This guide is for merchants who are setting up Google Merchant Center for the first time, or fixing a notice about missing shipping or returns information. By the end you’ll have shipping policies with delivery times, at least one return policy and a way to keep both matching your website. Google Merchant Center shipping settings work as trust signals: shoppers can see them on your listings, and they should say the same thing as your site.
In Google Merchant Center, open Products & store and select Shipping and returns. On the Shipping policies tab, add a shipping policy with costs and delivery times[1][2]. Then add a return policy under Shipping and returns, with a URL that works without a login[3]. Make sure every figure matches your website.
Prerequisites: a Merchant Center account you can edit, your current shipping rates, your carrier lead times and your published returns page open in another tab. Having the website in front of you matters, because the whole job is copying its facts accurately.
Why shipping and returns must match your website
Google asks for shipping costs on Shopping ads and free listings in a list of countries that includes the UK, US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland. The guidance is to match your site’s costs or overestimate them[4]. It also asks that your return policy is consistent between Merchant Center and your website[3].
When the two disagree, a shopper sees one price on Google and another at checkout. That’s a trust problem, and it can feed into wider account issues. If you’re already seeing a trust-related warning, read https://oxfordimpulse.com/fix-google-merchant-center-misrepresentation-error/ alongside this guide.
Tip
Before you touch any setting, write down your real shipping rates, free-shipping threshold, handling time and returns terms from your website. Use that list as the single source of truth.
Step 1: Find the shipping settings
- Sign in to Google Merchant Center.
- Open Products & store in the left menu.
- Select Shipping and returns.
- Go to the Shipping policies tab and select Add shipping policy[1].
Good to know
Some Google help pages call this tab Shipping info, and the menu names can vary by account. If you can’t see one, look for the other.
You can create up to 20 shipping policies per country[1]. That’s plenty for most stores. Common reasons to have more than one are different rates for standard and express, or for oversized items.
Step 2: Set your shipping costs
Name the policy something you’ll recognise later, such as “UK standard” or “US free over threshold”. Choose the country it applies to, then define the rate.
Carrier-calculated rates exist only in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US[1]. Everywhere else, you’ll set your own rates. Whichever you use, keep the cost as close as possible to what your website charges[1].
Common mistakes at this step:
- Entering £0 because “shipping is included”. If your site charges for delivery on small baskets, £0 is wrong. Enter the free-shipping rule only if the website has the same rule.
- Forgetting a country. Shipping costs are required in a list of countries that includes the UK and Ireland[4], so if you sell to Ireland and only set up the UK, products there can be flagged for missing shipping information. That gap is one likely reason behind the “no shipping” and “missing shipping” notices people search for.
- Underestimating. If your rates vary by weight or region, Google’s guidance is to match or overestimate, not undercut[4].
Watch out
Shipping set on a product, with a price, overrides your account-level settings[1][4]. If one product shows a strange cost, check its shipping attribute in the feed before blaming the policy.
Step 3: Add delivery times
This part is easy to skip, but it’s what feeds the estimated delivery time shown to shoppers. In the policy, choose Enter specific delivery times manually[2]. You’ll be asked for two numbers, both in business days:
- Handling time: how long you take to process an order before it ships.
- Transit time: how long the carrier takes to deliver it.
Google works out the estimated delivery date by adding your maximum handling days to your maximum transit days[2]. So if you promise 1 to 2 days handling and 2 to 4 days transit, the latest date shown reflects 6 business days.
Next, set your cut-off time, the hour after which orders count as the next day. If you leave it blank, Google uses 8:00 a.m. PST by default[2]. For a London warehouse that may not match your real cut-off, so enter your own.
Common mistake: using your best case. If your site says “2 to 4 days” but carriers regularly take 5, put the honest figure in both places and update the site wording to match.
Step 4: Add your return policy
- In Merchant Center, go to Shipping and returns, then Return policies.
- Select Add return policy[3].
- Enter the details Google asks for: the policy URL, the countries it covers, the return window, the return method, any restocking fee and the refund time[3].
- Save.
Google may show your return policy on ads, listings and in Gmail[3], so it’s worth adding for the shopper confidence alone.
Two details trip people up. First, the policy URL must be accessible without logging in[3]. A returns page hidden behind an account area fails that test. Second, the terms in Merchant Center must be consistent with what the page says[3]. If your page offers 30 days and you enter 14, fix one of them today.
Tip
If you have just one policy, use “default” as the return_policy_label[3]. You only need other labels when different products have different rules.
Step 5: Decide on product-level returns
The returns attribute in your feed is optional for each product but highly recommended[5]. You can attach up to 100 return policy overrides to a single offer[5]. It’s especially useful for items with different terms, such as final-sale clearance or made-to-order goods.
Step 6: Check for Search Console conflicts
If you’ve also set shipping and return policies in Google Search Console, those settings take precedence over your website’s, and they aren’t migrated from Search Console[6]. In practice, that means you can end up with two sets of values that disagree. Open both, compare them with your website and remove or update the ones that are out of date.
Step 7: Check everything against the live site
- Add a product to the basket on your site, using a delivery address in each country you’ve set up. Note the shipping cost.
- Compare it with the policy in Merchant Center for that country.
- Open your returns page in a private window. Confirm the window, fees and refund time match what you entered.
- In Merchant Center, check your products for shipping or return issues and open any flagged item.
- Look again later. Changes to settings don’t always show up instantly.
Whenever your carrier, rates or returns terms change, update the website and Merchant Center on the same day. A common cause of mismatches is changing one without the other.
Pre-submission checklist
Once these basics are stable, the rest of your account is easier to manage. More guides are collected at https://oxfordimpulse.com/google-merchant-center/ and if you’d like a second pair of eyes on your setup, Oxford Impulse can review it with you.
FAQs
Where are the Google Merchant Center shipping settings?
Open Products & store, then Shipping and returns, go to the Shipping policies tab and select Add shipping policy[1]. Some help pages call the tab Shipping info, so the name may vary in your account.
Why does Google Merchant Center say there’s no shipping?
Often no shipping policy covers the country the product is being shown in, or the product has no applicable rate. Add a policy for each country you sell to and check the product’s shipping attribute in your feed.
How many shipping policies can I create?
You can create up to 20 shipping policies per country[1]. Most stores need only a few, such as standard, express and free shipping.
What are handling time and transit time?
Handling time is the business days you need to process an order before it ships. Transit time is the business days the carrier takes to deliver it[2].
How does Google work out the delivery date?
It adds your maximum handling days to your maximum transit days[2]. The cut-off time decides which day the count starts from.
What is the default cut-off time if I leave it blank?
Google uses 8:00 a.m. PST[2]. Enter your own cut-off so the estimates reflect when your team actually dispatches.
Can I use carrier-calculated shipping rates?
Only in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US[1]. In other countries you set your own rates.
Why should I add a return policy in Merchant Center?
What should the return_policy_label be?
If you have a single return policy, use “default”[3]. Use other labels only when different products follow different return rules.
Do Search Console shipping settings override my website?
Yes. Shipping and return settings in Search Console take precedence over your website’s, and they aren’t migrated from Search Console[6]. Review both places and make them match your site.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help: Set up shipping settings for an entire account support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Set up estimated delivery time support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Set up your return policies for Shopping ads and free listings support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Shipping [shipping] support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Returns [returns] support.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help: Modify Search Console shipping and return policies support.google.com
