How to Configure Return and Refund Policies in Google Merchant Center

Return policies sit in two places for a Merchant Center store: on your website, where Google expects to find them, and inside Merchant Center, where you describe the same rules in a structured form. The second one is technically optional, but it’s what lets Google show your return terms next to your products.

This guide is the setup how-to. It covers planning your policies before you click anything, every field in the return policy form, exception policies with return_policy_label, what the policy status means, and how to keep your site, your markup and Merchant Center saying the same thing. If products are already flagged for a missing policy, start with how to fix missing return policy information instead.

Two return policies: the website page and the account setting

It helps to separate what’s required from what’s optional, because the two get mixed up constantly.

	Return policy on your website	Return policy in Merchant Center
Required?	Yes. Google’s Merchant Center guidelines require a return and refund policy on your site, stated even if you don’t accept returns	Optional, according to Google’s return policy documentation
What it does	Tells shoppers your terms and shows Google you meet its website requirements	Gives Google structured return details it can show on ads, free listings and in Gmail
Where it lives	A returns page, linked from places like your footer	Products & store > Shipping and returns > Return policies
What happens without it	Missing return or refund policies are a common reason for warnings and suspensions	Google may infer a policy from your site and show it with a “For most items” note

Google says showing return information on ads and listings may help performance. It’s a reasonable step for most stores, as long as the policy you enter is accurate.

What “For most items” means

If you haven’t uploaded a policy, Google may infer one from your website. That inferred policy can appear with a “For most items” notation. Uploading your own policy removes it, and Google says uploaded, verified policies take precedence over inferred ones.

Before you start: get the returns page right

The Merchant Center form asks for a return policy URL, and Google checks that your account settings match your site. So the page comes first. Google’s requirements for the policy on your website are:

• Clear and conspicuous. Shoppers should be able to find it without hunting.
• Covers general cases. It should describe returns for reasons like buyer’s remorse, not only defective or damaged items.
• Accessible without barriers. No login, sign-up or personal information should be needed to read it.
• Consistent everywhere. The same terms in Merchant Center and across your site, including the footer, the returns page and any banners.
• Specific. It should state the time frame, the return method and any fees.

A practical tip: pick one canonical returns page and link everything to it. Stores often end up with an old FAQ answer, a product page tab and a footer page that each say slightly different things. Search your own site for “return”, “refund” and “exchange” and clean up anything that conflicts before you set up the account side.

If the rest of your site still needs work, the Merchant Center website requirements checklist covers contact details, checkout and other policies.

Plan your policy structure

Most stores need one policy. Some need two or three. Decide this before you open the form, because the structure determines whether you’ll need to add labels to your product data. Google describes a few common patterns:

Pattern	When it fits	What you set up
One standard policy	The same terms apply to every product and every country you sell in	One policy for all products; no product data changes needed
Domestic plus international	You accept returns at home but not from abroad	A standard domestic policy, plus a separate policy for international countries that states no returns
Standard plus non-returnable exceptions	Some items can’t be returned, such as personal care products, safety equipment or customized and engraved items	A standard policy, plus an exception policy applied with return_policy_label
Standard plus a shorter window	Some items have a shorter return period, for example 30 days for most items and 14 days for others	A standard policy, plus an exception policy with the shorter window, applied by label

Write each policy out in a simple table before you start: countries, returns yes or no, exchanges, condition, window, method, fees and refund time. That draft becomes your checklist for the form and for the website text.

Step by step: add a return policy

1. In Merchant Center, go to Products & store > Shipping and returns and open Return policies. Choose Add return policy.
2. Return policy URL. Enter the page on your site that describes this policy.
3. Countries. Select the countries this policy covers.
4. Accept returns. Say whether you accept returns. If you don’t, the policy still needs to say so clearly on your site.
5. Exchanges. Say whether you accept exchanges.
6. Product condition. Specify the condition items must be in to be returned.
7. Return window. Enter the number of days shoppers have to return an item, and any return window extension you offer.
8. Return method. Describe how items are returned.
9. Currency, restocking fee and refund time. Set the currency, any restocking fee, and how long refunds take to process.
10. Save the policy, then repeat for any exception or international policies.

Menu labels can change. If something doesn’t match exactly, look for the return policies area inside Shipping and returns in your account.

Field-by-field: decisions and common slips

The form is short, but each field is a chance to contradict your website. This table pairs each field with the thing that most often goes wrong in practice.

