The method, published — including its limits
A report is only worth what its method is worth. So here is ours: the sources we use, how we obtain evidence, how we grade what we find, how we are paid, and the point at which we stop and hand you to somebody licensed.
How an engagement runs
- 01Scope
A 45-minute call. You describe the situation; we tell you what is possible, what is not, and what it costs. You get a written scope and a fixed fee before anything starts.
- 02Execute
We do the work in Mandarin — registry, factory floor, counter, counterparty — and keep you updated in writing at agreed checkpoints. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices.
- 03Deliver
You receive a written deliverable you can act on and show to others: a report, a document set, a live site, a filing record. Sources cited, dates stated, assumptions visible.
The sources we use
Every factual finding in a Yimi deliverable traces to one of the following. We name the source and the date of retrieval in the report itself, so a reader can go and look at the same record.
Company existence, status, registered scope, capital, legal representative, shareholders, annual reports and abnormal-operation listings.
Published court judgments involving a company — disputes, enforcement history, patterns of litigation.
Administrative penalties, enforcement listings and credit records published by government bodies.
Trademark and patent filings, ownership and status — including bad-faith filings against a client’s own brand.
Each certificate is checked against the register of the body that issued it, rather than accepted as a supplied PDF.
A documented questionnaire. What they decline to answer is recorded as a finding, not omitted.
How we gather evidence — and what we refuse to do
Western due-diligence regimes increasingly require documented supply-chain evidence, while Chinese law has tightened around data and foreign-directed investigation. We work only in the space where both are satisfied, and we are strict about it for a practical reason as well as a legal one: a file assembled by covert means cannot be shown to the customer or regulator who asked for it.
What we do
- Read public state registers, court records and enforcement listings.
- Verify certificates with the bodies that issued them.
- Visit and film sites where the supplier has consented in writing.
- Ask documented questions and record the answers — including refusals.
- Grade every finding by how strongly the evidence supports it.
What we will not do
- Covert visits, pretext calls or undisclosed recording.
- Scraping databases or purchasing personal data.
- Collecting workers’ personal information.
- Asserting a finding more strongly than the evidence allows.
- Helping to disguise the origin of goods. The full list.
How findings are graded
This is the part that makes a report usable by somebody other than you.
Confirmed against a primary source we name — a state registry, an issuing body, or our own dated observation on site.
Supported by two or more independent indicators pointing the same way, but not directly confirmed.
Could not be established by lawful means. Recorded explicitly, with the reason — never quietly dropped.
Recording that something could not be verified is more valuable than implying that it was. A report full of confident statements is easy to write and worth very little.
How we are paid
By you, and by nobody else. We take no commission, rebate, margin or finder’s fee from any supplier, distributor, agency or provider we introduce, and we do not take title to goods or handle your payments to a supplier. If a referral fee is ever offered to us, we disclose it in writing before you decide anything.
This is structural rather than moral. A consultancy paid by both sides cannot give either an honest recommendation, and the moment we took money from the other side our reports would be worth less than the paper.
Every engagement is scoped and priced in writing before it starts — all prices are published on the pricing page. Official and third-party fees are passed through at cost and shown separately. Quoted in USD. RMB settlement converts at the PBOC central parity rate on the invoice date.
Invoices are issued by 温州易米信息咨询有限公司 (Wenzhou Yimi Information Consulting Co., Ltd.), and paid by PayPal or international bank transfer to an account in that registered company name. Our bank details never change by email. If you ever receive a message that appears to be from us asking you to pay a different account, it is not from us — call or WeChat us before sending anything. Full details, and how to verify our registration, are on verify us.
Where we stop
A great deal of cross-border work is reserved by law to licensed firms. We do not do that work, we do not pretend the line is blurry, and we would rather lose an engagement than cross it. Where your matter needs a Chinese lawyer, a licensed accounting firm, a CNIPA-registered trademark agency, a customs broker or an accredited inspection body, we say so and introduce one — you contract with them directly.
Not sure which engagement fits?
Book a 45-minute consult. We map your situation to the right process, tell you honestly what is and is not possible, and give you a fixed fee. No obligation.
