Just in time for Christmas, retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. is expecting an unwelcome gift: a lawsuit filed by three New York customers who felt betrayed when they learned that not all Sears' Craftsman tools were made in the United States.

Sears, which has advertised the brand as produced by American workers, asserts it never claimed the entire line was made within the U.S. borders, just more than 1,600 of Craftsman's 5,000-plus hand tools.

Sears spokesman Bill Masterson said the retailer had not yet been served with the suit and could not comment on its contents.

The fact that any goods at all qualify for the Federal Trade Commission's restrictive "Made in USA" label may be the real news as the shelves of American retailers are increasingly packed with imported goods.

That Bratz doll Wintertime Wonderland Sasha came here from China.

Those Olympus D-580 4.0MP digital cameras were put together by South Korean workers and the spray bottle of Gucci Pour Homme fragrance came, no surprise, from France.

In September, the U.S. imported $51.6 billion more in goods than it exported.

The trend is expected to accelerate next year as another trade barrier falls, allowing more imports from China. Trade experts continue to debate the impact of free trade on American companies but, while consumers proudly display U.S. flags on their cars, their efforts to stretch tight budgets tend to get in the way of hard-core allegiance to the American label.

"The American consumers, they want more and more and more for less and less and less," said Laura Hultberg, site administrator for BuyAmerican.com, an online purveyor of lots of things made in the USA.

Founded in 1999 in the northwestern Pennsylvania community of Pittsfield, in Warren County, the Web store compiled a list of 700 vendors who had at least some products made in this country. The small online operator generally depends on manufacturers to explain where they make their goods.

A couple of times customers ordered goods through the site and received items stamped with the name of a foreign country, said Hultberg. Any manufacturer that can't guarantee BuyAmerican.com shoppers will get goods from its U.S. operations is removed from the site.

The policy can make merchandise selection tricky, Hultberg said. One tool maker has operations here and in France so the site doesn't carry tool sets that might mix products from the two countries. Customers ask that New Balance shoes be added, she said, but it is difficult to sort out the country of origin for each pair sold.

On its Web site, Sears does not give a country of origin for a Craftsman 24-piece screwdriver set but the description of a 1/8 x 4 inch screwdriver includes the words "Made in America. Guaranteed forever." The online Craftsman brand store includes the headline, "Craftsman quality. Made in America."

The FTC updated its interpretation of who could use the USA label in 1997, sticking with a strict standard that required "all or virtually" of a product be made in the United States to qualify. The agency brought 15 cases against companies in the years following the review.

There hasn't been much activity on the subject of late, said Elaine Kolish, associate director for enforcement. Agency cases tend to triggered by concerns raised by customers and competitors, said Kolish. "We don't get very many complaints about it."

In the Sears case filed Dec. 2 in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, three people are accusing the retailer of false advertising and consumer fraud by prominently marketing the American ties of the tool brand in catalogs, advertising and in its online store. The plaintiffs hope the case can be certified as a class-action, which would mean it would apply to potentially millions of customers. They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.