Google Merchant Center Suspended - Misrepresentation

[SusanDuffy]

Hi there,

New website went live this week so no sales yet, added to GMC in the hope of organic traffic but been suspended due to misrepresentation.

There were a number of items that they said violated the policies of restricted adult content and sexual interests, the same two flags were applied to same products, I've removed majority of them from the feed as I think it may be that they just don't want underwear shown, I'd rather remove the majority of them now so I only have a few left, I have 6 left that I have no idea why they would be flagged so I've individually asked for them to be reviewed stating I think they comply with the policy, 2 jumpers, 3 dresses and 1 swimsuit that is not even pictured with a model, just a white background.

I have a few that are no longer available on my shopify site, been sold by other dropshippers I presume, I've marked them as out of stock manually and made the visibility marked to not show on google but they are still in my needs attention area.  I would have thought they should auto sync from the google app automatically with the custom api feed but would they not have been syncing with the suspension?

There were about 900 items with no gtin which I fixed with a very helpful youtube video from Emmanuel last night.

As the whole store is suspended with this reason "

Suspended account for policy violation

Remove products that violate our policies, or request a manual review"

Would the majority of products I've fixed or removed help my case if I ask for a review now?

I did also need to update contact information in GMC itself and also the shipping and return policy.

I think my website is good but due to it being a dropship site I'm scared that I may just immediately be kept on suspension, for instance being online only I have a virtual address I've paid for so that my home address does not show with me being a sole trader.

Is it worth requesting a review now after updating GMC info and shipping/return policies and fixing majority of the disapproved products?

For the remaining ones that I've limited visibility and marked out of stock i've put together a spreadsheet with a reason for each item, I've 18 I don't seem to be able to fix out of 23000.

This is my site if anyone has any pointers or thinks that it is too soon to request a review.

I'm worried given that I'm only live a week that I just won't be deemed trustworthy and suspension will stay, how can you get reviews if you don't have the opportunity to have your products shown with ads.

I hadn't set up google ads yet to note, had just added products for free listings at this stage.

Oh another thing I tried to create a google my business profile but was denied.

Violation type
Your business is not eligible for a Business Profile

I'm guessing this is the reason - was under a inelligble businesses category

• Brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses.

That was quite long 😀

Thanks to any responses

https://theluxealliance.com/

[EmmanuelFlossie · Accepted solution]

I'm glad Emmanuel's video was helpful. 🙂

Removing products in violation, that you know where issues, will definately help. But without knowing what they are, I can not confirm this.

Having a website that is just a week old can cause issues, however when I check, the website is 1135 days old. How come you say it's just a week?

Make sure your sales prices are real, meaning you need to have sold the item at its original price in recent history.

Disable automatic currency conversion, Google does not allow this.

Make sure to show if your items are in or out of stock on the product landing page.

Add your business address in the footer of all pages.

Links in your checkout are added, but not visible because it's all black.

You might have more issues so make sure to check:

https://support.google.com/google-ads/community-video/307426020
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6363310/follow-the-merchant-center-guidelines
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7052112
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/4752265
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/13693865
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6149970
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9158778
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150244
https://support.google.com/google-ads/community-guide/241068758

[SusanDuffy]

Hi Emmanuel,

Looks like you are the same Emmanuel from Youtube, thanks so much your vid worked instantly to remove like 900 items that had limited visibility, had been trying to find a solution all day 

Well the idea for my site started about 3 years ago but I only in the last few months really tried to make it a reality, this Tuesday I took the password off, well apart from a test order for myself for sunglasses during the summer which I got in 2 days 😊 shame I can't use myself as a review haha.  It was far too hard to try and do this as a side hustle alongside my stressful corporate gig so I've taken a step back from that while I concentrate on making a go of TLA.

So the prices are the prices, that's not a sale as such, I'm not planning to put them back to the higher amount at any stage  The difference is the RRP from the wholesaler and my price, the reason for a big difference is that these are overstock or past season items which is why they are so discounted.  This is mentioned in the welcome blog but perhaps for transparancy I could mention it in the About us and FAQ, would that help?

Will look at the automatic currency conversion, thanks.

The whole site is set to only show in stock items, it did previously show ones out of stock but I disabled that, I could look at putting something that refers to the quantities of each item in stock would that help do you think?

The address, email and phone number is in the contact link in both the header and footer but I'll look at just having it typed into the footer itself thanks.

Will also look at those checkout links being in black cheers.

Honestly thanks so much for the feedback, I read that there seems to have recently been implemented a 3 strikes review rule and then permanent ban so I'm obviously scared of that seeing as I'm already suspended 😥

Oh there had been a number of items also that were flagged for profanity also, so I removed that whole brand, the name is Commes des Fuc$down" Edited that so I don't get in trouble here too, I see other sites are able to sell it though.

Do you know if when you go to review it is another algorithm/bot?  I hope I get a human review.  My email for suspension did say it was as a result of automated checks.

