I recently helped a site launch which is selling products that are available through a private Collective price list. Google Merchant Center has approved and rejected three times now. Twice it indicated the site was using a parked domain. The store is https://firstinsport.com/ … Steps I’ve taken so far:
Confirmed products on the supplier side are:
status = active (versus unlisted, initially)
minimal product title and descriptions - each description now says “Designed exclusively for First In Sport at https://firstinsport.com/”
not listed in online store, sales channel is Collective Supplier only
private price list, not public to other stores
On the merchant side:
detailed product and descriptions
active in online store sales channel, Shop, Google & YouTube and POS
confirmed policies all exist and linked in footer
added address (city level, as it’s a home-based biz), support email in footer
confirmed contact page and policy
Today’s GMC rejection letter includes these reasons:
Your Merchant Center account is in violation of the following policies: No products on website
The domain that you submitted for your website URL has been determined to be parked. When a shopper clicks on your website URL via an ad or listing, the page they land on does not contain any products, which can be confusing for shoppers and won’t result in sales for you.
(this link refers to fixing malware on the site! given there are few apps and it’s a basic Shopify setup, that feels misdirected)
Three days ago:
The requested review of No products on website has been completed and the issue no longer appears in your Merchant Center account.
This is the third cycle of submit // review // get approved // get rejected we’ve gone through. Is there a fundamental issue with GMC for stores that exclusively offer Shopify Collective items?
One thing I haven’t tried is marking all inventory as “not tracked” (will try that now that I ponder it). Are there any thoughts on this? Should I give up on GMC for this site?
I’m just curious how you think this looks to the customer…
They go to Google looking for a product that is from a trustworthy merchant, who has stock in hand, who is a real business with employees, a warehouse, insurance, shipping department, customer service department, etc. Not someone who has no actual inventory and cannot do anything with the order. Not a dropshipper who is just an order router to someone else.
From a customer’s perspective, what would I look for in a verified and vetted merchant? Would I trust someone whose address is a city? Absolutely not. In no scenario would I ever pay more to get less. And that actually looks bad on Google. Probably why they have policies in place.
While I respect your opinion, I’m not sure having a warehouse is what makes a business real in today’s world. This merchant is a full-time firefighter selling concept shirts for firefighters, produced by another firefighter’s side business (which is the print shop). If they need to do all word-of-mouth marketing, that’s fine and given their network, I’m sure it will work out. I just want to know if there is no way to get this to work on GMC so I can stop trying.
In Google’s eyes, it pretty much is. That’s what separates GMC from other platforms. I can trust that the majority of merchants there. That’s what they aim for.
There are plenty of platforms for your dropshipping merchant. GMC is not one of them.
While you might be flagged for one issue, once you are flagged for any reason. When you request a review you need to resolve all possible reasons.
For example if you are purely a POD (print on demand) expect to get rejected. Google generally suspends these merchants unless you have a lot of positive reviews.
For example: There are no business details in the footer, make sure to add the business address in full, business hours. Currently the address seems to miss parts of the address. (I could be wrong on this one as I am expecting a street)
For example: Your contact page should have a contact form.
For example: Your add to cart button is too far down, it should be above the fold.
Thank you, @EmmanuelFlossie , this is a very helpful response. Thank you for confirming my suspicions. If and only when my client picks up his order of shirts from the printer to sell in person will we reconsider GMC with local inventory listed for POS sales.