Your Shopify store is suspended on Google Merchant Center. Here's the fix checklist.

A Merchant Center suspension cuts off your Shopping ads and free listings, and the notice is usually frustratingly vague. Don't panic-appeal — work this checklist first. Fixing the underlying issues before you request a review is what actually gets stores back.

1. Read the suspension reason (then assume it's incomplete)

Open Merchant Center and note the stated policy — most often “Misrepresentation”, sometimes a specific policy like prohibited content. Google rarely lists every issue, so treat the named reason as a starting point, not the full list.

2. Fix the high-impact trust signals

• Contact info — add a Contact page with a monitored email (and phone/address if you can), linked in your footer. This is the most common cause.
• Refund/return policy — add a clear, accurate one (Shopify: Settings → Policies), plus privacy, shipping and terms.
• About page — add a real description of your business and who runs it.
• Secure checkout — Shopify already serves your store over HTTPS, so this box is usually ticked.

3. Clean the catalog

• Remove any counterfeit/“replica/dupe” products and that wording — it's the top prohibited category.
• Remove or exclude restricted items (weapons, recreational drugs, tobacco/vaping, adult, unapproved pharma).
• Fix price & availability mismatches — sold-out items still showing as available, or fake “compare-at” discounts.
• Add images and fuller descriptions to thin product listings.

4. Remove deceptive UX

Turn off fake countdown timers, untrue “only X left” scarcity, and guaranteed-results/get-rich-quick claims. These are classic Misrepresentation triggers and are often added by other apps.

5. Request a review — once, properly

1. Only after you've fixed the items above (premature re-requests can extend cooldowns).
2. In Merchant Center, open the flagged account/product issue and choose Request review.
3. Be specific and honest about exactly what you changed.
4. If it's an account-level Misrepresentation suspension, expect it to take time — possibly more than one cycle.

The honest part

No app or agency can guarantee reinstatement — Google's review decision is theirs alone. Anyone promising a guaranteed unban is selling you something. What works is genuinely meeting Google's requirements, then asking for a fair review. That's exactly what this checklist (and Merchant Guard) helps you do.

Independent tool by Wigley Studios — not affiliated with Google, and unable to see Google's private review decision or guarantee reinstatement.