I've just logged into GMC and the 6 I disagreed with re adult/sexual advertising have gone, the only ones that are left now are ones that are no longer available in shopify but were still showing in GMC, I had manually marked them as out of stock on GMC, was not able to do so on shopify as they literally are not there anymore.  Excluding the 900 items I'd say I've 12/180 issues left, hopefully that is enough after I've done the recommended changes for shopify.

Honestly thanks for all the feedback and help, I do want to get this right.

Oh also to add I am autorised reseller and have a letterhead from the wholeseller saying so for all the brands, is it okay to say you are one on shopify?

Cheers

Susan

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Updating the FAQ will not help, if the original prices are RRP, you can not show that as your own price, that is misleading. So in that case, best to only show the real price you sell it at.

You will have to show, in or out of stock info, yes.

No, there is no perma ban: 

Generally reviews are a combination of bots and manual.

I'm not sure about your last question with the letterhead.

[SusanDuffy]

Thanks for feedback again.

Okay, I am going to set my shopify site to show that the higher value is an RRP and for GMC I've set an attribute rule to only show the lower value as a price which seems to take away the sale badge in the preview and only show one lower value.   I see another dropshipper seems to be doing the same and I'm 99.9% sure he's using the same supplier as me so hopefully that's sufficient.  As my products are all suspended though it doesn't seem to apply that rule to products already imported but hopefully I can explain that when it comes to asking for my review.

That is good news that it is not a permanent ban, from reading other's questions in the community last few days that's what it looked like so that is reassuring, I've signed up for notifications on youtube for your channel 😄

I'll work on all other issues before reaching out them them for a review.

Oh would you know the reason for this btw, the amount if items I have is circa 22-23k but GMC says i have double that.  All I did was use the app in shopify to connect with content api so not sure why it's picking up double.

Cheers

Susan

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Most common reason is the misunderstanding of variants. Each unique product, ie a variant, is counted as 1 product.

[SusanDuffy]

Thanks

[SusanDuffy]

I submitted a request for a manual review, got a case id, 20 mins later an even more vague email, would that have been another manual check that just sent something even more vague back to me.

[SusanDuffy]

Hi there,

I submitted a request for a manual review through help.google.com, got a case id, 20 mins later an even more vague email, would that have been another automated check that just sent something even more vague back to me would you know?

[EmmanuelFlossie]

That means, Google is still not satisfied with your business and or website.

Check and re-check all the policies and guides, there must be something that is overlooked.

[SusanDuffy]

Thanks for response again.

I think I'm just having trouble knowing whether it was actually reviewed again or not, I got that reply within 20mins and I've read that it can take 5-7 days for a review.

I didn't request a review within the review and fix button in merchant center itself as i believe I fixed what they asked but I also disagreed with some points in my original email, that's why I sent a query to help.google.com instead and checked the first box, I wonder if they just referred me straight back to the policy guidelines again

I attached a document replying to the orignal emails points and making comments on each then what i couldn't fix and also I asked for more clarification and just got that vague response.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Yes it will have been reviewed, if it's 20 minutes, that signals fundamental issues in my opinion.

No point asking Google for info, when you are suspended, they will not help.

[SusanDuffy]

Hmmmmn yeah I'm not sure if ot was I ended up requesting a review from the review button within GMC itself and that's triggered a change, took 12 hours this time for misrepresentation email and confirms was a manual check, a human did respond to my ticket and was nicer but again vague, didn't seem like that automated email I got yesterday...... anyway back to the drawing board.

One question I haven't asked if you don't mind.  Can I change the feed I'm using or will that trigger them think I'm trying to circumvent the system?  It being dropshipping there's a lot or products and I thought about focusing on just one brand and really qulity controlling what comes across instead of the custom api feed, I have been onto my supplier about missing pictures and descriptions.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Changing a feed, info, products etc, is not an issue when using the same account.

[SusanDuffy]

good to know thanks

[SusanDuffy]

Sorry it's me back again.

I managed to get talking to someone in support and they gave me the usual vague wording about misrepresentation etc but the only additional thing I noticed was that they said I could provide additional verification about the business info, I sent them the companies registration cert and also the letter from my wholesaler saying I've authorised to buy the brands from them for resale.

I never asked for a new review, I was just trying to get clarification on the issue.  I woke to an email saying that the wider team had done a comprehensive manual review of my account and they were glad to say misrepresentation had been lifted and the products would gradually be added to the a/c again over the next few days but within 6 hours I got the misrepresentation email again?  Does this sort of thing happen a lot?  At a loss to see hoe they can say they did acomprehensive review and lifted it to then reinstate it again in a few hours

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Yes, I have seen this happen before. That is because one team found no issues, then an automated system (most likely) found another issue.

[SusanDuffy]

Hmmmn okay, at least it was found to be okay at one point, i wonder if it was one of the changes I made since - I'm going to revisit it in the new years perhaps and look at other revenue avenues for now, thanks for your help to this point

[SusanDuffy]

found something I didn't spot before "your company" placeholder text, not sure if that would have been something