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Adrian Liu · China supplier disputes
You paid a Chinese supplier and nothing shipped. The goods failed. A refund keeps moving. The factory is holding your tooling, or your design has appeared in the market. The first useful step is to establish the Chinese entity, the evidence, the available assets and the legal route before more money or leverage disappears.
Open the part that matches your question. Each section is complete on its own.
Early decisions change the evidence and the commercial position. The order matters.
A contract can point to a mainland company, a Hong Kong payee, a different invoice issuer and a separate factory. Liability and jurisdiction do not automatically follow the money. The entities and their roles need to be mapped before a claim is framed.
The dispute clause also matters. A useful claim still needs a court or arbitral forum that has jurisdiction and can produce an outcome you can enforce.
In an urgent case, a Chinese court can grant pre-action preservation before the lawsuit or arbitration begins. The applicant generally needs security and useful asset information. Where the statutory urgency test is met, the court is required to decide quickly; once pre-action preservation is taken, the merits case must follow within the statutory period.
This is a targeted tool. It is most useful when there is a real risk that assets will move or disappear.
Do not assume every supplier claim has the same deadline. The general PRC limitation period for civil claims is three years. Claims arising from international sale of goods and technology import or export contracts have a four-year period. The start date, acknowledgements, demands, interruption and the exact cause of action can change the analysis.
If a deadline may be close, review it before spending time on informal negotiation.
Chinese courts distinguish ordinary foreign evidence from particular public documents and identity-related evidence. Some documents formed outside China require notarisation or treaty formalities, and foreign-language written evidence needs a Chinese translation. Apostille procedures may replace consular legalisation where the relevant convention applies.
Do not formalise every document in the file at the start. Identify what the court will actually need and prepare that set early.
Foreign parties can add procedural steps for authorisations, corporate-status documents, translation and service. International judicial-assistance channels may also affect timing. These are reasons to prepare early, especially if preservation or a filing deadline matters.
A favourable judgment and actual recovery are different stages. Asset clues, the supplier’s registered status and preservation strategy can matter as much as the merits. A recovery plan should consider enforcement before litigation spend is committed.
| Stage | Starting fee | Typical purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 60-minute dispute triage | USD 350 | Decide whether further legal work is commercially sensible and identify the next information needed. |
| Written supplier dispute assessment | from USD 1,950 | One defined transaction, one principal counterparty and the agreed core evidence set. |
| Demand or pre-litigation letter | from USD 2,500 | Bilingual formal escalation after the recipient, evidence and requested remedy are clear. |
| Tooling and mould dispute assessment | from USD 1,950 | Ownership, possession, payment issues and recovery options for identified tooling. |
| 48-hour incident support | from USD 3,500 | Urgent evidence plan, registry check and first formal response within the agreed incident scope. |
| Negotiation or settlement drafting | quoted by scope | Response rounds, calls, instalment terms, releases, security and default provisions. |
| Litigation or arbitration representation | quoted after assessment | Forum, claim, preservation, evidence, hearing and enforcement needs are priced after the dispute has been assessed. |
These are starting prices for the standard scope. Complexity, urgency, the number of parties, the evidence volume and the chosen forum can change the fee. The final scope and fee are confirmed in writing before paid work begins.
Three completed disputes I handled. Names, products, places, dates and amounts have been removed or changed, and some facts have been combined. They show the type of work involved and do not promise any outcome.
An overseas buyer ordered specialised modules through a Chinese manufacturer's online portal. The manufacturer missed the delivery date and could not reach the agreed specification. I acted for the buyer. The court treated the portal confirmations and support tickets as the manufacturer's own statements, upheld the termination, and ordered return of the payment with the compensation the contract provided. It refused a double-deposit award because the contract never gave the payment that character.
In an urgent case, pre-action preservation may be available before the main lawsuit or arbitration. The application needs a legal basis, useful asset information and security. If preservation is granted before the merits case begins, the claim or arbitration must follow within the statutory period.
Often the early work can be handled remotely, including evidence review, entity checks, a demand letter and litigation planning. Whether you later need to attend depends on the forum, evidence and procedure. Do not book travel before the procedural route is clear.
Do not choose from the English names alone. The registered Chinese entities, the company seal, the payment beneficiary, invoices and the performance record need to be mapped first. Different entities can have different roles and different liability.
The answer depends on the claim. The general PRC limitation period for civil claims is three years, while disputes arising from international sale of goods and technology import or export contracts have a four-year period. The start date, interruption and other rules still need to be checked against the facts.
Electronic communications can be important evidence, but preserve the original data and context. Keep the device or account where possible, export complete threads, retain attachments and payment records, and avoid relying only on selected screenshots.
No. A demand letter is useful when it reaches the correct entity, states a provable breach and points to a credible next step. It cannot freeze assets, create missing evidence or guarantee a response.
It depends on the contract, the standard used, how the tested goods are linked to the supplier’s batch and how the report was created. A foreign report can be useful evidence, but it does not automatically prove non-conformity under the contract.
There is no universal number. The claim amount, evidence, counterparty assets, forum, urgency and likely legal spend all matter. A short triage is designed to answer that commercial question before you commit to a larger scope.
Tell me the Chinese supplier’s name, what you paid or supplied, what went wrong, the result you want and any deadline. A short, non-confidential summary is enough for the conflict check and scope discussion.
English or Chinese. A short, non-confidential summary is enough to start.