Shipping policy for Merchant Center: what to publish

A shipping page that says where you deliver, what it costs and how long it takes, in actual numbers, and that agrees with your Merchant Center shipping settings. Dull page. Write it once, properly. Google’s Misrepresentation policy gives “Missing merchant terms and conditions or shipping information” as its first example of leaving out relevant information, and Google’s fix page for missing contact information lists a website that “lacks detailed shipping or return and refund policies” among the usual reasons for a Misrepresentation notice, asking for “specific timeframes for delivery”. One page at an address like /shipping, linked from the footer and the cart, with the countries you deliver to and any you don’t, the cost for each in the currency of your prices, handling and delivery time separately in business days, and your order cutoff with its time zone. “Fast delivery” is not a timeframe. Google’s shipping settings page says submitted costs “should be as close as possible to what’s on your website”, so check one against the other.

The Misrepresentation policy covers this under “Omission of relevant information”. It rules out “Failure to clearly and conspicuously disclose all related conditions before and after purchase”, and the first example it gives is “Missing merchant terms and conditions or shipping information”. Google’s “How to fix: Missing contact information on your online store” page is blunter still. It lists the usual reasons an account is suspended for “Misrepresentation” or “Website Needs Improvement”, and one of them is: “Your website lacks detailed shipping or return and refund policies.” Its fix: “Provide detailed shipping and return policies. Include specific timeframes for delivery and procedures for returns, including buyer's remorse.”

What “detailed” means is easiest to read off Merchant Center itself. The “Set up shipping settings for an entire account” page asks you for the countries you ship to, an order cutoff, a handling time, a transit time and a cost option that “mirrors how you charge for shipping on your site.” It also says “The shipping costs you submit to Merchant Center should be as close as possible to what's on your website.” A shipping page that answers the same five questions serves the shopper and gives you something to hold your settings against. The detail for each part is in handling time vs transit time, order cutoff times and delivery restrictions.

Product Experts on Google's Merchant Center Community give the same advice in plainer words. One of their suspension guides tells merchants to “List your shipping policies, rates, and estimated handling and delivery times to avoid customer dissatisfaction.” Another says each policy “must accurately describe how the business actually operates.” Not glamorous. Just true.

Verify the policy against a real checkout quote for each delivery region you offer. Keep the product, quantity and destination recorded so the comparison can be repeated. StoreVerifier cannot read your private shipping rules or Merchant Center settings. Find what to fix on your store for free scan findings from your public store; the paid report adds affected pages, evidence and fix steps. For an account suspension, continue with the misrepresentation fix guide.