About shipping policies for Shopping Actions

Using Shopping Actions, you can ship directly from your warehouse or central shipping hub. Shopping Actions 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 Shopping Actions

For more information on how to set up shipping, skip to how to set up your shipping and taxes.

Note: You may only participate in Shopping Actions if the shipping services for your website are compatible with those of the program. Your configured shipping settings must apply to all offers on your website, including those you offer through Shopping Actions. If you don't have a website or any type of e-commerce, you may still be able to participate in Shopping Actions. Learn more about Shopping Actions integration

Requirements

Choose shipping services with short transit times

For your shipping services to be considered valid, the transit time should not exceed 10 days.

Handling time

Make sure that your handling times do not exceed 4 days. This will help you to remain competitive. Aim for a total interval of no more than 2 weeks between order placement and delivery. Don’t include inventory items with longer handling times in Shopping Actions.

Note: The maximum handling time for all products submitted for Shopping Actions is 4 days. Any products submitted with handling times greater than 4 days will not be shown on Google Express or other Google platforms.

Additionally, orders that aren't shipped within 3 days of your handling time may be canceled automatically. For example, if you have a handling time of 2 days, and you don’t ship your orders within 5 days from when they are placed, they will be cancelled. To ensure a good customer experience, make sure your handling times are accurate.

Tracking numbers

When you mark your items as shipped you must provide a valid tracking number to the customer within 1 day of shipment.

Supported carriers

UPS
USPS
FedEx
DHL
eCourier
CXT
OnTrac
Emsy
Ont
Deliv
Dynamex
Lasership
MPX
UDS

Packaging recommendations

Follow these recommendations when packaging your Google Express orders:

Avoid using branded packaging materials. The only acceptable branding will be either your company's name/logo, or the Google Express brand.
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: https://express.google.com/orders
Google Customer Service contact: https://support.google.com/express/contact/contact_us

To avoid customer confusion or misinformation, less comprehensive packing slips should not include:

Price information
Return instructions that direct customers to contact the merchant
Merchant 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.

Unsupported shipping options

The following shipping options are not supported with Shopping Actions purchases:

Additional shipping information, freight, or less than load (LTL) deliveries: Google can't collect information from customers regarding the need for scheduled deliveries, liftgates, white glove service, or other recipient-specific differentiation. Items that need to be shipped by freight or LTL 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.
Signature required: Google does not currently support the shipping of items that require a signature, such as alcoholic beverages.
Curbside delivery: Google does not currently support the curbside delivery of items purchased through Shopping Actions.
Unsupported delivery destinations: Google does not currently support delivery to PO boxes, APO/FPO boxes, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico.

Understanding 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 business 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	Status		Day	Status
Day 1	Wednesday	Order placed	Day 1	Wednesday	Order placed
Day 2	Thursday	Handling time	Day 2	Thursday	Handling 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	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

If a customer places an order at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday, at checkout, they’ll see “arrives by the following Friday.” Since the customer missed the daily order cutoff, the delivery estimate doesn’t begin calculating until the following business day. Then, Shopping Actions uses the maximum handling and delivery range to calculate the arrival date (not including weekends or holidays). Keep in mind that while Merchant Center will show you a range of delivery days, the customer will see the ten-day estimate to account for any potential issues that arise during processing and shipping.