Raw Hair Vendor Red Flags: How to Tell a Real Factory From a Scam

The five raw hair vendor red flags that matter most are: no registered business behind the website, no invoice or sales contract, a price far below the market, no scrape video before shipping, and a website or social feed with no real photos. One of these is a reason to stop and check. Two together is a reason to walk away.

My family has collected hair for nearly 20 years, and we founded Govihair in 2016. Thousands of sellers online say they sell 100% raw hair. These five raw hair vendor red flags are how you tell the real factories from the rest. If you are still building your shortlist, start with our guide on how to choose a hair vendor.

Raw hair vendor red flag #1: Is the vendor a registered business?

A real vendor tells you which company owns the website, where it is registered and where it operates. A fake hair vendor website shows a brand name, a WhatsApp number and nothing you can check.

How to check, in 3 minutes:

1. Find the legal company name and address on the website, usually in the footer, the About page or the Terms.
2. Search that name, or the tax code, on the official tax lookup for the vendor’s country. For Vietnam, use the General Department of Taxation lookup (tracuunnt.gdt.gov.vn) or a lookup site such as masothue.com.
3. Check three things: the business exists, its status is active, and the registered address matches the address on the website.

Where to check a vendor’s registration, by country:

A vendor that sells internationally should be easy to find in at least one of these. If you cannot find it under any name it gives you, treat that as red flag 1.

If the vendor cannot give you a company name and tax code, or the registered address does not match, stop there.

Our example: every page of govihair.com states that Govihair is operated by Binh An Phat Global Trading (BAP GLOBAL), registered as Ho Kinh Doanh Thuong Mai Binh An Phat in Da Nang, Vietnam, on 30 June 2026. Govihair has traded since 2016; BAP GLOBAL is the registered business that has operated it since 30 June 2026. Search that name and the tax record shows the registered address as 363 Nguyen Huu Tho, Cam Le, Da Nang, the same address as our Head Office. Ask us and we send our tax code in writing.

Raw hair vendor red flag #2: Will the vendor give you an invoice and a contract?

Before you send any money, even a small deposit, ask the vendor two questions. Will you sign a sales contract? Will you issue an invoice for this order?

A vendor who issues an invoice puts the sale on record and takes legal responsibility for your order under Vietnamese law. Online scammers cannot do this, because they have no registered business and no tax code to invoice from. If a vendor avoids the question, offers “no invoice, cheaper price”, or cannot give you a tax code, treat it as a serious warning. Only work with vendors who give you a tax code and agree to invoice.

The invoice also protects your shipment. Hair exports from Vietnam are now checked closely by customs, and Vietnamese courts have tried cases of goods shipped illegally to Nigeria (Bac Ninh Newspaper report). Shipments are expected to carry a sales contract and a sales invoice. A shipment without them can be held. When that happens, buyers lose thousands of dollars and sometimes the whole order.

At Govihair, every order comes with:

• An official commercial invoice, for every payment method.
• The invoice sent by email once payment is confirmed.
• Documents showing the hair’s origin, to support your import and customs clearance.
• An invoice you can use for tax declaration or deduction, subject to your local rules.

Import duties and customs procedures in your country are handled by you, the buyer. We supply the documents needed to support them. UK buyers can find the import steps in our UK wholesale guide.

Raw hair vendor red flag #3: Is the price far below other factories?

A price far below established vendors is built to work on one thing: the wish to buy cheap. There is no such thing as cheap, high-quality raw hair. Real raw hair is limited by how much long hair donors can give, and sorting it by length is hand work.

One of two things usually happens. The hair never arrives. Or it arrives, but it is processed, mixed or full of short hairs, and the quality changes from one batch to the next. Your clients notice, they stop coming back, and the money you saved costs you far more in lost business.

How to check: compare prices from several established factories for the same length and grade, and buy within that range, not below it. A real price also rises steeply with length: a 24-inch bundle should cost much more than a 14-inch one. For what each grade should contain, see our Vietnamese hair grades guide.

Govihair reference prices: raw Vietnamese weft hair

So you have a real benchmark, here is our full reference price table for raw weft hair: 100% Vietnamese raw donor hair, natural black #1B, price per 100 g (one bundle).

