Merchant center misrepresentation, Ads suspension, I am completely stuck and have no options

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A merchant faces complete suspension from both Google Merchant Center (GMC) and Google Ads after making pricing changes to their Shopify store. The timeline began with a domain added to GMC in 2023, followed by a second WooCommerce store added as a subaccount in April 2025.

Key trigger: In September 2025, they changed the first store’s pricing display from “Normal Price and Reduced Price” to showing only “Reduced Price,” which may have triggered a misrepresentation violation four days later.

Failed recovery attempts:

  • Revised legal pages and return policies
  • Disabled and attempted to reconnect product feed (now impossible due to suspension)
  • Manually added products to GMC
  • Rebuilt legal pages and payment module information

Current deadlock: Google’s support system creates a circular dependency—GMC support requires resolving the Ads suspension first, while Ads support demands fixing the GMC issue. Only automated responses are received.

Desired outcome: The merchant is willing to permanently delete the first store to save their Google Ads account and second store (currently showing “limited” status, likely due to the linked suspensions).

Status: Unresolved, seeking community advice on breaking the support loop and salvaging the second store.

Summarized with AI on October 23. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I am completely stuck and have no options.

Google blocked all my Merchant Center IDs and then Google Ads. I made some changes, some were probably wrong. The problem got worse, now I can’t do anything at all, and Google only sends me automated answers to all my questions. Now I can’t even ask questions.

History:
In 2023 I added my domain to Merchant Center. It was 2 years without problems. (Shopify store, product feed via Google App & Youtube).
In 2025 in April I added the 2nd store to GMC. Added via Woocommerce Plugin as a subaccount. This store sells approximately the same products but with a different pricing strategy and target customers.

On September 5, 2025 I made a change to the first store. I changed the price display policy from Normal Price and Reduced Price to just one price: I left only Reduced Price on the website.
(Could this be a reason)

After 4 days I received a suspension (Misrepresentation) for the first store.
I did some checks and changed some details through the legal pages, I redid the return policy, I checked the details in GMC to be identical to those on the website.
I asked for a review, the answer was that the problem still exists.

I panicked, I disabled the product feed from Shopify APP. All products in GMC disappeared. The Google Ads account was disconnected from GMC. I tried to reconnect the Product Feed, but it is no longer possible because the account is suspended. I manually added 2 products to GMC.
I read everything I could read about this topic, I rebuilt the legal pages again, I checked the information in the card payment module. All essential information about my business is transparently present in the header, in the footer and on the Merchant Center.
I asked for a review again, again I received a response that the problem exists.

The legal pages were created with the “pages” template but Shopify also has a “polices” page section. The information was duplicated on these pages. I deleted all the legal pages with the “pages” template and left only the special Shopify pages with “polices”.
I can request the next review on October 23rd. It is probably the last one. Anyway, I have no idea what else to do.

At this point I don’t think I can solve this problem. I’m willing to permanently delete this domain (store). I want to save my Google Ads account. I want to give up the first store and be able to operate with the second. The second store has the products in “limited” status but I suspect this is due to problems in the above account for the first store and the suspension of Google Ads.
Anyway, I don’t know what would happen if I permanently deleted the first store from GMC and then requested a review for Google Ads (any ideas?)

Right now, if I want to contact Google for GMC (for any reason) it gives me the only option to resolve the Google Ads suspension first. If I want to contact Google Ads for any reason it tells me I need to resolve the GMC suspension. It’s hilarious.

How do I save the second store and Google Ads?

I never intended to misrepresent. I can’t understand why Google treats these situations so badly.

If anyone can help me, I’m willing to discuss any options.

My store: https://x365.ro/

3

Can anyone help me with some advice here?

What happens if I have a suspended Merchant Center account for which appeal attempts have failed and it is permanently suspended?

What happens to the Google Ads account that is also suspended because of the Merchant Center account?
I can’t run campaigns even though I have other active Merchant Center accounts that are not having issues. I can’t write to Google Help because any attempt stops with the statement: you must first resolve the account suspension before you can request help.

It’s illogical and frustrating.

4

Google found that your listings violated their policies. You appealed several times, without success. Now your account is permanently suspended. Creating a new account is NOT advisable, especially since you were unable to change the violations. So it sounds like the only avenue for you is to find a different platform.

5

Creating a new store is not the solution, as you can imagine, if creating a new store was the solution there would be little point in Google suspending you in the first place.

When Google says first fix Google Ads, that is incorrect, you need to first resolve the Google Merchant Center Suspension, and using the original first website, and the original first account.

Have a look at the guides and policies below:

6

What do you mean when you say another platform? Google has a monopoly, there is no alternative :frowning:
However, it is not normal that you cannot solve a problem of this kind, I repeat it is not an intentional misrepresentation, it is probably an error or a mistake that I cannot find. It is about a business, it is about a person’s investment in time and money to get here. How does Google allow itself to treat such a situation with such indifference?

7

Believe me I have read all Google policies several times. I have changed all the policy pages on the website. I have updated everything that could be updated. At this point I think that the problem that triggered the suspension is not only related to this website and the Merchant Center account. Is it possible that it is a complaint from a customer? (what can be done in this case?) Another possible problem: I bought a domain that was previously used by another company. The problems started shortly after I added that domain to the Merchant Center account. I later deleted it from the Merchant Center (although I don’t know if it was the cause). Or is it possible that it was a Google cross-check that found a mismatch (by mistake) between the company’s data on various platforms: Google/Facebook/Stripe/WooCommerce/Shipify? The conclusion is: can I talk to a human at Google to whom I can explain that I have no bad intentions and I need help to identify the problem and be able to explain it? I am willing to pay, but the question is, can you find out what the problem is that triggered the suspension?

