Google Merchant Center Misrepresentation Suspension Help

Shopify Discussion
1

Hey everyone. I’m hoping someone here has been through this and can point me in the right direction, or even take a look at my site and tell me if I’m missing something obvious.

My Google Merchant Center account was suspended for Misrepresentation. I run Berwyn General Store (berwyngeneralstore.com), a legitimate online specialty food and gift shop based in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, registered as a Maryland LLC. All products are sourced through Faire, a vetted wholesale marketplace. I am not a dropshipper. I don’t sell counterfeits. This is a real business.

What I’ve Fixed

I did a full audit and corrected everything I could find:

  • SSL active and clean, both root and www redirecting correctly
  • All four policy pages live and linked in the footer: Shipping, Returns, Privacy, Terms of Service
  • Full 2,000+ URL dead link crawl completed, one broken link found and fixed
  • All 32 navigation menu items verified clean
  • Six out-of-stock products corrected in the feed
  • Two test products archived and removed
  • GTIN data updated for 112 of 157 products via bulk CSV
  • All Merchant Center business fields complete and accurate
  • Verified customer reviews displaying on the storefront via Klaviyo
  • Google cleared a separate “Website needs improvement” flag during this process

I have done everything Google’s own documentation outlines. The “Website needs improvement” flag clearing tells me the fixes were real. And yet the Misrepresentation suspension remains.

The Support Nightmare

This is where I need to vent for a second, because the communication situation is genuinely absurd.

After exhausting my standard review attempts and getting the same automated copy-paste rejection every time, I went looking for a human. Here is what I found:

Google Ads support tells me to fix the Merchant Center issue. Merchant Center has no appeal button remaining. The GMC contact form routes to a troubleshooter that sends me back to my suspended account. The suspended account has no button. I have gone in circles across multiple support channels for weeks without reaching a single person who can actually look at my account.

I’ve now been directed to complete a video verification, which I’m working through. But I still have no idea what specifically triggered the Misrepresentation flag in the first place, because Google’s rejection responses contain zero specifics. Just the same policy paragraph repeated back to me.

My Ask

If anyone here has been through this and made it out the other side, I’d love to hear what actually worked for you.

And if anyone is willing to take a quick look at berwyngeneralstore.com and tell me if something is obviously off that I’m missing, I would genuinely appreciate it. Fresh eyes would help at this point.

I’m not giving up, but I’m also running out of standard paths. Any guidance is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Michael

2

Looking at your website, I recommend that you add your business address in full, email, phone number in the footer of all pages.

In your contact page, make sure your address is complete.

For a website that is only 72 days old, having so many products doesn’t shine much trust. Because usually you start small, then expand. So that will be a trust related issue. As it indicates drop shipping. Which is allowed, just it comes naturally with low trust signals. Meaning you have to do a lot more to get approved, compared to a business with stock.

Missing in or out of stock info on the product landing page.

Don’t bother trying to talk to Google, when you are suspended, Google simply offers no help, that is the reality since 2020. And it’s not just you, it’s everyone.

I recommend checking and re-checking all details using the links below:

3

Emmanuel is right about the contact and address signals. One thing I’d add, since it’s often the actual trigger for Misrepresentation specifically rather than general low trust: Google compares your Merchant Center feed against the live landing page, and any mismatch in price, currency, or availability gets read as misrepresentation. Faire-sourced catalogs are notorious for this because stock and prices drift, so the feed says one thing and the product page says another. Worth auditing a sample of products side by side.

The other common one for resale stores: if your product titles or pages read like you’re the brand owner when you’re actually reselling, that can read as misrepresentation too. Make it clear you’re a retailer.

And before you file the reconsideration request, get everything in order first. You usually get one clean shot at review, so fix the feed-vs-page consistency, the required policy pages (returns, shipping, terms), and a working secured checkout the reviewer can reach, then submit. Filing it half-fixed tends to burn the attempt. Have you compared the feed prices against the live product pages yet?

5

I’d separate this into two checks: trust signals and feed/landing page consistency. Google can clear “website needs improvement” and still keep misrepresentation if the product feed is saying something the landing page doesn’t clearly prove.

Pick 10 products and compare GMC vs the live page for price, availability, GTIN/brand, shipping, returns, and whether you’re presented as a retailer/reseller. Then make a short evidence doc before the next review: business details, policy URLs, sample product URLs, and screenshots of the matching feed/page data. The less Google has to infer, the better.