Short answer
The nine: a price far below the raw-material cost of the specification; a bank account in a different country or a different name from the seller; a certificate held by a company other than the one invoicing you; refusal to do a live video call from the production line; no verifiable export history; pressure to pay a larger deposit than agreed because of a sudden raw-material rise; a free-mail address for a company claiming large capacity; a new bank account communicated by email late in the transaction; and an answer of 'yes, no problem' to every technical question without exception. One flag warrants a question. Three warrant walking away.
The bank account change is the one that empties accounts
The pattern is consistent worldwide: an email arrives late in a transaction, from an address that looks right, saying the usual account is under audit and payment should go to a new one. It is business email compromise, and it works because it arrives when everybody is focused on the shipping schedule rather than on the payment details.
The countermeasure is a rule, not vigilance: any change of banking details is verified by voice call to a number you already had before the change, never a number in the email requesting it. Write that rule into your payment procedure and it stops working on your company permanently.
A price below raw-material cost is information
It usually means one of four things: a different species than the one named, a thinner panel than the one specified, an unbalanced construction with a reduced back veneer, or a company that will take the deposit and disappear. All four are more likely than a mill discovering an efficiency nobody else has.
Test it with thickness. Ask for the guaranteed thickness tolerance in millimetres and a caliper measurement protocol in the pre-shipment inspection. Nominal 18 mm panels arriving at 16.5 mm is the most common way a low price is delivered, and it is entirely invisible until somebody measures.
What 'yes, no problem' really tells you
A mill that genuinely runs production says no to something. They cannot hold that tolerance on that thickness, they do not run that overlay, that lead time does not work in February. A supplier who agrees to every technical constraint you propose has either not understood them or does not intend to meet them, and you find out which in the container.
Questions buyers ask about this
What if the supplier passes every check but the price is still very low?+
Then ask them to explain it, and see whether the explanation is specific. 'We own our own veneer lines' or 'we are filling a gap in the press schedule' are real answers with checkable consequences. A vague answer about efficiency is not. Then order one container, inspect it fully, and scale only after it lands as specified.
Are trading companies a red flag in themselves?+
No. Hiding that they are one is. A trader who says openly which mill produces your goods, holds the relationship and manages quality is a legitimate and often useful partner. A trader who calls a mill they buy from 'our factory' has already shown you how they handle inconvenient facts.
Check a supplier before you pay a deposit
Get startedRead next
LELOI EXIM GLOBAL CO., LTD · Tax ID 2802935153