Print-on-demand and Merchant Center: time, images, rights

Google has no separate rules for print-on-demand. The general ones bite in three places, and each has a plain fix.

Time comes first. Google defines handling time as the gap “between when an order is placed and when the product ships”, and asks you to “Use business days”. For a made-to-order item, that gap is the print provider's production time plus any time you take, not the carrier's collection slot. Google's estimated delivery date is built from maximum handling days plus maximum transit days, so a one-day handling setting on a product that takes several days to print shows shoppers an arrival date the parcel cannot meet. Handling time vs transit time walks through the settings.

Images come second. Google's image requirements say “Accurately display the entire product, and include minimal or no product staging.” and “Don't use a placeholder or an image that doesn't show your product.” A mockup is allowed; a mockup that is brighter, sharper or a different colour from the printed item is the problem. The fix is cheap: order a sample, photograph it or compare the mockup against it, and tone the render down until it matches.

Rights come third, and they carry the biggest stakes. Google's counterfeit policy describes counterfeit goods as ones that “contain a trademark or logo that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark or logo of another”, and the Misrepresentation policy's best practices say “Use your own branding”. A shirt with a football club crest or a cartoon character you have no licence for can sit in that territory, whatever the print provider allowed you to upload. Under the trademarks policy, Google says “We’ll review claims by trademark owners that use of their trademark is likely to cause consumer confusion about the origin of a product.”

A Product Expert guide on the Merchant Center Community lists a lack of finished goods, print-on-demand products included, among the misrepresentation issues it warns merchants about. That is community guidance, not Google policy, but it tells you what to make obvious: say “made to order” on the product page and in the shipping policy, so nobody expects an item sitting on a shelf.

The free scan flags a store that states no handling time or no delivery time. It does not look inside your images, so a mockup that still carries a template maker’s watermark is yours to catch by eye. Design licences and your print provider's real turnaround are a manual check. The full set of checks is on the misrepresentation checker.