Is it really Made in the USA?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been finishing up details for Mia’s nursery. Since very few local retailers carry Made in the USA, I’ve been shopping mostly online, at sites like Amazon and Etsy, and by completing searches for USA made online.

I’ve had multiple items show up to my doorstep that I expected were USA made, only to open them up and find a “Made in China” tag. In one case, I bought something from an Etsy seller based in LA that was listed as “handmade” to find a factory produced “Made in China” tag on it. In another case, I bought products from “American Baby Company” that also bore a “Made in China” tag.

With the Etsy purchase, I went back to look, and I saw no fine print that listed where the item was actually produced. With Amazon and American Baby Company, there was a country of origin, but I needed to drill down into product details. Given I searched through hundreds of items online to find what I was looking for, it’s not surprising that I missed drilling down.  I just assumed that by my search and by the company’s name, I’d actually get an American Made product.

This same thing happened around Christmas—I was searching for USA made PJs for our whole family, and paid WAY TOO MUCH for my husband’s “made in China” PJs that were supposed to be USA made. And, I spent at least an hour searching for them. It was such a disappointment.

Now the question is “what do I do?” I wrote negative reviews for both of the recent purchases. But, I don’t feel like I have enough time to return the items to find something before our baby arrives. Do you ever feel like companies are trying to mislead you about the country of origin?  Or, about the quality or uniqueness of a product?