Shipping policy requirements for Google Merchant Center
By Terry Ecom · Last reviewed 2026-08-31 · Source: Google Merchant Center Help
The audit asks for an explicit shipping policy link. The editorial requirements ask that a customer can actually use what is on it. Most stores satisfy the first and fail the second.
What Google published
The website audit for Misrepresentation and “Website needs improvement” lists explicit links to shipping, refund and privacy policies. The fully-functional-store article names shipping information as a page a site must contain.
Editorial requirements treat incomplete or hard-to-understand business information — including shipping — as a problem in its own right, not just a missing link.
The facts the page has to state
Scout reads the shipping policy for the operational values a shopper needs before they commit:
- Shipping cost — a rate, a threshold for free shipping, or a stated method of calculation.
- Delivery timeframe — processing time plus transit, not just “fast dispatch”.
- Countries you ship to.
- Order cutoff time, where same-day or next-day dispatch is advertised.
The “calculated at checkout” problem
Real rates genuinely do depend on the basket and the destination, so a live calculator is not a violation by itself. The gap is when the calculator is the only answer that exists anywhere — no range, no free-shipping threshold, no indication of cost until the shopper has filled in an address.
Give a range or a threshold on the policy page and let checkout compute the exact figure. That satisfies “a customer can act on this” without pretending to a single flat rate you do not have.
What GMC Scout flags
Missing shipping policy, then missing shipping cost, missing delivery timeframe, missing shipping countries and missing order cutoff as separate checks. Each one is a distinct finding, so a policy page that exists but states no terms fails on several lines rather than passing on one.
Scout reads the published storefront. It does not price a basket, does not run a test order, and cannot verify that the rates shown at checkout match the policy page.
FAQ
Is “calculated at checkout” a policy violation?
Google does not publish that phrase as a violation, and we will not claim it is one. What the editorial requirements ask is that shipping information be usable. A range or a free-shipping threshold on the page, with checkout computing the exact rate, meets that.
Do I need per-country rates on the page?
No published rule requires a full rate table. It does need to be clear which countries you ship to and roughly what shipping costs — a blank on both is the gap.
I offer free shipping everywhere. Am I done?
Say so explicitly on the shipping policy, and still state a delivery timeframe. Free shipping with no stated dispatch or transit time is a timeframe gap, not a cost gap.
Sources
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