Merchant Center misrepresentation suspension fix – causes, checks and re-review

Misrepresentation, disapprovals and warnings: know which one you have

Merchant Center problems fall into two levels. Misrepresentation is an account-level issue: Google has decided that the store as a whole could mislead shoppers. While it lasts, every product is removed from Shopping ads and free listings.

• Account suspension: shown at the top of the dashboard or in notifications, with the policy name. It needs a review of the entire site
• Product disapproval: shown next to individual items as "Disapproved" or "Limited". Causes include price mismatches, GTINs, images and shipping, and fixing the item clears it
• Warning with a deadline: an issue that turns into a disapproval or suspension if it is not fixed by the date shown. Acting early limits the impact

Google rarely explains exactly why a store was judged as misrepresentation, so the practical approach is to work through every likely cause. Start by checking the issue type in the dashboard and confirming whether it sits at account or product level.

What makes a store look risky to the review

The review asks a simple question: can a first-time visitor tell whether it is safe to buy here? These gaps are the most common triggers for a suspension.

• No company name, address, phone number or email – or different details on different pages
• No return or refund terms, shipping costs or delivery times anywhere on the site
• A missing or half-empty Specified Commercial Transactions Act page (tokushoho)
• Discount claims such as "up to 90% off" or "today only" with nothing to back them up
• Product photos and descriptions copied from other sellers, with little original information
• Errors in the cart or checkout, unclear payment methods, or no working SSL

Open your shop as a customer would and check that the operator, the prices and the return terms are each one or two clicks away.

Store checklist before you request a review

To lift an account suspension, fix the site first and request the review second. For a store selling in Japan, cover the following.

• Business details: an About or Company page with the legal name, address and contact details, linked from the footer of every page
• Tokushoho page: seller, responsible person, address, phone, prices, shipping fees, payment methods and timing, delivery timing and return conditions
• Return and refund policy: the return window, who pays return shipping and how refunds are made – matching the return settings in Merchant Center
• Shipping and delivery times: fees by region and the free-shipping threshold on the site, matching the shipping settings in Merchant Center
• Privacy policy and terms: how personal data is handled and the conditions of sale, written for how your shop really works
• Accurate claims: original prices and claims like "No.1" backed by evidence, in line with Japan's Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations

Requirements under Japanese consumer law are updated from time to time, so check the latest guidance from the Consumer Affairs Agency as well. Shopify has settings for policies and contact information, and BASE has a field for the tokushoho page – make sure none of them are left blank or full of default text on the live store.

How to fix disapproved products and feed errors

Product-level disapprovals each have a fairly standard fix:

• Price mismatch: the feed price differs from the tax-inclusive price on the product page. Sale prices that were never updated and a mix of tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive prices are the usual causes
• Availability mismatch: the site says sold out while the feed says in stock. Increase how often the feed updates
• Missing or wrong GTIN: products with a manufacturer barcode (JAN code in Japan) need it as the GTIN. For your own products without one, set the attribute that says no identifier exists
• Image problems: overlaid text or logos, watermarks, borders and placeholder images get rejected. Replace them with clear photos of the product
• Missing shipping: no shipping settings, or the country you sell to is not covered. Add fees and delivery times
• Landing page errors: product pages that return 404, require a login or send people to a different item

Once the corrected data is fetched again, items are re-reviewed, which can take a few days. For feed basics and shipping settings, see our guide to Google Merchant Center setup.

Requesting a review after a suspension

When the site and feed are fixed, request a review from the dashboard. Repeated rejected requests can lead to a waiting period before you are allowed to ask again, so it pays to finish the fixes first.

• 1. Record what you changed: list the URLs you edited and what changed, so follow-up questions are easy to answer
• 2. Check the store is fully public: remove password protection or maintenance pages and confirm you can reach checkout on a phone
• 3. Request the review: send it from the issue details page. A decision usually takes a few days to about a week
• 4. Act on the result: if it is rejected, find what is still missing before trying again

Avoid opening a new account to get around the suspension. Google can treat it as circumventing its policies. If your Google Ads account is the one suspended, the process is different – see Google Ads account suspended.

How UNANOBO helps: a free demo of a store that earns trust

Send us your shop's URL and UNANOBO builds a free demo of your store structure with the business details, tokushoho page, returns and shipping pages in place. You see on real screens which pages need to change.

After the demo you get a plan and estimate covering the site fixes, the feed and shipping settings, and the steps to re-review. The founder handles every project personally – from the first demo to running Google Shopping ads once you are back – and everything runs by message in Japanese or English. Your Merchant Center and ad accounts stay in your name.