Source: Govihair wholesale price list 2026, effective 30 July 2026, sheet 03 “Weft Raw Hair”, orders from 1 kg. Reference price = list price + 10%. This is not a quote.

Straight

Bone straight, wavy and curly

Dark and blonde shades cost more than natural black, and orders under 1 kg carry a small-order surcharge. For wholesale pricing on your order, message Tommy on WhatsApp at +84 795 746 986.

What the table tells you. The price jumps between 18 and 20 inches: Double Drawn straight goes from $67.98 to $91.08 per 100 g, because far fewer donors can give 20 inches of hair. Each grade step also costs more, because more short hairs are removed by hand. If a vendor prices “20-inch raw” like 14-inch hair, the difference has been made up somewhere: shorter hairs, processed hair or a lighter bundle. That gap is one of the clearest raw hair vendor red flags.

Raw hair vendor red flag #4: Will the vendor send a scrape test video?

Almost every seller says their hair is 100% raw. The way to see the truth is a scrape test on your own bundles, filmed before the order ships. Most hair manufacturers will never tell you about this test, yet it is the easiest of the raw hair vendor red flags to check yourself. It is also the fastest way to spot fake raw hair before it ships.

How the scrape test works: run a blade firmly along a section of hair, from root to tip.

• Real human hair leaves a light brown or whitish residue, depending on the hair. That is real hair, exactly as it should be.
• A black residue means the hair has been mixed with synthetic fibre and dyed black to look good in photos. It is not real raw hair. Real black human hair never scrapes off black.

What to ask for: a video of your actual bundles being scraped, with your name or today’s date written on paper in the frame, before you pay the balance and before the order ships. A vendor selling real raw hair has nothing to hide and will send it. A vendor who refuses, or sends an old video, is telling you the answer.

Raw hair vendor red flag #5: Are the photos real or AI-generated?

A genuine factory has years of real photos and videos: the workshop, the staff, the hair being sorted, orders being packed. Fake raw hair vendors rely on stock photos, images copied from other sellers, or AI-generated pictures.

How to check:

• Look for real people and real places. AI images often look too perfect: identical models, no workers, odd hands, backgrounds that do not make sense.
• Run a reverse image search on three product photos. If they appear on many unrelated websites, the vendor did not take them.
• Scroll back through their social accounts. A real factory posts regularly over months or years, with the same faces and the same workshop.
• Make a video call with the sales rep. Ask them to show the office or factory live, and to show your order. A real vendor can turn a camera on.

You can see our factory, team and daily work on Facebook and Instagram.

Raw hair vendor red flags checklist: legit vendor vs scam

These are the signs of a bad hair vendor, side by side:

How to test raw hair at home when it arrives

Spotting raw hair vendor red flags before you pay does not end the job. Test the order the day it arrives, before you sell a single bundle. These four checks take about 30 minutes.

1. Weigh every bundle on a kitchen scale. A “100 g” bundle that weighs 85 g has cost you 15% more than you agreed.
2. Wash one weft with a clarifying shampoo and let it air dry. Raw hair stays soft. Coated hair turns dry, dull or tangled after the first wash.
3. Burn a few strands away from the bundle. Human hair turns to soft ash with a burnt-hair smell. Synthetic fibre melts into a hard bead.
4. Brush the wet weft from the ends up. Raw hair detangles easily. Hair that mats near the weft has mixed directions or stripped cuticles.

The full arrival checklist, with what to do when a test fails, is in step 7 of our guide on how to choose a hair vendor.

Paid a scam hair vendor? What to do in the first 24 hours

If you missed the raw hair vendor red flags and have already paid, act the same day. Most ways of getting money back have a time limit. Most raw hair vendor scams follow the same pattern: a low price, pressure to pay fast, and a personal bank account.

1. Keep everything. Save the chats, invoices, payment receipts, the vendor’s website pages and social profiles. Take screenshots before they disappear.
2. Contact your bank or payment provider at once. Ask about a card chargeback, a transfer recall, or a stop on a money transfer that has not been collected yet.
3. Report the seller on the platform where you found them: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Alibaba or a marketplace. This also warns other buyers.
4. File a report with your country’s fraud service, for example the FBI’s IC3 in the US or Action Fraud in the UK.
5. Leave a factual review with dates and amounts, so the next buyer sees it before paying.