Field	What to enter	Watch for
Return policy URL	The canonical returns page for this policy	Linking to a homepage, an FAQ, or a page behind a login
Countries	Every country where this policy applies	Leaving out a country you target in your product data
Accept returns / exchanges	Exactly what your site says	Saying yes in Merchant Center when the site says final sale
Product condition	The condition you require (for example, unused)	A stricter condition on the site than in the account
Return window	The day count shoppers have	Counting from delivery on the site but from purchase in your head
Return method	How shoppers send items back	Offering methods the site never mentions
Restocking fee	The fee, if any, in the right currency	A fee mentioned only in small print on the site
Refund processing time	How long refunds take	Quoting a best case your team can’t meet

Exceptions with return_policy_label

Return policies can apply to all products, to a group of products, or to a single product. The link between a product and a non-default policy is the return_policy_label attribute in your product data.

• One policy only: no product data change is needed. You can also name it “default”.
• Several policies: add a return_policy_label column to your product data and give each exception product the label of its policy.
• Blank or “default”: products with an empty label, or the value “default”, use the default policy.

Example

Product	return_policy_label	Policy used
Cotton T-shirt	(blank)	Default: 30-day returns
Engraved bracelet	final_sale	Exception: no returns on customized items
Bike helmet	final_sale	Exception: no returns on safety equipment
Wireless earbuds	short_window	Exception: 14-day returns

You can add labels in your platform, in the feed file, in a supplemental data source matched by product ID, or with attribute rules (for example, set the label when product type contains “Personalized”). Check spelling carefully: a label that doesn’t match a policy name won’t attach the policy you intended.

Each exception product also needs its own page to say the exception. If an engraved item is final sale, say so on that product page and in the returns policy, not only in Merchant Center.

Policy status: Verified, Pending, Rejected

After you save, each policy shows one of three statuses in Merchant Center: Verified, Pending or Rejected.

Status	What to do
Pending	Wait for the check to finish. Use the time to compare your site against the policy once more.
Verified	No action needed. Re-check whenever your returns terms change.
Rejected	Compare every field with your returns page, confirm the page is public and easy to find, fix the mismatch on whichever side is wrong, and resubmit.

The most common reason a policy and website disagree is a change made in one place and not the other. For a full diagnosis of rejected policies and missing return policy issues, use the return policy troubleshooting guide.

Keep the site, markup and Merchant Center aligned

Google can read return details from three places: your returns page, your Merchant Center settings, and structured data. They should all describe the same policy.

In Google Search Central’s merchant listing structured data documentation, return details are expressed with hasMerchantReturnPolicy on the Offer. Google recommends defining global return and shipping policies with Organization markup and using offer-level markup only to override them for specific products. If your theme or a plugin outputs return markup, check that its window and fees match the policy you entered in Merchant Center.

Platform notes

• Shopify: confirm your returns page is linked in the footer and that policy text in the theme matches your settings. See connecting Shopify to Merchant Center for how the app handles other settings.
• WooCommerce: check that the returns page isn’t hidden behind account pages and that any plugin-generated markup agrees with your policy. See connecting WooCommerce to Merchant Center.
• Feeds and APIs: if a feed tool writes return_policy_label, keep the label names in one shared list so they never drift from the policy names.

When your returns terms change

Holiday return extensions, new final-sale categories and fee changes are where consistency usually breaks. Treat a returns change as a small release:

1. Update the returns page first.
2. Update the footer, banners, product page tabs and FAQ answers that mention returns.
3. Update the matching Merchant Center policy the same day.
4. Update any structured data that hard-codes the window or fees.
5. Add or remove return_policy_label values for products that moved between policies.
6. Check the policy status a few days later, and note the change in your change log.

If you extend the window temporarily, Google’s form includes a return window extension field. Make sure the website states the same extension and when it ends.

When to get help

Returns setup is usually straightforward. It gets harder when you have several countries, many exception categories, or a policy that keeps getting rejected despite looking correct. Our Google Merchant Center service can review your policies against your site and product data. If missing policies are part of a warning or suspension, see Merchant Center suspension help.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Merchant Center Help: Set up return policies
• Google Merchant Center Help: Merchant Center guidelines
• Google Merchant Center Help: Fixing warnings and suspensions (Shopify Google & YouTube app)
• Google Merchant Center Help: Set up shipping settings for an entire account
• Google Merchant Center Help: Product data specification
• Google Merchant Center Help: Create a product data source
• Google Merchant Center Help: Set up your attribute rules
• Google Search Central: Merchant listing structured data

Last reviewed October 10, 2026 against the official documentation listed above. Google changes Merchant Center features and policies regularly — always confirm details in your own account.