Step 3 · See the factory live
Live Factory Video Visit in China
Quick answer
A Live Factory Visit sends a bilingual China-based field representative to the supplier you name and streams the site to you in real time, following your checklist and your camera requests. It starts at US$899 and can usually be scheduled within 72 hours in major manufacturing hubs. It is a visual verification service, not a formal factory audit or product inspection, and what can be shown remains subject to supplier consent, safety rules and confidentiality restrictions.
- Turnaround
- Typically scheduled within 72 hours in major manufacturing hubs, subject to supplier confirmation, access approval and field-team availability
- You receive
- Live session, footage where permitted, visit notes and an unresolved-question list
- Note
- Base pricing applies to the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Yiwu–Ningbo and the Qingdao area.
Fixed buyer-paid fees only. We take no commissions or kickbacks from the supplier being reviewed.
Who this service is for
For buyers whose remaining question is physical: is the factory real, is it where they said, and does what is there match what was claimed?
- Buyers whose supplier claims to be a manufacturer
- Buyers about to commit tooling or a large first deposit
- Buyers whose verification report flagged an address or scope mismatch
- Buyers who cannot travel to China but would have visited if they could
- Engineers who want a live technical Q&A with the people on the floor
When buyers order this
The registry says trading company; the supplier says factory
Documents can carry the question no further. A representative standing at the claimed production address, camera live, settles what paper cannot.
Everything checks out and the order is large enough to warrant one more step
When the deposit is significant, an hour of live footage of the site, the line and the warehouse is cheap relative to what it protects.
You would fly there if you could
A live visit is not identical to being there — but you direct the camera, ask the questions through an interpreter, and keep the footage. It preserves most of the value of the trip for a fraction of its cost.
The sample was perfect and you want to see where production will actually run
Samples are made carefully by definition. Seeing the line that will run your order, and what else is running on it, is a different kind of evidence.
What is included
- Scheduling and supplier coordination
- Pre-visit buyer checklist
- Access and filming confirmation
- Bilingual field representative on site
- Live video connection
- Buyer-directed camera movement
- Factory exterior and signage
- Office or showroom where available
- Production floor where allowed
- Machinery
- Warehouse
- Packaging area
- Sample close-ups
- Questions put to the supplier representative
- Session recording where technically and legally permitted
- Visit notes
- Unresolved-question list
What is not included
- Formal factory audit
- Product inspection
- Laboratory testing
- Hidden-camera investigation
- Unrestricted access
- Any guarantee that every requested area can be shown
- Any guarantee that the site represents all production
- Any guarantee of future performance
Exclusions are part of the product definition, not small print. If your decision needs one of these, we will name the kind of specialist it needs.
What the visit covers
The representative works from your checklist, and you redirect in real time. A standard session covers the site outside-in, always subject to supplier consent, safety rules and confidentiality restrictions.
- Factory exterior, signage and address confirmation
- Office or showroom, where available
- Production floor, where allowed
- Machinery: what is present, and what is running
- Warehouse and raw-material areas
- Packaging area and export cartons
- Sample close-ups against your specification
- Your questions, put to the supplier representative in Chinese
Deliverables
The live session is the core deliverable; what remains afterwards is designed to be usable in your decision and shareable with partners.
- The live session itself, with buyer-directed camera work
- Session recording, where technically and legally permitted
- Written visit notes: what was seen, what was said, what was refused
- Photographs of key areas, where permitted
- An unresolved-question list for the supplier
- A recommended next verification step
How it works
- Step 1
Send the supplier and site details
Company, contact and the claimed factory address.
- Step 2
We coordinate access
Supplier consent, filming scope and a confirmed date.
- Step 3
You approve the checklist
Your priorities, our standard coverage, one plan.
- Step 4
The live session
You join, watch and direct. Typically 60–90 minutes on site.
- Step 5
Notes and footage delivered
With unresolved questions and a next step.
Limitations
A live visit shows visible conditions at one site at one moment. These limitations are structural — no provider can honestly remove them.
Read this before ordering
- Access depends on supplier permission, which can be withdrawn on the day.
- Confidentiality areas — customer-specific lines, tooling and documents — may be excluded at the supplier’s discretion.
- Site safety rules govern where a representative may walk and film.
- Internet quality on a production floor is variable and can interrupt or degrade a live stream.
- Staged or temporarily prepared areas may still exist. A tidy floor on one day is not proof of normal operating conditions.
- Only visible areas can be reported. We do not infer what we were not shown.
- We do not record covertly. Filming happens with the supplier’s knowledge.
Live visit, factory audit or product inspection?
