FTC Begins Sending Consumers Refunds in ‘Made in USA’ Case

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sending over $140,000 in refunds to consumers after taking action against companies that it alleged made false claims that their products were “Made in USA” or “Hand Crafted in USA.”

The agency took this action against Chaucer Accessories, Bates Accessories, Bates Retail Group and the companies’ owner, Thomas Bates, in 2023, alleging that a number of their belts, bags, wallets and shoes were wholly imported or used imported components, the FTC said in a Wednesday (Nov. 20) press release.

When announcing in a June 2023 press release that the FTC was taking action against the companies, Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said: “‘Made in USA’ means what it says. Falsely labeling products as ‘Made in USA’ hurts consumers and competition, and the FTC will continue to aggressively enforce the law to stop deceptive claims and hold violators accountable.”

The FTC said Wednesday that it is sending the payments to 4,061 consumers who purchased the goods addressed in the case, according to the release.

The agency is sending payments via checks and PayPal, per the release. Consumers are expected to cash their checks within 90 days or redeem their PayPal payments within 30 days.

The FTC uses a variety of payment methods to send refunded money to consumers, PYMNTS reported in September. Consumers can visit an FTC webpage to see whether the refund program in which they are involved is sending checks, debit cards, Zelle payments or PayPal payments.

The agency’s lawsuits resulted in over $324 million in refunds to consumers in 2023.

That total includes money returned to consumers as a result of all FTC cases, whether the refund program was administered by the FTC, other federal agencies or the defendants, the agency said in its annual report on refunds released in June.

The FTC itself refunded $137.7 million, and 1.4 million people cashed FTC payments. It sent first distributions totaling $134 million in 15 cases in 2023.

The agency also maintains interactive dashboards for refund data that provide state-by-state and case-by-case breakdowns of refunds in FTC cases.

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