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Using Buy on Google, you can ship directly from your warehouse or central shipping hub. Buy on Google shipping policies are intended to ensure timely updates and positive customer experiences. This article outlines the policies to be followed when shipping products to your customers. Learn more about Buy on Google
For more information on how to set up shipping, skip to how to set up your shipping and taxes.
Requirements
Choose shipping services with short transit times
10 days is the maximum transit time allowed in the settings.
However, we strongly recommend aiming for a lower transit time in accordance with your carrier contract as this can be a decisive purchase factor for users. Learn more about estimated delivery time
Handling time
4 days is the maximum handling time allowed in the settings.
We however strongly recommend having a shorter handling time. This time will be added to your overall shipping time and may represent a serious brake on your customers’ purchase decision.
Tracking numbers
When you mark your products as shipped, you must provide a valid tracking number to the customer within 1 day of shipment. This number must provide end-to-end tracking, from the original handoff to the carrier until delivery to the customer.
Supported carriers
US:
cxt
deliv
dhl
dynamex
ecourier
efw
emsy
fedex
google
gsx
lasership
mpx
ont
ontrac
uds
ups
usps
France:
boxtal
bpost
chronopost
colis prive
colissimo
DB Schenker
dhl express
dpd
geodis
gls
la poste
tnt
ups
Second line in shipping addresses
Your shipping settings will need to support a second addressee line - for information such as company names, building names, or hotel names. This is to prevent order cancellation due to too many characters in the recipient field.
Packaging recommendations (US only)
Follow these recommendations when packaging your orders:
- If the customer is not on your marketing list, don't provide marketing inserts in packages.
Packing slips
To ensure a positive customer experience, all packing slip information should include:
- Google order ID
- URL to access order details and initiate returns: shopping.google.com/orders
- Google Customer Service contact: support.google.com/googleshopping/contactflow
To avoid customer confusion or misinformation, less comprehensive packing slips should not include:
- Price information
- Return instructions that direct customers to contact the retailer
- Retailer customer support information
Note: If you are unable to update the above information on your packing slips, you can send shipments without including any packing slip at all, but this is not recommended.
Shipping books in France
When an order shipping in France contains books, Google will make sure that at least 0.01EUR is charged for each order.
Unsupported shipping options
The following shipping options are not supported with Buy on Google purchases:
- Additional shipping information or freight deliveries: Google can't collect information from customers regarding the need for scheduled deliveries, liftgates, white glove service, or other recipient-specific differentiation. Products that need to be shipped by freight are not supported.
- Dynamic shipping costs: Google can't support shipping costs that change dynamically based on the origin of the shipment, or costs that differ based on residential or commercial delivery addresses. Likewise, membership-based shipping pricing (for example, ShopRunner) is not supported.
- Curbside delivery (US only): Google does not currently support the curbside delivery of products purchased through Buy on Google.
- Unsupported delivery destinations:
- US: Google does not currently support delivery to PO boxes, APO/FPO boxes, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico.
- France: Monaco and French overseas territories (DOM TOM).
Understanding estimated delivery date
Sell directly on Google: Best Practices Episode 1: Calculating the estimated delivery date
Estimated delivery date is the “arrives by” date that customers are shown when checking out. This value is calculated as “maximum handling days + maximum transit days.” Estimated delivery date is calculated using days, and also takes order cutoff time into account.
Here is an example of what estimated delivery date might look like with the settings below in Merchant Center:
Order placed after the cut-off of 3 p.m. EST
0 - 1 handling days
3 - 5 transit days
Minimum estimated delivery date: 7 calendar days |
Maximum estimated delivery date: 9 calendar days | ||||
Day of order | Day of week | Status | Day of order | Day of week | Status |
Day 1 | Wednesday | Order placed | Day 1 | Wednesday | Order placed |
Day 2 | Thursday | Handing time | Day 2 | Thursday | Handing time |
Day 3 | Friday | Transit time | Day 3 | Friday | Transit time |
Day 4 | Saturday | No action | Day 4 | Saturday | No action |
Day 5 | Sunday | No action | Day 5 | Sunday | No action |
Day 6 | Monday | Transit time (including Delivery day) | Day 6 | Monday | Transit time |
Day 7 | Tuesday | Transit time | Day 7 | Tuesday | Transit time |
Day 8 | Wednesday | Delivery day | Day 8 | Wednesday | Transit time |
Day 9 | Thursday | Transit time | |||
Day 10 | Friday | Delivery day |
Need help? Click hereto contact Buy on Google support.