Made in America Until the Package Arrives

Alicia Raffinengo, Reporter

Life News Today

American consumers are shopping on websites that appear to be domestic businesses, advertise merchandise as made in the United States and promise fast delivery from American locations. Some buyers say they discover only after paying that their orders are traveling from China, that returns must be mailed overseas and that the products do not resemble what was advertised. The United States has laws against false advertising, false Made in USA claims, inaccurate textile descriptions and deceptive shipping promises. What it does not have is one federal system that verifies an independent online store, identifies its real operator and examines its product claims before the website begins collecting money from American consumers.

That is the central failure of online consumer protection in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission regulates deceptive advertising, UNITED STATES Customs and Border Protection regulates imported merchandise, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates the safety of many consumer products. Different agencies supervise different pieces of the transaction, but no single agency routinely approves a retail website before it opens, verifies where it operates or confirms that its manufacturing and shipping claims are accurate. Enforcement generally arrives after large numbers of transactions have occurred.

Consumers are frequently becoming victims of these deceptive practices. A Connecticut consumer told the Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker that merchandise presented as American-made arrived as inexpensive, mass-produced products from China and that customer service provided a return address in Guangzhou. Another consumer alleged that clothing advertised as made in the United States and made from American fabric came from China and did not arrive within the promised period. A Pennsylvania consumer said clothing represented as American-made and 100% cotton was neither and that the seller required the products to be returned to China. Another buyer reported receiving shirts without labels identifying the fabric, laundering instructions or country of origin. An Indiana consumer who reported losing $190.90 told the Better Business Bureau, “I would not have ordered had I known this, but I trusted their website, which leads you to believe it’s an American company.” The consumer said tracking information showed the order coming from China after the website presented the clothing as American-made.

Those reports are consumer allegations, not findings by a court or government agency. The Better Business Bureau is a private organization, and Life News Today has not independently tested the garments or established where each product was manufactured. The importance of the reports is the repeated pattern they describe. Consumers say they were shown American manufacturing claims before purchasing and learned about the overseas connection only through package tracking, the merchandise received or instructions for returning it. Public reviews contain similar allegations involving products described as American-made, cotton or embroidered that reviewers said arrived from China as synthetic, screen-printed merchandise.

Federal law does not permit a seller to create a false American identity. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair or deceptive practices, and an advertisement can be deceptive through a direct statement or the overall impression it creates. Flags, workshop photographs, references to American workers and stories about domestic craftsmanship can reinforce an implied origin claim. Companies must have evidence for objective claims when they make them. An unqualified Made in USA claim is supposed to mean that a product is all or virtually all made in the United States. Final assembly and all significant processing must occur domestically, and virtually all-important components must be made and sourced here. A business using imported materials may make a narrower claim, such as assembled in the United States with imported components, when it is accurate and clearly qualified. The FTC does not approve advertisements before publication, so the seller initially decides whether its evidence is sufficient.

Shipping promises are also regulated. Under the FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, an online seller must have a reasonable basis for believing it can ship within the time it advertises. When it cannot meet that promise, it must notify the customer and provide an opportunity to accept the delay or cancel for a refund. Fashion Nova agreed to pay $9.3 million in 2020 after the FTC alleged that it failed to provide required delay options and improperly issued gift cards instead of refunds for merchandise that was not shipped as promised.

The enforcement structure leaves a gap between those rules. The FTC examines advertising, Customs examines imported goods and the Consumer Product Safety Commission focuses on product safety. The INFORM Consumers Act requires identity verification for certain high-volume sellers on online marketplaces, but an operator using an independent website does not face the same universal federal verification process before accepting orders. The difficulty becomes greater when the operator is overseas. The FTC has acknowledged that some foreign businesses can be hard to identify, serve with legal papers or collect from after a judgment. A website can change its name, domain or payment account while consumers are still seeking refunds. A law on the books may offer little immediate protection against a storefront with no clear United States office, assets or responsible importer.

