Most people who lose money sourcing hair from India did not get unlucky. They skipped four or five checks that each take under ten minutes, because the supplier was responsive and the sample was good.
The sample is always good. Here is the sequence that actually protects you.
Step one: confirm the company legally exists
Any legitimate Indian exporter holds three registrations, and all three are verifiable by you, from your own computer, for free.
- Import Export Code (IEC). Issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. Without it, a company cannot legally export from India at all. Ask for the code and check it on the DGFT portal.
- GSTIN. India’s tax registration. Verifiable on the GST portal. The registered legal name it returns should match the name on the invoice you are asked to pay.
- Icegate registration. India’s customs electronic platform. A company that has never filed a shipping bill will not have an active registration.
If a supplier hesitates to share these, stop there. A real exporter hands them over without being asked twice, because the codes only confirm what they want you to believe.
Check that the name on the GST record matches the beneficiary name on the bank details you are given. A mismatch is the single most common sign of a payment redirection.
Step two: insist on live video, not a photo gallery
Photographs are the cheapest thing to fake in this trade. Entire supplier identities are built from images lifted off other companies’ websites and Instagram accounts.
Ask for a live video call from wherever the hair is. Not a recorded clip — a call, where you can ask them to move the camera. Ask to see the specific lot that would fill your order. Ask them to hold a bundle up and pull the tie.
Operations that do not have hair cannot do this. It is the fastest filter available to you and it costs nothing.
Reverse image search a few of their product photos as well. If the same picture appears on six other sites, you have learned everything you need.
Step three: run a real sample process
A sample is not a formality. Done properly it becomes the reference for everything after it.
- Specify exactly what you want assessed: grade, draw type, length, weight.
- When it arrives, wash it three or four times with clarifying shampoo and no conditioner. Coating comes off. Judge it then, not on day one.
- If you approve it, say so in writing and ask the supplier to hold a sealed identical bundle with a recorded batch reference.
- Require that every later lot is checked against that held bundle before dispatch, and that the batch reference appears on your packing list.
This is what the trade calls a golden sample system. It is the difference between a supplier who is consistent and a supplier who was lucky once.
Step four: structure the payment so the risk is shared
Advance payment on a first order is normal and reasonable in this industry — hair drawn and wefted to your specification cannot be resold at the same price if you walk away. What is not reasonable is advance payment with nothing protecting you.
- A split is fair. Part advance, balance against a scanned bill of lading before documents are released. You are not paying the balance until the goods are demonstrably on their way.
- Letter of credit at sight from the second order onwards. A supplier who refuses ever to work on an LC is telling you something.
- Never accept a change of bank details by email. Confirm on a live call or voice note. Invoice interception is common and the money does not come back.
- Start small. A one kilo trial order costs you very little and buys you a complete picture of how someone actually operates.
Warning signs worth walking away from
- Prices well below the market for the stated grade. Somebody is blending, or the grade is not what it says.
- Refusal or delay on live video from the working location.
- No fixed business address, or an address that does not match the registration records.
- Pressure to pay quickly because “stock is moving”.
- Bank beneficiary name different from the company name on the invoice.
- Every question answered with a superlative rather than a number.
- Raw uncut hair offered for export. That falls under HS 0501 and is restricted from India — ask how it is clearing customs.
Ten questions to send before you commit
- What is your IEC, GSTIN and Icegate registration?
- Are you the processor, or are you buying in and reselling?
- Where exactly is the hair sorted, and can I see it on video?
- Is this Remy or non-Remy, and has it been acid treated?
- Single drawn or double drawn, and what percentage holds full length?
- Will the grade and batch reference be stated on the invoice?
- Will you hold a sealed golden sample of what I approve?
- What are your payment terms on a first order, and on the second?
- What happens if a lot does not match the sample, and within what window?
- Which port do you ship from, and what documents come with the shipment?
The answers matter less than the manner. A real operation answers with specifics. Everyone else answers with adjectives.