Google Merchant Center - misrepresentation

[fairydustdecals]

My items for sale in my store are all custom made stickers. I have no MPN or GTIN numbers due to everything is handmade. GMC keeps disapproving my items. I have watched numerous youtube videos, asked Shopify experts and still have ongoing "misrepresentation" issues. At this point I am ready to cancel Shopify and move to another platform like WooCommerce. (I have been an online seller since 2009 on Etsy with close to 60,000 orders - not a new seller).

www.fairydustdecals.com

[Olivia]

Hi, @fairydustdecals!

Welcome to Shopify Community.

Thank you for sharing your question with our network. I can absolutely appreciate the frustration you feel from products repeatedly being rejected from Google Merchant Center. 

To further clarify, Shopify's role here is to simply share your product information with Google and we do not influence the approval process from Google Merchant Center. If they have deemed your products in violation of their policy, we highly recommend that you appeal their decision directly with their support staff. 

To read more about misrepresentation on Google and also disputing decisions around this, make sure to review their support article regarding product disapproval. 

Based on what is publicly available regarding the appeal process, you can expect to wait up to 7 days for them to review your case and come to a conclusion.

I trust that provides further insight, but let me know if you have other Shopify-related questions.

Warm regards,

[EmmanuelFlossie]

For example you are blocking the normal website functions, such as not allowing text highlighting.

Right click is disabled along with the developer tools.

I also recommend reading below.

Misrepresentation refers to trust related signals about your business.

 
For instance, inconsistencies may arise when the actual physical location of your business aligns differently from the information provided on your website, Google Merchant Center settings, public social media profiles, or other connected accounts. All these details must align and reflect the physical reality of your business.

Be clear about your business modle and how you operate.

Operating your business in one geographic region while asserting that the corporate entity is based in a different jurisdiction.

Not providing an official business name and not having this matched accros the web.
 
The practice of setting up a virtual address or business in a location where your company does not operate is a typical example of misrepresentation.
 
Additionally, the overall quality of your website can be a form of misrepresentation. Therefore, it's essential to improve your website and populate it with original, high-quality content and not to copy-paste information from other websites.

Not including social links such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
 
Trust indicators such as your Google Business Profile, Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditation, and genuine customer reviews are critical to fostering a sense of legitimacy and reliability.

Show certificates from offiical 3rd party sources.
 
Neglecting to include essential policies such as shipping, returns, privacy in the footer of your website can lead to misrepresentation. Instead, ensure all necessary policies are articulated and accessible to users for transparency and compliance.

Another example of this could be advertising a discounted price for an item, even though the product has not been sold at its alleged original price in recent history.

Copying content from other websites, including details items such as "About Us" pages or policy statements, is regarded as misrepresentation. 

Not having an original authentic about us page.

Failure to maintain inventory or lack of knowledge regarding stock quantity levels.

Missing or limited contact method.

Do not have any placeholder text or images.

Do not have any redirects or broken links.

If you have published a blog post, make sure customers can read the article.

Any discrepancy on your website or in your Google Merchant Center account that deviates from absolute truthfulness can be perceived as misleading, which could potentially be the reason for suspension.

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

[sampymishra]

Hi @fairydustdecals 

In the case of a custom product, you can mark the identifiers as 'NO,' which means do not add any value for Brand, MPN, and GTIN. This will ensure you do not get any errors in the GMC. 

However, misrepresentation means other things to be fixed besides the custom products. This can include being transparent about your business model and operations. Don't claim to be based in a different jurisdiction than where you operate. Ensure your official business name is consistent across all online platforms. Not including essential policies like shipping, returns, and privacy in your website's footer can lead to misrepresentation. Ensure all necessary policies are clear and accessible for transparency and compliance.

Please let me know if you have these policies in place, and if you need any assistance with setting up the store or Merchant center, we would be happy to help.

[Olivia]

A very special thank you to our latest contributors, @sampymishra and @EmmanuelFlossie, for the invaluable information they have added to our thread.

I trust that our original poster, @fairydustdecals, and future readers will be able to use this information to sort through this problem going forward.

I do hope to hear back from you with an update as well @fairydustdecals. Please share any additional feedback Google provides and we can better assist then as well.

Warm regards,

[fairydustdecals]

Entering "NO" in the GTIN box does not work. It brings up a red error message to "enter a valid number".

[Olivia]

Thanks for the reply, @fairydustdecals.

Do you have the item marked as a "custom product" in the Google & Youtube Channel on Shopify's end? To double check this head to:

• Admin >
• Google & Youtube Channel >
• Bulk Editor >
• Custom Product > TRUE or FALSE

Please do share a screenshot back with us of an example product so we can help you troubleshoot one.

Warm regards,

[fairydustdecals]

I was advised to mark everything as "false" in custom product column...is this correct?

[sampymishra]

Hey @fairydustdecals 

If your product doesn't have a GTIN or MPN because it's a custom product, check True in the Custom Products field. Otherwise, check False.

[fairydustdecals]

Thank you!

[Olivia]

Thank you for confirming your products are correctly set to the right status. Based on the thread thus far, it also sounds like you have conducting other necessary troubleshooting steps shared.

In that case Google has still determined these should not be marked as custom products for one reason or another, and connecting with them is absolutely imperative as per my first reply.

Have you reached out to their support team to appeal the decision yet, @fairydustdecals?

I look forward to your reply,

[fairydustdecals]

Google Merchant Center is a mess. They ask for a brand and I put in my shop name - disapproved. I put in "custom" - disapproved. Left blank "disapproved". How the heck is a handmade seller supposed to be seen? Not every business is a dropshipper or buys items from China to resell. 

[EmmanuelFlossie]

A brand refers to the name of the brand assigned by the manufacturer. This is not a shop name.

To resolve the specific issue related to product identifiers, you can follow this guide:

[fairydustdecals]

I am the manufacturer.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

If you are the manufacturer, and you don't have barcodes. Then remove the brand, mpn values and set identifier exists to no. If you follow the video above you can resolve that specific issue.

[Olivia]

Thank you for your reply, @fairydustdecals.

In addition to what, @EmmanuelFlossie, shared brand information is still required for custom products - when the merchant is also the manufacturer. Please do review this Google resource for further information on entering brand information.  

Furthermore, I can't emphasize how important it is to connect with Google Support directly if this continues to be an issue as they can manually review your appeal which is more effective than automatic processes.

Warm regards,