Home / Merchant Center issues
Merchant Center issues, explained
One guide per message: what it means, what Google's help pages say, what usually causes it on a store's website, and how to fix it. Checked against Google's pages on 2026-10-08.
Website and landing page messages · Price and currency messages · Suspensions
Policy and account suspensions
MisrepresentationAccount-levelUnacceptable business practicesAccount-levelDishonest pricing and transaction conditionsAccount-levelMisleading or unrealistic promotionsItem-levelInadequate data securityAccount-levelAccount suspension caused by policy violationsAccount-levelPrice mismatch (abuse of network)Account-level
Website and landing pages
These messages look alike. Find the exact wording you see in Merchant Center, then open its guide.
| Message in Merchant Center | Level | What it means | Can a website scan help? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website needs improvement | Account | It covers store websites that are not fully functional, lack business-specific content, give unclear information, or show incomplete product details. | Yes |
| Site inaccessible | Account | It applies when landing pages or the site domain are not accessible to customers or do not host your product pages. | Yes |
| Login required | Account | Google flags sites that force registration or sign-in just to browse products or see prices, sites with pop-ups or interstitials that block... | Yes |
| Users cannot complete purchase | Account | It covers stores where shoppers in the target country cannot easily complete a purchase, for example broken Add to Cart, Buy Now or checkout... | Yes |
| No products on website | Account | Google suspends accounts when the submitted website domain is determined to be parked, showing only ads and links, or when the page shoppers land... | Yes |
| Generic or dysfunctional landing pages | Account | Google warns or suspends accounts when product links go to a generic page instead of a page dedicated to that product. | Yes |
| Unavailable desktop landing page | Item | Google could not access the landing page submitted for desktop, so it may not be accessible to shoppers either. | Yes |
| Unavailable mobile landing page | Item | Google could not access the mobile landing page when crawling with a mobile user agent. | Yes |
| Product page unavailable | Item | A landing page submitted via link, link_template or mobile_link cannot be accessed by Google. | Yes |
| Landing page not working | Account | Google says none of your landing pages should fail to load or be under construction, and items should not lead to pages returning 4xx or 5xx... | Yes |
| Unable to view online store | Account | Google reports that landing pages cannot load on multiple browsers in all locations. | Yes |
| Unable to check product pages | Item | Google cannot crawl the landing page because robots.txt forbids its crawler or the page returns an HTTP error. | Yes |
| Mobile page not crawlable due to robots.txt | Item | robots.txt forbids Google's crawler from downloading the landing page when crawling with a mobile user agent, which stops Google's automated... | Yes |
Business identity and contact details
Insufficient contact informationAccount-levelOnline store URL not verifiedAccount-levelVerify your business details to restore full visibilityAccount-levelMismatched domainsItem-level
Shipping and returns
Missing return and refund policyAccount-levelMissing shipping costsItem-levelInaccurate shipping costsAccount-level
Prices, availability and product data
Price and currency messages
Price messages differ in where Google saw the mismatch (landing page, structured data, checkout) and whether it's an item or the whole account.
| Message in Merchant Center | Level | What it means | Can a website scan help? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mismatched product price | Item | Googlebot crawls landing pages and compares the price in your product data with the price on the page or in structured data. | Yes |
| Inaccurate prices | Account | Account warning or suspension when prices on checkout pages are higher than prices on the product landing pages. | Yes |
| Mismatched strikethrough price (page crawl) | Item | When the pricing shown on the website differs from the price or sale_price in product data, Google discards the original price and does not show... | Yes |
| Not performing automatic item updates for price | Account | Google stops automatic item updates for all products when a site's microdata is incorrect or there is a large-scale mismatch between microdata (or... | Yes |
| Price mismatch (abuse of network) | Account | Google suspends an account for a price mismatch when it detects the account bypassed a review, for example by sharply cutting the product count... | No |
| Missing product price | Item | A product has no valid price attribute. | Partly |
| Inconsistent currency between your product data and your website | Account | Account warning or suspension when the currency in product data does not match the landing pages. | Yes |
Availability, identifiers and images
Mismatched product availabilityItem-levelInaccurate availability status due to inconsistency between feed and landing pageAccount-levelPreemptive item disapprovalItem-levelMissing or incorrect GTINItem-levelMissing brandItem-levelMissing availabilityItem-levelGeneric placeholder imageItem-level
Also about prices, listed under policy: Price mismatch (abuse of network).