The federal enforcement record shows a clear imbalance between companies the United States can reach and foreign websites operating beyond its borders. In six public Made in USA cases cited here, American companies or companies with an established United States presence were ordered or agreed under proposed settlements to pay a combined $6,254,078. Williams-Sonoma was assessed at $3.175 million, Kubota North America $2 million and Lions Not Sheep $211,335. In 2026, proposed settlements added $625,000 from TouchTunes, $167,743 from Americana Liberty and related parties, and $75,000 from Oak Street Manufacturing. By comparison, Life News Today found no similarly publicized monetary penalty in the FTC record against a foreign-only retail website for falsely presenting imported merchandise as American-made. That does not prove foreign sellers violate the law less frequently.

Foreign online selling expanded dramatically as consumer complaints increased, although the federal government does not count how many foreign retail websites are operating or identify the seller’s country in every complaint. United States Customs and Border Protection reported that low-value shipments, which government studies say are overwhelmingly connected to e-commerce, increased from 134 million in 2015 to 1.36 billion in 2024. That was an increase of approximately 915%, meaning more than 10 times as many packages entered the country through this channel. During a broader period, total reports in the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network increased from 1,339,265 in 2010 to 6,471,708 in 2024, an increase of approximately 383%, while reported online-shopping problems also rose substantially. The FTC stated in its 2020 Made in USA report that it had observed an “ever-increasing” number of complaints involving overseas operators that created websites resembling legitimate American businesses and made deceptive claims about their products. The figures do not prove that foreign sellers caused every increase in complaints, but they show that American consumers’ exposure to direct overseas sellers expanded rapidly while online-shopping complaints also became a much larger problem.

Consumers who believe a foreign website falsely advertised imported merchandise as American-made should report the transaction to more than one agency because each office handles a different part of the problem. Deceptive advertising, false Made in USA claims, misleading delivery promises and refused refunds should be reported to the Federal Trade Commission through ReportFraud.ftc.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. When the seller is located outside the United States, consumers should also file through econsumer.gov, the international complaint system supported by consumer-protection agencies in more than 65 countries. Reports involving false country-of-origin markings, altered labels, customs evasion or improperly declared imported merchandise may be submitted through United States Customs and Border Protection’s e-Allegations trade-violation portal. Dangerous, recalled or improperly certified products should be reported through SaferProducts.gov, operated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumers may also complain to their state attorney general or consumer-protection office and dispute the transaction with their credit card company when the product was not delivered or was materially different from what was advertised.

A complaint should include the website address, seller’s advertised business name, payment receipt, product description, screenshots of every Made in USA or shipping claim, package tracking, photographs of the merchandise and its labels, correspondence with the seller and any overseas return address provided. Consumers should preserve this evidence before the website changes or disappears. Filing a report does not guarantee an individual refund or an immediate investigation, but it creates an official record that regulators can compare with other complaints. FTC reports enter the Consumer Sentinel Network, which is available to federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies. A single report may appear isolated, but hundreds of reports identifying the same seller, advertising language, payment processor or return address can reveal a pattern that regulators could otherwise miss.

Government action begins with government awareness. When consumers remain silent, deceptive sellers can continue operating while regulators have little evidence showing the scale of the harm. Detailed and repeated complaints can support investigations, warning letters, lawsuits, financial penalties, product seizures and demands for refunds.

Sources

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-made-usa-standard

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-303

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/rulings/informed-compliance-publications/marking-country-origin-us-imports

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/made-usa-ftc-workshop/p074204_-_musa_workshop_report_-_final.pdf

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/01/ftc-action-leads-2-million-penalty-against-kubota-false-made-usa-claims

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/williams-sonoma-will-pay-record-317-million-civil-penalty-violating-ftc-made-usa-order

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/04/ftc-announces-made-usa-sweep-including-three-law-enforcement-actions-protect-american-consumers

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/07/ftc-warns-companies-making-questionable-made-usa-claims

https://www.wendlly.com/pages/about-us

https://www.wendlly.com/pages/shipping-delivery

https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/1238370

https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/1315480

https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/1331668

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

https://www.econsumer.gov/

https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer