How to Add Shipping & Returns Policy Information via Google Search Console?

While shopping, people want to know the total price for the products they're purchasing. Shipping speed, cost, and return policy are major factors considered by shoppers when buying products online.

However, configuring shipping and returns was a challenge for some merchants, and it was a potential opportunity to provide information your digital audience.

In 2023, Google started supporting product-level shipping and return markup; they have recently added markup support for specifying a general return policy for your business instead of having to define one for each individual product you sell.

Now Google has made it more easier to add your shipping or return information directly in Google Search Console.

How to Add Add Shipping and Return Policy Data in Google Search Console?

As we are going to access Google Search Console, make sure you're logged in to proper Google Account having relevant eCommerce property, where you can follow below steps.

Note: This is not rolled out for all at the moment, slowly you'll get access to it.        

Open Google Search Console, scroll down to left bottom side panel, click on Settings or click here to land on Settings page directly.

Settings??> Shopping > Shipping and returns.        

Policy details you can add and edit in Google Search Console include:

• Delivery time
• Shipping cost
• Return window
• Return cost

Required Access

• You must be an owner or a full user of the GSC property
• Your property must needs to be associated with a Merchant Center account to set shipping and return information.

Add, edit, or delete policies in Search Console

If you’ve associated your site with Merchant Center, you can check the status of a policy, and add, edit, or delete a policy in GSC.?

Note: Shipping and return policies created or edited in Merchant Center won’t be available in Search Console, and can only be managed in Merchant Center.        

Steps to Add Shipping Policies in GSC

1. Open the Settings page for your Search Console property.?
2. Under Shopping choose Shipping and returns.
3. Choose the Shipping tab and click Add shipping policy.
4. Select the country this policy applies to.
5. Add delivery times—this is a minimum and maximum number of days it should take an item to reach your customer.
6. Set up your shipping costs. Options include a flat rate (assign a currency to match the country in step 4), free over a certain amount, free, or other.
7. Click Submit.?
8. Repeat these steps for each country you ship to.

Steps to Add Return Policies in GSC

1. Open the Settings page for your Search Console property.?
2. Under Shopping choose Shipping and returns.
3. Choose the Returns tab and click Add return policy.
4. Select the country this policy applies to.
5. Enter the return policy URL—the web address where customers can read your return policy.
6. Enter the return window. Choose the number of days customers have to make a return or no returns.
7. Set up your return cost. Options include a flat rate (assign a currency to match the country in step 4), free returns, or a percentage of the product price. (Additional return options and restrictions can be set up in Merchant Center).?
8. Click Submit.?
9. Repeat these steps for each country you ship to.

Steps to Edit or Delete Shipping or Return Policies in GSC

1. Open the Settings page for your Search Console property.?
2. Under Shopping choose Shipping and returns.
3. Click the ?(more?icon) for the policy you’d like to modify and choose Edit or Delete.
4. If editing, follow the dialog prompts. If deleting, you policy will be deleting immediately

Shipping details are automatically approved. Return policies are manually verified and can take about 10-13 days. Once you’ve successfully submitted your return policy details, they’ll be marked as “pending” until Google verifies them.        

Learn more about modifying shipping and returns policies on Merchant Center and the range of other options available on Merchant Center.

Best Practices

To keep your policies useful and current, consider these best practices when adding shipping and return information in Google Search Console:

• Use clear and concise descriptions for your shipping and return policies.
• Provide accurate and up-to-date information to avoid customer confusion.

Note: Double check that there's an exact match between the shipping costs you submit to Google and shipping costs displayed on your website. To make sure customers don’t find a higher shipping cost on your website after clicking your Google listing, a listing might be rejected if Google finds a lower shipping cost on your listing than on your website.        

• Regularly review and update your policies as needed to ensure that they reflect the latest information.

Who is this for?

This is helpful for eCommerce Digital Marketers. Adding this piece of information will help your potential customers and envy your competitors.

Share this with your team who manages Google Merchant Center and/or Google Search Console. There might be chances same team would not be managing both, in such case teams can collaborate and have it added once the access is received.

Alternative (Technical approach):

I've managed to achieve this schema markup earlier using JSON-LD via Google Tag Manager (GTM) and on one of the Next.js platform creating a dynamic script with the help of dev team.

I hope you find this helpful.