Google has updated the Google Merchant Center pricing policies for September. The changes include updates in the merchant fees, government charges, import and export costs, regional and installment pricing, price mismatches and automated updates.
This update was spotted earlier by Emmanuel Flossie who posted about it on his blog and LinkedIn.
As he said, "Google has updated its Merchant Center policies to clarify how import and export costs must be handled."
Now you will "need to either include these costs in your product price or clearly disclose them on your website (such as in your shipping policy). Government-imposed charges like duties or taxes that customers pay directly should not be added to your feed price or shipping attributes. This change is all about transparency, making sure shoppers know upfront what they’ll pay and avoiding surprises at checkout," he summarized.
Here is the short version:
(1) Merchants must now disclose merchant-imposed fees, such as service, processing, activation, or handling charges, in the shipping attribute or settings, provided they are allowed by law in that region.
(2) Government-imposed charges (e.g., mandatory taxes or duties) must not be included in either the price or shipping attributes.
(3) Regional Availability & Pricing (RAAP) feature, previously limited to select countries, is now available to a much wider list, covering dozens of nations including Thailand, Vietnam, India, Brazil, UAE, and more.
(4) New attribute guidelines include that Installment pricing and energy-efficiency attributes fall under the [certification] attribute.
Plus a lot more - Emmanual also posted this video:
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
