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4 ways to avoid Chinese products and buy from U.S. companies this 4th of July
Amazon Prime Day is an annual two-day shopping event for Prime members. You’ll find thousands of deals on tech, from earbuds to smart home devices.
The colossal discount bonanza runs July 12-13 this year, but you don’t have to wait until then to score great deals. Tap or click here for 50+ early Prime Day discounts you don’t want to miss.
Maybe you’re feeling patriotic since the Fourth of July is right around the corner. You want to support American sellers and avoid Chinese companies while shopping for the 2022 sales. These tips can help you ethically shop when taking advantage of summer shopping events.
First, some general tips
Shopping online while avoiding Chinese products is like tiptoeing around a minefield. Not only are they everywhere, but they can be hard to recognize.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Don’t trust an online shop’s search engine. Amazon is notorious for throwing Chinese products into search results for “not made in China” or “made in the USA.” Many online marketplaces have the same issue.
- Be wary of misleading labels. Don’t fall for a product that says, “Designed in the USA” or “Assembled in the U.S.” Only trust a product that says “Made in the USA.”
- Use online forums. Sometimes, databases will come up short and your research yields nothing. Reach out to online communities like r/avoidchineseproducts on Reddit.
- Barcodes can trick you. One popular piece of advice goes something like, “Pick up a product and look at the barcode. If the first three numbers are 690, 691 or 692, it’s Chinese. Look for barcodes that start from 00 to 09. Those are American.” This advice is partly false. Barcodes only identify the manufacturing company’s country of origin. A product’s barcode doesn’t reveal its manufacturing location.
Bottom line: You must think critically to avoid Chinese products. Luckily, we’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Here are four free tools to help you avoid Chinese sellers and support American merchants instead.
1. If you want to avoid Chinese products, start with this website
Not sure how to tell if a product is made in the USA? Made in America Directory is the site for you. Simply put, it identifies whether a product was made in the United States or not.
Just type the product or company name you’re curious about into the search bar:
Scroll down to see your search results. It’s probably not an American-made product if you get this message: “Sorry, your search did not return any results.”
Of course, the database may simply not have the product you’re looking for. Just to be sure, check out the other methods in this guide.
2. USA forever, China never
If you want to learn how to check if a product is made in China, explore ChinaNever.com. This website also identifies which U.S. companies make their products in China. Its front page explains why you might want to boycott Chinese products:
If any of these reasons resonate with you, this website has a free tool to help you avoid buying products from China. Its shopping checker verifies where products are manufactured. Site owners regularly update this tool with new brands.
Using the website is easy. Start by selecting a category from the thumbnails on the front page. You’ll get a list of companies that manufacture that product outside China.
For example, if you click Audio & TV, you’ll see a list of headphones not made in China. Check it out:
Although this is the most popular directory of brands that don’t manufacture in China, there’s a drawback. The site is a bit out of date. You may need to scroll down to the comments section to see if the brands are still manufacturing in the U.S., Canada or European Union.
Planning to shop during Amazon Prime Day? Tap or click here for 10 early Amazon Prime Day deals you should grab before they’re gone.
3. Find out where 100,000+ products come from
ProductFrom website is the perfect match for anyone who has wondered, “How do I know if a product is from China?” or “How do you find where a product was manufactured?”
At the time of writing, this comprehensive database is huge. (The last time we wrote about it, ProductFrom only had 80,000 devices.) Now it covers:
- 104,791 products
- 1,702 brands
- 886 categories
- 103 countries
Check out this screenshot of the front page. Your search options are in the top-right corner.
Search by product category, brand name, country of origin or product name. If you have a specific item in mind, tap the search icon and enter the product. If the product is in the database, you’ll find where it comes from.
4. Shop products that tell you exactly where they come from
This database gets straight to the point. You can search The Not Made in China Directory for brands and products that clearly disclose their country of origin.
This handy directory covers a broad range of products. You don’t have to wonder, “Is there a website where I can buy products that are not made in China?” Use this site to find out which Chinese products to avoid.
Now you know how to avoid Chinese products this Fourth of July
Use these four databases to find which products are made in the USA. With these tools in your belt, you can support American businesses this Fourth of July. Actually, they can help you throughout the year.
Just keep these databases in mind while you’re filling up your online shopping cart. If you see a brand or product you aren’t sure about, run the name through one of these databases. You’ll find out whether it’s made in America or abroad.
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