8

The last thing I want is to be able to lift the suspension on my Google Ads account.

Permanently suspending my Ads account means that I will never again be able to use Google for advertising in my life, because that’s where my personal and company data is, and I understand that any new account I create will reach the point where I will have to declare that data again, at which point Google will block it again (am I right?)

9

Really! I’m flattered you have read my guides and videos. Sad to hear nothing I shared has helped you.

Suspensions are always related to 3 or 4 main areas. This is related to the business (and you), the website, google merchant center UI setting and the data feed.

If you have received a customer complaint, it will only be related to copyright or trademark infringements. Also known as counterfeit goods. So if that was the case, you would have specifically received that specific violation, and not a misrepresentation only.

Google Merchant Center has very strict policies.

No, you will find no luck talking to Google, you can try, but I doubt you will get any meaningfull response.

Nobody can find the exact reason why you are suspended, only Google knows this. The only thing I do for my clients is find all possible reasons, then when the client resolves these, the chances of getting approved is higher.

10

The problems started 2 months ago (after 2 years in which I had no problems). There were probably over 25 nights I didn’t sleep. I even read a lot and watched a lot of videos.

I don’t know if it’s fixable. I made several changes later, I deleted a Merchant account that wasn’t suspended.
On the suspended account (Shopify feed) I deleted the feed.
In Merchant Center I added 2 products manually (I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a feed or product data issue).
I deleted all the products from the store except for the 2 that remained in Merchant Center.
I rewrote all the policy pages from 0.
I rewrote all the information in the merchant center.

I don’t know if these actions were good or did more harm. I don’t know how Google interprets this when it does checks.

I don’t think I can solve it myself anymore, maybe I have a problem understanding/interpreting Google’s terms. I need an expert. What should I do next so that we can try to solve it together?

11

Well think of it like this. From their perspective: It’s not their job to tell a merchant what to correct. They get all kinds of scammers trying to weasel onto the Shopping Tab. But they have an image to uphold. That’s why they’re so strict.

No copying. No lying. No misleading. Just honest, truthful, and physical sales. Because that’s what GMC is intended for. Physical retail stores. It just so happens that they have changed their policies to be more relaxed on requiring physical stock. A lot of Shopify merchants get caught up on that one. They think because it’s not a hard requirement that they can copy/paste and dropship from china and basically lie. And that’s when they get suspended. Not saying that’s you. But you said you deleted all but 2 products. I am wondering what your site looked like pre-suspension.

1 Like
12

Hey @user2196

I am going through the exact same ordeal with Google right now. I saw that your forum is recent so I thought I would create an account to reply to you. My investment group recently acquired a manufacturing company and we spent thousands building 2 websites with different specialities for this company to sell products.

Both the websites got suspended within a few weeks for misrepresentation.

My advice is to create an extremely detailed misrepresentation appeal. You should go through each point in the misrepresentation with a fine toothed comb in your appeal and provide screenshots and evidence (i.e. wording from your policies) to show how you comply.

Apparently google also likes to see evidence of changes that you have made in order to comply with their policy. In order to comply, we made as many changes as possible to ensure that we are super clear in our policies, that we have our contact details plastered wherever possible, that our menu has super clear navigation, etc.

It might be that there are discrepancies between your website and google merchant (for example if your website says you ship only to the UK but MC says international shipping is available).

As Google does not give any specifics you must basically detail everything.

You should submit your document to Google (usually there is a contact option through MC). When MC has replied to me it has been from the email address shopping-support@google.com and I have managed to have some dialogue here. You should of course quote your account number.

Another avenue is to try and contact google through your google ads platform, usually you can get a response more easily here. At first I just got an automated email, then I replied asking for an actual human. In the end I did get a person, though it still seemed like an automated email.

Using the above method I managed to get one of my sites suspensions overturned.

For the other site, I used all 3 of my appeals, and can no longer appeal through MC.

After this I got back in touch via google ads and sent them my comprehensive document which shows I have gone through the policy and addressed all possible points that they have thrown at me.

Today, google ads emailed me back saying they have passed my case onto a specialist team and will get back to me within 7 days. Maybe we will be lucky….

One other point to mention is that our 2 websites are both “trading as” meaning the website name is not the same as the ltd company name. That meant in our appeal I sent a letter on our limited company’s letter-headed paper saying that the websites are approved trading names of the limited company. This was signed in ink by the director to show it is legit, and I included docs from companies house to show he is a director. Maybe it will help (though of course we have no idea if the problem is related to this issue specifically due to Google’s lack of ability to give any specifics whatsoever).

I hope this helps. There are lots of companies out there who can help you craft your appeal, though not all are cheap. If you can afford it, it is probably best to explore this avenue before submitting your final appeal.

Keep fighting the good fight.

14

Thank you for your detailed message.
Were you successful with your last call? Or have you not received a response yet?

The situation with the company (legal organization) and the domain or domains confuses me too. I couldn’t find this information specifically, does Google want you to add the legal name from the documents to “Company Name”, i.e. “ltd company name”? Example: my company name (legal/fiscal) is Meta Systems SRL and the online store has the domain x365.ro. So, in “Company name” in Merchant Center i added: x365. There is confusion here. I checked other large stores in my country and they did the same as me, they declared the domain there because it appears in Google Shopping ads.

And yes, I also have 2 domains (stores) that both sell under the company that owns them (Meta Systems). I don’t know if Google has a problem with that.