We run a French B2B store on Shopify (professional display equipment, catalogue sourced from a European manufacturer, dropshipping model). We were suspended for Misrepresentation, and we have now exhausted all appeals every one rejected, including the last one, which we filed after identifying and applying the fix below.
Google never disclosed the specific signals, so we can’t be certain of the cause but we identified a strong technical candidate: our store is tax-exclusive (B2B), so the theme exposed VAT-exclusive prices in the machine-readable metadata (og:price + JSON-LD) while the feed was VAT-inclusive → a price mismatch on 65/65 product pages. Most plausible trigger we found, but unconfirmed by Google.
Since we couldn’t get the exact reason, we cleaned everything we could before our final appeal:
Metadata + structured data now VAT-inclusive, equal to the cent to the feed and on-screen price (154/154 feed rows match, 0 anomalies).
Removed every unverifiable claim (e.g. “500+ references”, “90% delivered in 2 days”).
Rewrote Shipping / Returns / Privacy / T&Cs on both the site and checkout, named the carrier, added clear business info; removed a duplicate product.
Filed a formal P2B complaint (EU Reg 2019/1150) with a full compliance report.
It was still refused final decision, account will not be reinstated, no reasoned grounds, and no confirmation the corrected site was ever re-reviewed.
My questions to anyone who’s been through this:
When Google won’t disclose the signals and rejects even a corrected site, how do you confirm you fixed the right thing?
Has anyone actually regained Shopping after a “final” suspension once they’d fixed a genuine issue?
Is the flag tied to the account or the domain? Does a fresh Merchant Center on the same domain ever work?
Anyone recovered by moving to a new domain? What separation was actually required (Google account, payment, legal entity)?
Did any escalation work a Google Ads rep, a Premier Partner, anything beyond standard support?
Happy to share the domain privately with anyone willing to look. Thanks.
The VAT mismatch you identified was a legitimate compliance issue.
For B2B Shopping listings targeting France, the VAT-inclusive price submitted in the feed should match the landing page and checkout, and the gross price should be displayed more prominently than the tax-exclusive price.
However, fixing a genuine price mismatch does not necessarily confirm that it was the only signal behind the suspension.
Misrepresentation reviews can consider the website, Merchant Center, associated accounts and external business information, not only the product feed.
I would strongly avoid creating a fresh Merchant Center account or moving to another domain at this stage.
Google specifically warns that creating another account for the same suspended business may result in the new account being suspended, while attempts to bypass the existing review can create an additional “abuse of network” issue.
The next useful step would be an independent forensic review covering more than the visible policy pages:
Legal identity consistency across every Google property
Domain and business history
Manufacturer or supplier relationship evidence
Product availability and fulfilment claims
Returns, delivery and customer-service execution
Feed, landing-page and checkout consistency
Structured data and rendered HTML
Linked Ads, payment, account and ownership signals
Any conflicting information indexed elsewhere online
Your VAT correction appears technically valid, but the final rejection alone cannot prove whether Google reviewed the corrected version or whether another account-level signal remains.
Checked your product pages from outside: the JSON-LD and og:price now carry the TTC price and it matches the visible gross price (107,88 € on the A1 stop-trottoir I sampled), so the fix really is live. With the appeals exhausted, the remaining channel is Merchant Center Help > Contact us while signed into the suspended account - ask for a policy specialist to re-review and attach before/after Rich Results Test screenshots. Also note each rejected review starts a cooldown, so do not keep resubmitting an unchanged request.
Thanks to everyone who replied. Closing the loop for other merchants who land on this thread.
Google’s final answer: the suspension is permanent, the account will not be reinstated, and there are no further reviews or appeals. On my two specific questions:
They will not disclose the specific signal(s) behind the Misrepresentation flag, nor confirm whether the corrected site was ever re-reviewed.
Opening a new Merchant Center for the same legal entity/domain is “not permitted” and would be treated as circumvention, with “no alternative path for this entity to regain access to Shopping.”
So: a registered business that found a real technical issue (VAT-exclusive structured data vs a VAT-inclusive feed), fixed it and verified it to the cent, and supplied company registration + supplier and customer invoices is permanently barred from Shopping, at the entity level, with no stated reason and no way to correct whatever (if anything) still fails.
For others going through this: with Misrepresentation, if the automated reviews don’t accept your fix, there may be no human path and no disclosed reason. Document everything, don’t waste your review attempts, and take a “final” decision literally.
If anyone has genuinely regained access after a final Misrepresentation suspension, I’d still like to hear what made the difference. Thanks.
Before I answer all questions, please note as you have maxed out your appeals, it means it’s a permanent ban. So nothing anyone says, will make any difference to the end result. Just an FYI, if someone sells you a service, it’s pointless. Sorry to be blunt, but honesty is what you need.
Nobody gets any info from Google, you are not singled out. You can’t confirm what exactly is correct. So the only way is to resolve all potential issues. This means extensively checking the policies and guides.
No, because Google as of writing doesn’t offer any further appeal options after the last appeal.
Nothing will work, you will be wasting your time and money.
That sounds like an incredibly frustrating situation, especially after you’ve made such a thorough effort to address every potential issue.
Based on what you’ve described, the VAT-inclusive pricing mismatch between your structured data and Merchant Center feed certainly sounds like a plausible trigger, but unfortunately Google rarely confirms the exact reason for a misrepresentation suspension, which makes it difficult to know whether you’ve fixed the root cause or only one contributing factor.
I’ve seen merchants recover after resolving genuine compliance issues, but it often depends on whether the account is still eligible for review. Once a final suspension has been issued, recoveries seem to be much less commmon. Creating a new Merchant Center account on the same domain without google’s approval is generally not recommended, as the suspension mmay be associated with both the account and the website, and attemmpting to circumvent enforcement could lead to further issues.
If anyoone haere has successfully recovered from a final misrepresentation suspension, I’d also be interested to hear what ultimmately made the difference. Whether it was a successful escalation a complete site review, or another approach beyond the standard sppeal process.
Hello there @afficheo.fr
Misrepresentation suspensions are hard to navigate as Google looks at the many trust signals at the store level, feed level, and business details level. From your approach of keeping structured data, policies, pricing, and claims aligned, you are moving in the right direction. Prior to thinking about a new domain, check for consistency in all information facing the customer including contact info, supplier transparency and the checkout proccess. Recording everything can also be helpful if a second reconsideration request is around the corner. A neat, uniform store front is generally the strongest way to go.