Is Govihair a legit raw hair vendor? How we pass all 5 checks

Yes. Govihair is operated by BAP GLOBAL, a business registered in Da Nang, Vietnam, and our factory is at 292 Phu Dong Street, Hoa Xuan Ward, Da Nang City. Here is how we answer each of the five checks:

• Registered business: BAP GLOBAL, Head Office at Ricco Building, 363 Nguyen Huu Tho Street, Cam Le, Da Nang City, Vietnam. Factory at 292 Phu Dong Street, Hoa Xuan Ward, Da Nang City: 1,000 m² and more than 50 staff.
• Invoice and contract: an official commercial invoice for every order, plus documents proving origin.
• Price: a written quotation for your exact product, length, grade and colour.
• Scrape video: your bundles scraped and weighed on video before shipping.
• Real photos: live video calls from the factory, and you are welcome to visit in person.

Payments go only to Govihair’s official company account, never to a personal account. You can check our official accounts on our website.

Payment methods: bank transfer (T/T) in USD and EUR, Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Remitly, Wise, Revolut, Lemfi, SendWave, TapTap, credit card via secure payment link, USDT (TRC20) and Bitcoin. Local agent payment is available in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and selected African markets. Production begins after a 30% deposit.

See our raw donor hair range in raw human hair bundles, or compare factories in our raw hair vendors guide.

FAQs

What are the biggest raw hair vendor red flags?

The biggest raw hair vendor red flags are a website with no registered business, no invoice or sales contract, a price far below the market, no scrape video before shipping, and no real photos or live video call.

How do I know if a hair vendor is legit or a scam?

Start by checking that it is a registered business. Find the company name and address on the vendor’s website, then search it on the official tax or business registry of that country. Check that it is active and that the registered address matches the website.

Why should a hair vendor issue an invoice?

An invoice puts the sale on record and makes the vendor legally responsible for your order. It also helps your shipment clear customs, because hair exports from Vietnam are expected to carry a sales contract and an invoice.

What is the raw hair scrape test?

You run a blade along the hair. Real human hair leaves a light brown or whitish residue. A black residue means the hair has been mixed with synthetic fibre and dyed black.

How can I tell if raw hair is real or mixed with synthetic?

Ask for a scrape video of your own bundles before shipping, then wash, burn and brush a sample when it arrives. Real raw hair leaves a light residue, stays soft after washing and burns to soft ash.

Is cheap raw hair always fake?

A price far below established factories is the strongest single warning sign. Either the hair does not arrive, or it is processed, mixed or short and the quality changes between batches.

Is it safe to buy raw hair from Vietnam?

Yes, if the vendor passes all five checks: a registered business, an invoice and contract, a market-level price, a scrape video before shipping, and real photos plus a live video call.

Is Govihair legit?

Yes. Govihair has traded since 2016 and is operated by BAP GLOBAL (Ho Kinh Doanh Thuong Mai Binh An Phat), registered in Da Nang, Vietnam. Our head office is at Ricco Building, 363 Nguyen Huu Tho Street, Cam Le, Da Nang City, and our factory is at 292 Phu Dong Street, Hoa Xuan Ward, Da Nang City. Every order comes with an official commercial invoice.

What should I do if a hair vendor scams me?

Act the same day. Keep every message and receipt, contact your bank or payment provider about a chargeback or transfer recall, report the seller on the platform where you found them, and file a report with your country’s fraud service.

Avoid raw hair vendor red flags: buy from a factory you can check

Every one of these raw hair vendor red flags can be checked in a day, before you send any money. At Govihair, my family has collected hair for nearly 20 years, and we make it easy to check us: a registered business in Da Nang, an official invoice for every order, a written quotation, a scrape video of your own bundles before shipping, and a live video call from our factory.

>> Read more: How to Choose a Hair Vendor to Start a Hair Business in 2026

>> Discover Govihair’s raw human hair bundles

Get your wholesale quote from Govihair:

• WhatsApp: +84 795 746 986
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: govihair.com
• Instagram: govihair_vietnamhair_factory
• TikTok: govihairvietnam_official
• Facebook: Govihair Vietnamese Hair Factory

Send us your product, length, colour and quantity, and we reply with a written quotation and book a live video call, Monday to Saturday, 07:30–17:00 Vietnam time.