Best practice guide for optimizing shipping and return configuration

How to Use Regional Pricing & Shipping in Merchant Center

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High-level overview of shipping and return features

When you add your products to Merchant Center, you’ll also provide information about how much you charge for shipping and how long it takes for customers to receive their orders. Your shipping settings are used across Google, including ads and free listings.

Shipping speed and cost are two of the most common reasons why customers abandon their carts, so you’ll want to make sure your shipping settings are accurate and up to date. When you provide your product data, you can also choose to include your return and refund policies. A clear return policy is a key factor for customers making a purchasing decision, and showing your policies on your ads, free listings, and Gmail can help improve the performance of your products.

This article provides best practices for setting up your shipping and return configurations, covering everything from carrier-based shipping costs and speeds to free shipping thresholds and return policies.

Benefits of optimizing shipping and return settings

Reduce product disapproval: Showing accurate costs can prevent your products from being disapproved.
Reduced cart abandonment: Fast and accurate shipping information reduces the chances of customers abandoning their carts due to unexpected costs or long delivery times.
Increased click-through rates: Customers prioritize shipping information when making online purchases. Displaying clear details can increase your click-through rates.
Improve product visibility: Annotations like “Fast and free shipping” and ”Same-day delivery” can make your products stand out on search results pages.

Best practices for Shipping configuration

For product-level shipping settings

Use the shipping attribute to specify shipping speed and cost for individual products. This attribute is useful for overriding account-level shipping settings when necessary, such as for bulky or fragile products.
Include all relevant shipping charges. This includes charges for shipping, delivery, handling, logistics, or the carrier.

For account level shipping settings

Set up shipping settings at the account level first. This creates a baseline for shipping costs and speeds for all of your products.
Ensure that shipping rates in Merchant Center match those on your online store. This helps avoid inaccurate shipping cost warnings or product disapprovals.
Use a supplemental data source to add the Shipping label[shipping_label]attribute to group products for each country you sell products in. The Item IDs must be identical to the primary data source.
If you use weight-based shipping services, add the Shipping weight [shipping_weight]attribute to each product in the data source.
If a product's weight exceeds the supported value for a particular shipping service, use the Shipping label [shipping_label]attribute to configure alternative shipping rates.
Overestimate shipping costs if you can't provide an exact amount. Matching or slightly overestimating the cost customers will pay is recommended. However, excessive overestimation may negatively impact product performance.
Submit a shipping price in the currency of the country you sell products in, according to ISO 4217. For example, submit $1.01 USD instead of $1.0012 USD.
Avoid submitting conflicting information if the shipping attribute is submitted multiple times (for example, avoid submitting two different prices for the same region or service class).

Leverage helpful tools for shipping configuration

Carrier-based shipping cost and speed

Who should use: Businesses that sell products in AU, DE, UK, and US can use carrier-based shipping costs. Businesses that sell products in US, DE, and FR can use carrier-based shipping speeds. This is ideal if you partner with carriers to get real-time shipping costs and delivery times based on the customer's location and the product's weight and dimensions.

When to use: When you configure shipping settings at the account level in Merchant Center and want Google to calculate your shipping speeds based on your carrier.

Learn more on how to setup carrier based shipping cost.

Learn more on how to setup carrier based shipping speed.

Set free shipping thresholds

Who should use: Businesses that offer free shipping on certain products or on orders over a minimum amount. For example, if you set the threshold to 100 USD, orders over 100 USD will ship for free, while orders under 100 USD will be charged the standard shipping rate.

When to use: If you set up shipping settings at the account level, you can configure free shipping over a certain amount by creating a shipping rate table. If you use the shipping [shipping] attribute to display product-level shipping information, use the free shipping threshold [free_shipping_threshold] attribute to indicate the order cost required for free shipping

Regional shipping and collection points

Who should use: Businesses that sell products in the US, DE, FR, IN, JP, BR, CA, AU, NZ, and GB. Use this if your products have different shipping costs or speeds based on the customer's location.

When to use:

You want to prevent shipping to particular regions, such as Hawaii and Alaska in the US.
You want to show competitive, location-specific shipping options to customers.
You want to allow customers to pick up their orders from designated collection points for added convenience and lower shipping costs (available in select European countries and the UK).

Link your partner account

Who should use: Businesses selling in the US, businesses that use ShipStation, or businesses that want to integrate with shipping partners to provide accurate order tracking data. Doing so can improve shipping speed calculations and your eligibility for fast and free shipping annotations.

Best practices for return configuration

Set clear return policies

Ensure your return policy is accessible to all customers visiting your online store without requiring them to log in, sign up, or enter any personal information.
Confirm that the return policies in Merchant Center match the policies on your online store. They should also be displayed consistently across your online store, including in the footer, returns page, and web banners.
Your return policy URL should be a dedicated page, not combined with FAQs, terms, or privacy policies.
Clearly state how you handle returns and refunds, including the timeframe for accepting returns, return methods, and return fees.
After updating your return policy in Merchant Center, wait for the system to review the new policy, which may take up to 10 business days.

Additional tips

Consider offering free returns to enhance customer satisfaction and reduce the risk of cart abandonment. Extending your return period beyond the standard 30 days provides customers with ample time to make a decision and builds trust.

Pitfalls to avoid when setting up shipping and return

Common shipping issues

Inaccurate shipping costs: If the shipping costs in Merchant Center are lower than those shown on your online store during checkout, it can lead to an account warning or suspension. Always update your product data in Merchant Center whenever you change shipping costs on your online store.
Mismatched shipping currency: If the currency of the shipping costs does not match the currency of the products, those products may be disapproved.
Missing shipping weight attributes: When using a weight-based shipping service, the shipping_weight attribute is required in the data source for each product. If it’s missing, the products may be disapproved.
Shopify shipping sync issues: Changes to shipping settings in Shopify may not always sync correctly to Merchant Center, refer to Shipping best practices (for Shopify users) to learn more.

Common return issues

Mismatched return policies: Discrepancies between the return information in Merchant Center and your online store can result in the rejection of your return policy. For instance, if your online store's policy states a 25% restocking fee for canceled orders, your Merchant Center policy must reflect this exact fee.
Combined return policy URLs: Your return policy must be a separate landing page so the system can properly recognize it. Do not bury it within your FAQs or terms and privacy pages.
Missing details: Even if the return policy matches your online store, it might be rejected if crucial details are missing. Clearly outline your timeframe for accepting returns, return methods, and return fees.
Improper return window: Ensure you have established a clear return window in your Merchant Center return policy settings.

Opportunities to show relevant annotations

Fast and free Annotations: Display "fast and free" badges on eligible products that meet Google's shipping speed and cost requirements. Learn more about free and fast shipping.

Same-day or next-day delivery annotations: Showcase same-day delivery options for physical and online stores by setting up same-day delivery shipping services in Merchant Center.

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