the forwarder or the platform?
Take a quality or specification problem to the supplier. Take a transport or short-shipment problem to the forwarder. Take a payment problem to the platform, the bank and the police, in that order.
- Supplier. Wrong material, wrong colour, wrong size, missing accessories, a batch that does not match the sealed sample. This is a contract problem, and the supplier is the other party.
- Forwarder. Cartons crushed in transit, a short shipment against the bill of lading, demurrage at the port, a container that arrives with a broken seal. A forwarder answers for the carriage, not for the product.
- Platform. If you paid through a marketplace with a dispute window, open the case before the window closes. Read the platform's own deadline; it is shorter than you think.
- Bank. Wrong beneficiary, wrong amount, a payment that never arrived. The bank can trace a transfer; it cannot judge a contract.
- Nobody. A verbal promise to "fix it next time" is not a party to anything.
Escalate in three steps: written notice to the supplier, then a third-party report, then the dispute clause in your contract. A supplier who sees a report and a deadline answers differently from one who sees a complaint.
What can you do in the first 24 hours if the money went to the wrong place?
Call your bank first, then the receiving bank, then the police. Speed matters more than the wording of the email.
- Call the sending bank. Ask for a recall or an amendment request on the transfer. If the money is still in transit or the beneficiary has not been credited, a recall can work.
- Understand the limit. T/T is a bank transfer. One that has landed in the beneficiary's account cannot be pulled back by you. The bank can only ask. That is why the first hour matters.
- Call the receiving bank if you have its details, and ask whether the account has been credited.
- Tell the supplier in writing, and ask for a written refund commitment with a date.
- Report to the police if the beneficiary is a fake company, a fake account or a fraud. In China the number is 110. Bring the contract, the PI, the bank slip and the chat.
- Open a platform case if the order came through a marketplace.
- Keep the paper: the SWIFT message (MT103, the bank's own transfer record), the PI, the contract, the invoice, the account details you were given, and the full chat.
One preventive check is worth more than all of this: the company name on the PI, on the bank account and on the business licence must be the same. Our guide to paying a Chinese supplier covers the checks.
What do you do when customs holds the goods?
Call the customs broker first. The broker or the forwarder holds the file, and the notice tells you which rule was triggered.
- Get the paper. Ask for the inspection or detention notice, in writing, with the article number and the reason.
- Read the reason. The common ones are a mismatch between the declaration and the goods, a missing certificate, a brand or IP issue, and wood packaging without the required mark. The mismatch covers name, quantity and value.
- Answer with documents. Invoice, packing list, contract, bill of lading, certificate of origin, product certificates, and photos of the marks.
- Know the procedure. Customs detains goods with at least two officers and shows ID. It states the reason and your appeal route, then writes a record on the spot. Detained goods are not disposed of before a court judgment or a customs penalty decision.
- Ask about a guarantee. You can offer security and apply to have the detention lifted or avoided.
- Watch the clock. A penalty case is decided within six months of filing, extendable once. After a release notice, you have three months to collect the goods; after that customs publishes a notice, waits 30 days, and may sell the goods.
Time cost, in our experience: a document check is days, a physical inspection is one to two weeks, and a penalty case runs for months. Add storage fees for every day. The customs and duty guide covers the declaration side.
What do you do if you lose your passport or get sick in China?
Report the loss at a police station, then go to your embassy or consulate for a travel document. For a medical problem, go to a public hospital with an international department and call 120 for an ambulance.
- Lost passport. File a report at the nearest police station and keep the report. The embassy or consulate needs it, plus photos and proof of identity, to issue an emergency travel document.
- Keep a copy. A photo of the passport data page and the entry stamp, stored offline, saves a day.
- Falling ill. Public hospitals have emergency departments open around the clock; the large ones have an international clinic with English-speaking staff in major cities. Take your passport and a payment method. Call 120 for an ambulance.
- Medicine. Bring your own prescription drugs with the prescription, and keep them in the original packaging.
- A dispute with a person. Call 110 for anything involving threats, violence or theft. For money, see the next section.
When is it a police matter, and when is it a civil case?
The police handle crimes and public order. They do not handle a supplier who took your money and shipped late.
- Police, 110: fraud, theft, robbery, assault, threats, a fake company or a forged seal, a counterfeit product sold as genuine.
