Tired of Made In China?

Finding American-made products can be tricky in today’s world, especially when shopping online. Here are our 3 tips to ensure you’re buying from an American company. 

Check the Contact Info

First, check the company contact info. If the company is truly US based, their contact info will be US based. The two easiest places to check are in the phone number and the mailing address. Is the area code in their phone number a US based number, and is their address in the US?

Be careful of P.O. Boxes! A business operating out of the US would use its office, warehouse, etc. as a mailing location, not a P.O. Box. The only exception we've found to this is a business someone is running out of their home where they don't want to display their home address publicly. Be careful with these as well, we have seen a lot of people starting businesses where they import Chinese products and resell them from their homes. You can learn more about spotting these in "Extra Tip" below.

Check the "About Us" page

Second, check their “About Us” page. A lot of US based companies who are proud to make their products in the US will make a connection to the American workers, military members, or first responders that they support. This isn’t always the case, but companies employing US citizens often focus on the pride they have in their work, and the pride they have in their employees. You don’t see this from non-US companies. 

Check the Shipping Policy (The Best Tip!)

Finally, check the shipping policy. If a website says it takes over 1 week to ship you a product, we can almost guaranteed it is being shipped from outside the US. The slowest US based shipping takes 5-6 business days for cross-country shipping (we see this with USPS and FedEx.) Many Chinese shippers will be sneaky and say 8-15 business days or 1-3 weeks. If you see this, the product is being shipping from China, and you likely won't get it in that time frame. Always check the shipping policy!

An Extra Tip

Want to know how to catch large businesses that work around these tips? When looking through the business’s website, check to see if there any photos of employees. You may see a business location in the US, but the employees are only seen around a lot of boxes. This may indicate a large company that makes the products in China, but has a sorting/ redistribution center in the US. The business will appear to be US based and likely won’t reference its production facilities, but don’t be fooled! 

Final Word

We hope these tips help you distinguish between cheap foreign production and genuine American companies. These are the best ways to ensure you're truly buying a product made in the USA. If you've ever bought something you thought was American made but actually wasn't, comment below and share your story!