Need Help Resolving Google Merchant Center Misrepresentation Issue

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A Shopify store owner is struggling with a persistent Google Merchant Center “Misrepresentation” suspension without specific guidance from Google on what’s wrong.

Steps Already Taken:

  • Corrected product issues and customized legal policies
  • Resolved related Google Ads suspension
  • Added personal address to store policies, contact page, and Merchant Center (concern: may be causing the issue)
  • Created then unlinked Google Business Profile after repeated disapprovals

Key Concerns:

  • Operating an online-only store with no physical location, using personal address
  • Recently added French/Spanish translations with some elements not translating correctly
  • Uncertain whether to recreate Google Business Profile

Community Suggestions:

  • Ensure reviews are from actual customer purchases
  • Add complete business details in footer with specific unit/apartment number (address appears too generic with multiple businesses listed)
  • Use email matching the website domain
  • Verify language in GMC matches website language
  • Avoid creating multiple Google Business Profiles (risks permanent ban)
  • Check if EAN codes are added to products (one user resolved their issue this way)

Status: Issue remains unresolved; another user reports experiencing the same problem for 7 months.

Summarized with AI on October 30. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi everyone,

Could someone please review my online-only store, Home Fads (www.homefads.net), and help me identify any mistakes or areas that might be triggering a misrepresentation issue with my Google Merchant Center account? Despite multiple attempts to resolve it, Google continues to flag my account for “Misrepresentation” without providing specific details on what’s wrong or how to fix it.

Here’s a summary of the steps I’ve taken so far and my concerns:

  1. Product & Policy Corrections: Corrected product issues, customized legal policies, and added a business email.
  2. Google Ads Suspension: Resolved a suspension which a Google advisor suggested might be related to the Merchant Center issue.
  3. Google Business Profile: Created and later unlinked a Google Business Profile after address issues and continued disapprovals. Since my store is online-only with no physical location, so I provided my personal address, but despite multiple corrections, Google continued to disapprove it.
  4. Address in Store: Added my personal address in the Google Merchant Center business information and across my store’s policies, contact page, and automated marketing emails. I’m concerned this might be causing the misrepresentation issue.

I’ve tried everything I can think of, but the problem persists. Your assistance is crucial to resolving this problem.

Thank you in advance for your help!

2

Make sure your reviews are real, meaning from sales made by a customer on the website.

Make sure to add your business details in the footer (address, email, business name, etc)

The address seems to be too generic, as there are multiple businesses at the same address, make sure to add your appartment number or unit number.

You may have more issues, so make sure to check:

https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150127?hl=en
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

3

Hi Emmanuel Flossie,

Thank you for your advice! I’ll review my address details and check the provided resources.

I have an additional concern: I recently submitted a new request to create a Google Business Profile but am still waiting for a reply. Since my store is online-only with no physical location, I’m worried this might be causing issues. From your experience, is it advisable to use my personal address on the website, and do you think this approach could work for the business profile as well? When Google first disapproved my business profile, they didn’t specify the reason, so I unlinked it from my Merchant Center and Ads accounts. Today, I removed it and created a new one with just the region (Canada), but I’m still uncertain. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Additionally, I recently added French and Spanish translations to my store and am encountering problems with some elements not translating correctly, including a strange text appearing below the footer when switching to Spanish. A Shopify support agent mentioned that there might be customizations in my theme’s coding affecting the storefront view for different geolocations. Do you think this translation issue could be impacting my Merchant Center account, and do you have any suggestions on how to address it?

Thanks again for your help!

4

Make sure to use an email address that matches the website.

For Google Business Profile questions, I recommend asking here: https://support.google.com/business/community?hl=en

Creating multiple accounts, may result in a permanent ban.

For translation issues, consider talking to the app or solution you are using.

Non matching langauges will indeed be an issue, make sure that the submitted language in GMC matches that of the website.

5

Thank you for your help!

6

Hi Layal- We’ve been experiencing the same issue for 7 months now! :disappointed_face: Did you end up resolving it or are still encountering this issue? I am also considering deleting our Google Business Profile.

7

…

8

Hi,

I had the same issue. I never added the EAN codes to the items, once I did this, I was accepted.

Regards