- Not police: a price dispute, a quality dispute, a late delivery, a deposit not returned, a contract term you disagree about. These are civil claims.
- The line: if someone lied to get your money, that can be fraud. If someone performed the contract badly, that is civil. The same facts can look like both, and the police decide.
- Where the civil route starts: a written claim to the supplier, then mediation, then arbitration or court.
- Call 12345 for a general government enquiry or a consumer complaint. That line routes non-emergency matters, and economic disputes belong there, not on 110.
Where does a commercial dispute actually go?
It goes where your contract says. With an arbitration clause, it goes to arbitration. Without one, it goes to a people's court.
- Read the dispute clause first. If the contract names an arbitration commission, a court will not take the case. That is the point of the clause.
- Court basics. A case needs a plaintiff with a direct interest, a clear defendant, a specific claim, and a court with jurisdiction. The court registers a compliant case within seven days. A domestic first-instance case is decided within six months, extendable; a foreign-related case is expressly exempt from that six-month limit (Civil Procedure Law, Article 287), so the actual length depends on the case and the court.
- Foreign party. A foreign company can sue in a Chinese court. If it appoints a lawyer, the lawyer must be a Chinese lawyer, and a power of attorney signed abroad needs notarisation plus either consular authentication or, where a treaty between China and that country provides another procedure, that procedure. Under the Apostille Convention, an apostille replaces consular authentication, so you do not go to the embassy.
- Cost and time. Court fees follow the amount claimed, and a contested case takes months. Arbitration is usually faster and more expensive.
- Keep the evidence chain. Contract, PI, samples, inspection record, chat, bank slips, and the delivery documents. A case is built from paper, not from what happened.
This page describes general procedure. It is not legal advice, and it is not a prediction of any case. For a real dispute, consult a lawyer in the city where the supplier or the goods are.
Do-this checklist
- Film the unopened carton in one continuous shot.
- Do not sign a clean receipt for a damaged or wrong delivery.
- Keep the bad batch separate and count it per carton.
- Put the approved sample photo next to the delivered unit in one frame.
- Write the defect list with numbers, not adjectives.
- Send the written notice within 24 hours and set a deadline.
- Book a third-party inspection early when the value is large.
- Call the bank within the first hour of a wrong payment.
- Get the customs notice in writing before you argue about the reason.
- Report a lost passport at a police station, then go to your embassy.
- Call 110 for fraud, theft or threats; call 12345 for an economic dispute.
- Read the dispute clause in your contract before you sign it.
Related reading
Related products
Sources
- General Administration of Customs (PRC) — 中华人民共和国海关办理行政处罚案件程序规定（海关总署令第250号）, Articles 46, 47, 49, 76, 113 — https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2021/content_5631818.htm — checked 2026-10-28. "海关依法扣留的货物、物品、运输工具，在人民法院判决或者海关行政处罚决定作出之前，不得处理。" "当事人可以向海关提供担保，申请免予或者解除扣留。" "海关应当自行政处罚案件立案之日起六个月内作出行政处罚决定。"
- Standing Committee of the National People's Congress — 中华人民共和国民事诉讼法, Articles 122, 126, 152, 166, 275, 287, 288, text as republished by the Liaoning tax authority policy database — https://gtm-cn-2r42llmgk0b.liaoning.chinatax.gov.cn/art/2023/9/1/art_5869_7534.html — checked 2026-10-28. "起诉必须符合下列条件：（一）原告是与本案有直接利害关系的公民、法人和其他组织；（二）有明确的被告；（三）有具体的诉讼请求和事实、理由；（四）属于人民法院受理民事诉讼的范围和受诉人民法院管辖。" "符合起诉条件的，应当在七日内立案。"
- Yibin Public Security Bureau (Sichuan) — 110受理范围是这些！工商纠纷打12345 — http://gaj.yibin.gov.cn/jmjl/wxts/201801/t20180110_975597.html — checked 2026-10-28. "110报警服务台主要受理涉及警务类的报警、求助和投诉" and "涉及经济社会纠纷和一般事务性求助" belongs to the 12345 service line.
- YIWU RUIHA TRADING CO.,LTD. — service terms, confirmed first-hand with staff — checked 2026-10-28. "… we keep the sample and PI records, … we issue a self-check record and no inspection report, and we give no legal advice."
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