The INFORM Consumers Act and online marketplaces: What to know

Have you ever bought something through an online marketplace where third parties sell their products? You’re not alone. Millions of people have. But have you ever wondered who the seller was? Or where they were located? Or how you’d contact them if you had a question about a product?

There’s a new law designed to shed some light on transactions on these marketplaces. The INFORM Consumers Act is designed to deter criminals from selling stolen, counterfeit, or unsafe items through online marketplaces. It also gives shoppers information about sellers and a way to report questionable activity.

The Act says online marketplaces must disclose contact information about many third-party sellers of new or unused consumer products on their product pages or in order confirmation messages. Shoppers could use the information to learn more about a seller they’re not familiar with.

The online marketplace also must give shoppers a way to report suspicious conduct. What might a shopper consider to be suspicious activity?

• They get an item that looks to be fake or counterfeit.
• They get an item that’s different from what they ordered — maybe it doesn’t look like the picture on the product page. Or it came in a different quantity.
• They get an item that has unexpected signs of deterioration or use. Or that's expired.
• They see a seller advertising branded merchandise at unusually low prices.

Shoppers may not see this information for all third-party sellers — the law covers only “high-volume” third-party sellers that meet specific sales thresholds. To learn more about the law, which takes effect on June 27, 2023, check out Informing Businesses about the INFORM Consumers Act.

Read Our Privacy Act Statement

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

Read Our Comment Policy

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

• We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
• We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
• We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
• We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Thankful for the new law…. Have heard people complain about orders. I have been too cautious but did have a couple of incidents over past few years - nothing of much value. Thankful our lawmakers are waking up to these problems. Thank you for this website!

I had this problem with Amazon. Had no clue the vendor was in China. Returned the item to the local Amazon location & got a return receipt. Amazon charged me again saying I hadn't returned the item. Spent hours on line sending proof. Finally succeeded. Now I will only shop from local brick & mortar stores.

That was Amazon's screwup, not the 3rd-party vendor's. Laws currently in place protect against those bozos messing up like that. Glad you finally got them to wake up, but I live in an area where you just can't find everything you need in the brick and mortar stores (and that includes Walmart, another big seller of 3rd party merchandise).

Excellent . Thank You

Veechill sells on Facebook they are scammers. I have a full email conversation with them I would like for you to read it. How do I email it to you.

Thank you so much. This is what I fight for! When the poorest half of our population pays all the bill for this country, they need all the breaks they can get. Good Job!