Consumer New Zealand is warning online shoppers to be extra aware when attempting to buy Kiwi-made following a number of reports about online stores appearing to be local, when in fact they are based overseas.
A website called Mytamariki says it sells products that "support everyday family life in New Zealand"; however, the business address and website are listed as being in Hong Kong.
Reviews of the website on Facebook and Trustpilot have claimed products on the site are also available on AliExpress.
Consumer New Zealand chief executive Jon Duffy told Morning Report websites similar to these are becoming more common.
"Unfortunately they're on the increase and it is really difficult for consumers to tell the difference sometimes.
"There's different ways consumers can interact with websites that are pretending to be from New Zealand, but aren't. It could be directly through a website like the Mytamariki example, but equally through places like Facebook Marketplace, Shopify, and other platforms like that.
"There's ample opportunity for businesses to claim New Zealand origin, but not actually be from here."
He says there are some simple things people can do if they are unsure if a business is legitimately based in New Zealand.
"If a business is claiming to be located in a particular location in New Zealand, do a Google Maps check, see if that shopfront is actually there.
"There was a recent example of a business claiming to be based in Arrowtown when it wasn't, and that took in a number of people, but that business certainly didn't have its shopfront on the main street of Arrowtown.
"The domain name commissioner, which is part of Internet NZ, registers all .co.nz and .nz domain names. So if a business purports to have a New Zealand domain name, you can look up who's behind that business through the domain name commissioner.
"And if the website's appearing to be a .co.nz website but they're not registered with the domain name commissioner, that is a huge red flag and you shouldn't deal with them."
Duffy says it is not as simple as authorities having a website taken down, given the global nature of online retail.
"If a site is actively misleading people and it's trading through a platform such as Facebook or Shopify, you can complain. Whether they take action, you kind of roll the dice.
"It's illegal for businesses to mislead consumers in New Zealand, but often these businesses are based overseas. So regulators like the New Zealand Commerce Commission really struggle to do anything about misrepresentations about country origin and things like that when the business is based offshore."
John Duffy
Duffy said there was a difference between a store being misleading and one being run by scammers.
"Some are just outright scams. They're looking to take money off you and they never had the product that they said they were going to sell. So that's out-and-out fraud. But other businesses will misrepresent what they're selling to you.
"Using that Arrowtown example, it was advertising designer New Zealand-made clothing, but what turned up was cheap, Chinese-made product that didn't match the description. So you got something, but it certainly wasn't what you thought you were paying for.
"And then being able to turn around and deal with the website to get a refund as you would get if you were dealing with a genuinely domestically located store, proves very, very difficult."
"Unfortunately, consumers need to protect themselves, because there's very little the New Zealand authorities can do," Duffy said.
Mytamariki has been contacted for comment.
-RNZ