"Users cannot complete purchase" in Merchant Center: what it means and how to fix it

Not quite the wording you see? Compare the look-alike landing page messages.

What it usually looks like on a store

On a real store the purchase breaks where a shopper would notice: an Add to Cart button that does nothing because a theme script failed, a cart page that errors, a checkout that rejects addresses in the target country, or required company and VAT fields an ordinary buyer can't fill in. Google's reviewer stops at the same point.

What Google says

Part of Google's Editorial and professional requirements. It covers stores where shoppers in the target country cannot easily complete a purchase, for example broken Add to Cart, Buy Now or checkout buttons, or checkout forms that demand non-standard details such as a business registration number or VAT ID. Google's checkout requirements also say individuals must be able to buy and business fields must be optional. Google's separate Checkout incomplete warning covers the same ground: the site has to let anyone buy online through an approved payment method, without errors, and confirm the order with an estimated delivery date.

Websites that prevent shoppers in the designated country from completing a transaction with ease, or those that lack fundamental checkout capabilities.Google, Editorial and professional requirements

Your website must provide a way for customers to purchase the products you advertise through an approved online payment service.Google, How to fix: Checkout incomplete warning/suspension

The "Add to Cart", "Buy Now", or checkout buttons are broken, unresponsive, or lead to error pages.Google, Editorial and professional requirements

business-related fields, such as "company name" or "company ID number," must be optional.Google, Checkout requirements and best practices

Also seen as: "Checkout incomplete warning/suspension", "Checkout incomplete".

How to fix it

Based on Google's help pages, in plain language:

1. Open product pages, select Add to cart and go through checkout, looking for fields that accept values but can't be filled in or a Next button that can't be clicked.
2. Test the cart and checkout pipeline across popular devices so it is fully functional.
3. Remove non-essential checkout fields such as business registration numbers or VAT IDs for standard purchases.
4. Make sure standard fields work for all valid IP addresses in the target country.
5. Make sure the payment methods named on your informational pages are available at checkout, and let shoppers buy online rather than only request a quote.
6. Don't make newsletter or promotion sign-up a required step, and let shoppers edit their cart without starting over.
7. Show a confirmation page with an estimated delivery date once the purchase is complete.

What to check on your website

These are the checks we run that relate to this issue. A problem in any of them can be enough on its own.

• Customers can buy: Product pages have a working add-to-cart or buy button and the cart page loads securely.
• Payment methods shown: Accepted payment methods are visible before checkout.
• Broken links in your menus: Links in your header and footer lead to real pages, not 404 errors.

Requesting a review

Google says that once technical fixes are live, a small ad edit or selecting Appeal starts a fresh crawl that usually finishes within 24 to 48 hours. Depending on the violation there may be extra verification steps and a limit on how many reviews can be requested.

Questions

Sources

• support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150244
• support.google.com/merchants/answer/9158778
• support.google.com/merchants/answer/6363310
• support.google.com/merchants/answer/10249082

Checked against Google's help pages on 2026-10-08. Listvane is an independent tool made by Great Work LLC. It isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google. Google and Google Merchant Center are trademarks of Google LLC.