Are US-based online shops which don't list country of origin in violation of any laws?

Question

We can go into any store and read where an item was manufactured on its packaging. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get any online shops to tell me where items I want are produced. Some put the information on pages selling clothing, but nothing else, and some avoid putting anything on the page at all and won't say anything but that their products come from "a variety of sources" when you try to call or email them, if they respond at all. Is it illegal for them to omit country of origin, and if so, is there a way to report them if they refuse to divulge this information before purchase?

Answer 1

Online shops must be registered with government in order to have valid business operations. Otherwise, the business is illegal.

Answer 2

There are various reasons for online merchants to avoid listing country of origin for their items.

One, of course, is to mislead the customer. And in this instance, there is probably a violation of law.

But, often the same items come from differing sources and the online merchant may not know the true country of origin.

Also, some items are "assembled" in a certain place, but contain elements from various other places. This is also true of brick and mortar stores (you will often see such things on items as "assembled in Mexico" but no reference to where the items which were "assembled" came from).

I would doubt that online merchants are violating any law by omitting country of origin on their items (unless they are somehow misleading the customer to believe the item came from a place it in fact did not).

If you feel an online merchant is hedging on divulging this information, it might be wise to avoid transactions with that merchant. If, however, the merchant claims to not know, or indicates that items come from different sources, I would be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But, if you feel uncomfortable with an online merchant's response, simply do not conduct business with them.