These are three different services answering three different questions, and a live visit does not replace the other two. We provide the first column only. For formal audits and product inspections we will point you to the kind of specialist provider you need.
| Dimension | Live Factory Visit | Formal Factory Audit | Product Inspection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Real-time visual verification | Structured system/capability assessment | Check products against requirements |
| Who is on site | Bilingual field representative | Qualified auditor | Product inspector |
| Buyer joins live | Yes, where connection permits | Usually no | Usually no |
| What you receive | Live session, footage, notes | Formal audit report | Inspection report |
| Typical timing | Before first payment or order | Supplier qualification | During or after production |
| What it cannot prove | Future quality or full compliance | Every future production outcome | Supplier identity and full capability |
| Starting price | US$899 | Third-party quote | Third-party quote |
Full comparison: Factory Audit vs Live Factory Video Visit
Where base pricing applies
The starting price of US$899 covers Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Yiwu–Ningbo, Qingdao area. Everything else is a published surcharge or a written custom quote — never a price discovered after booking.
| Remote-area travel | +US$100–200 or custom quote |
| 24–48 hour rush scheduling | +50% |
| Multiple sites in one engagement | Custom quote |
| Extended live session | Custom quote |
| Supplier-caused same-day cancellation | Missed-visit fee |
| Buyer rescheduling | Subject to notice period |
Regional details, scheduling expectations and travel logistics are on the coverage page.
Example findings
What live visits actually surface. These are illustrative patterns drawn from the categories we review — not excerpts from real client reports.
“The address on the PI is a real, running factory — with the supplier’s name on the gate.”
The single most common outcome, and genuinely valuable: identity, address and manufacturing claim confirmed at once, on camera, with footage the buyer keeps.
“The visit reached a factory — but the signage and worker uniforms carried a different company’s name.”
Possibly a related plant, possibly a borrowed site for show. The representative asks on camera; the answer, and how it is given, goes into the notes verbatim.
“Production floor shown freely; the warehouse was declined “for confidentiality”.”
A refusal is information. Sometimes it protects other customers’ goods, which is legitimate. The report records exactly what was asked, what was refused and the reason offered — and leaves the weighing to you.
“The machines were present but cold, and the “current production” was three workers packing finished goods.”
Consistent with a slow week, a holiday period, or a site that assembles rather than manufactures. The notes state what was visible and the follow-up questions that would separate those explanations.
Most buyers run the visit as part of Video Verification Plus, where the company check and document review happen first — so the representative arrives knowing exactly which claims to test. Preparing on your own? Work through the live visit checklist first.
Related services and guides
Company, documents and live visit in one engagement.
Know the entity before you visit the site.
Guide: Live Factory Visit Checklist
What to confirm before, during and after.
Guide: What a Video Visit Can and Cannot Prove
An honest evidence map for remote visits.
Regions, travel fees and lead times.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the supplier’s agreement for a live visit?
Yes. We coordinate access with the supplier you identify, and access, filming areas and management availability remain subject to supplier consent. In practice most suppliers agree, because a buyer preparing to place an order is a buyer they want. Where a supplier declines, we tell you that they declined and what reason they gave.
What if I cannot join at the scheduled time because of the time difference?
Factory hours in China are the constraint, so a live session is normally scheduled during a Chinese working day. Where the time zone makes attendance impractical, the representative can run the visit against your written checklist and deliver footage and notes instead — a weaker form of evidence than being live, since you cannot redirect the camera, and we will say so.
Can I record the session?
Session recording is included where it is technically and legally permitted and the supplier has consented. Some suppliers permit a live view but not a recording, particularly where other customers’ products are on the line. We confirm what is permitted before the visit rather than discovering it on the day.
What does a live visit cost outside the main manufacturing hubs?
Base pricing from US$899 applies to the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, Yiwu–Ningbo and the Qingdao area. Remote-area travel adds US$100–200 or is quoted individually, a 24–48 hour rush adds 50%, and multiple sites or an extended session are quoted case by case.
The factory looked clean and busy. Does that prove it is a good supplier?
No. A visit shows visible conditions at one site on one day. It cannot establish future quality, financial stability, regulatory compliance or delivery reliability, and a prepared area can be presented for a visit. A live visit is strong evidence about identity and physical existence, moderate evidence about scale and process, and no evidence at all about future performance.
What if the supplier only shows us the showroom?
Then you have learned something specific and useful. We report exactly which areas were shown, which were requested and refused, and what reason was given, and we put the unresolved items on your follow-up list. A showroom-only visit does not establish manufacturing capacity, and we will not describe it as if it did.
Start with what you have
Send the supplier name, profile link, quotation or PI. We will confirm scope, price and turnaround by email before any payment is requested.
Scope and disclaimer
FactoryPass China provides practical business verification, document review, supplier risk screening, and fieldwork coordination based on information available at the time of review.
Our services do not constitute legal advice, financial advice, certification, a formal factory audit, a product inspection, laboratory testing, or a guarantee of supplier performance, product quality, delivery, regulatory compliance, or future conduct.
Customers remain responsible for final supplier selection, contracts, payment decisions, product compliance, professional inspection, customs clearance, and import requirements.
A live factory video visit is a visual verification service, not a formal factory audit, product inspection, legal due diligence, financial audit, or certification.
Fixed buyer-paid fees only. We take no commissions or kickbacks from the supplier being reviewed. Read more about how we stay independent or how we reach a finding.
Live Factory Visit
from US$899