P.O. boxes, customer contact, and Merchant Center

Google’s pages ask for a physical business address, and a P.O. box is a mailbox, not a place. Publish a street address, and keep the box for post. No Google page says “no P.O. boxes” in so many words, which is why this one trips people up; what the pages ask for is an address that says where the business is, the same on the site and in Merchant Center.

Critical4 min read

By Edvinas Ivanauskas How the guides are reviewed

You run this check yourself

Our scanner can’t see inside your Google accounts, so this one’s on you. Work through the checklist below without running a scan.

Why this matters

Google's fix page for missing contact information lists, among the usual reasons for a “Misrepresentation” or “Website needs improvement” notice, a website or Merchant Center account that is “missing a verified phone number, physical address, or email address”. The Editorial and professional requirements give the account-side example of missing contact information “such as a physical business address or a verified phone number”. And the Business information page asks for the address “where your business is registered”.

None of those pages says “no P.O. boxes”. They do not need to: each asks for a physical address, and a box tells a shopper where the post goes, not where the business is. Product Experts on Google's Merchant Center Community are more direct. Their 2026 misrepresentation guide asks for an “exact physical street address” in every footer and on the contact page, matching a government ID or business tax document.

Plenty of good businesses run from a spare room. Where a box is the honest answer, usually a home-based business that does not want customers at the door, publish an address the business can use in public, such as a registered office, label it for what it is, and keep the box as the address for post or returns. Put a phone number and an email beside it, so the box is never the only way to reach you.

The free scan flags a footer with no physical address and a returns policy with no return address, in one pass. Compare Business info in Merchant Center with the site yourself. If the only alternative is a serviced address, read virtual office addresses first. See every identity and contact check on the misrepresentation checker.

Typical evidence

Why a PO Box needs context

A box number handles post; it does not tell a shopper where the business operates. If it is your correspondence address, label it plainly and give the return route its own clear explanation.

Correspondence address

Published: "PO Box 1234, London EC1A 1BB"
Needs context: what can a customer use this address for?
Check your applicable setup and disclosure requirements manually.

The checkDescribe the address truthfully and give customers a working contact and return route.

The public signals this check looks for:

The footer and the contact page show only “PO Box 123”, with no street address anywhere on…
The footer and the contact page show only “PO Box 123”, with no street address anywhere on the site.
Merchant Center Business info holds a P…
Merchant Center Business info holds a P.O. box, while your business registration shows a street address.
The returns policy sends customers to a P
The returns policy sends customers to a P.O. box and gives no other way to reach you.
You work from home and used a box so that your home address would not be public
You work from home and used a box so that your home address would not be public.

What it looks like once it is right

The footer reads “Acme Goods Ltd, registered office 4 Mill Lane, Leeds LS1 4AB · 0113 496 0000 · support@acme.co.uk”, and the returns page says “Send returns to PO Box 123, Leeds LS1 1AA.” Business info holds the registered office.

Common mistakes

Common mistake

The footer reads “Acme Goods, PO Box 123, Leeds”. There is no street address, phone number or email on the site, and Business info in Merchant Center holds a different, residential address.

Self-check steps

Find the address your business is registered at on your registration or tax documents. That is the address for Merchant Center Business info.
Put a physical address on the store where shoppers look for it: the footer and the contact page. If it is a registered office rather than where you work, label it that way.
Keep the P.O. box for what it is, a postal address, and say so: “Post and returns: PO Box 123, Leeds LS1 1AA.”
Make the business name, address and phone number match between the footer, the contact page and Business info, as Google's contact-information fix page asks.
Put a working phone number and an email on your own domain next to the address, so a box is never the only way to reach you.
If Merchant Center asks you to verify your business, check that the documents show the same address as Business info before you upload them.

Trading address first, box second

State the trading or return route clearly. A box can still handle correspondence when it is labelled as such.

Address · how it should read

14 High Street, London EC1A 1BB — trading address

alsoPO Box 1234 — for correspondence only

Questions merchants ask

Can I use a P.O. box for Google Merchant Center?

Not as your only address. Google's pages ask for a physical address and for the address where your business is registered, so put that in Business info and on the site. A P.O. box can sit beside it as the address for post or returns, labelled as such.

I work from home. Do I have to publish my home address?

Google's pages ask for a physical address and the address your business is registered at; they do not say it has to be your home. If the business has a registered office or another address it can use in public, publish that, say what it is, and add a phone number and email. Product Experts advise that it match your business documents.

Is a P.O. box allowed as a return address?

Google's returns pages ask for a clear policy that says how returns work, and do not rule out a box for receiving them. Say plainly that returns go to the box, and publish your business address and contact details separately, so customers are never left with a box as the only way to reach you.

Remediation

Risk signal

A box on its own answers “where do I send post?” and leaves “who is this, and where are they?” hanging, which is exactly what a nervous shopper wants to know. Publish the address your business is registered at, keep the box for post, and make the site and Merchant Center say the same thing.

PriorityTreat this and any other highest-severity findings as first-priority work, then document each fix.

EvidenceRecord the current state before each change, apply the fix, then capture the corrected state so every change is evidenced.

Similar cases

Sources

Community guidance

Written by Product Experts, the users Google recognises for their answers on its Merchant Center Community forum. Often stricter than Google’s help pages, and not Google policy.

Last reviewed 23 Sep 2026.

That is one issue. The library documents 134.

The free scan lists what it finds on your store. The paid report adds the affected pages, captured evidence and step-by-step fixes. Start free, with no account needed.