Google forcing FAKE Shipping Times and Return Policies onto all Ecommerce SERPs? How to urgently combat it?

Howdy all. I've learned Google is displaying a shipping time and return window snippet in e-commerce queries underneath the description -- both on category pages and product pages.

The issue is, there's no code in the store that's telling Google to do this. The shipping time and return policy in the Google SERP are completely fake. From what I've seen, Google assembled it by cherry-picking minimum & maximum times from random products all over the site, and a return window from the return policy.

They do this even if different products and categories have completely different shipping and return policies.

What's more, the fake shipping details display under a product category page that has no specific shipping details. I mean nowhere in the HTML source.

I don't know what to say about this. It's deceptive, to say the least. It would affect ALL e-commerce sites.

To combat it, my questions are:
1. How would Google respond if I was to insert shipping times and return policies in both the page body and schema across all product and category pages?
2. In the event we don't want any such snippet, how do we completely prevent Google from displaying shipping times and return policies in SERPs? Even though including them helps with CTR, I can understand if some clients wouldn't want it at all -- the information is misleading.

Screenshot for example:
Google SERP showing an e-commerce result with 3-7 day delivery and 30-day returns
 
Wow, thank you for bringing this up ... it looks like it can cause problems.

Can I first address the issue outside of what Google is doing? I've years of experience in the mail order industry. Before Google existed.

But before I do ...

insert shipping times and return policies in both the page body and schema across all product and category pages?

... yes, insert the shipping times and return policy onto pages, and schema. Using category pages for default time frames and product pages to reflect differences.

Mail Order Industry Implied terms and conditions

In my jurisdiction, I'm under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), and there are implied terms, time frames, and warranties for products being shipped. Banks further define the time frames, "codified as reasonable," in their policies for chargebacks.

Disclaimer: I'm not an attorney and do not offer legal advice. I'm offering marketing advice.

  1. Anything not labeled as, "as is," has an implied warrant to do what the advertisement copy says and if it does not can be returned, (for replacement or refund depending), in a reasonable amount of time, (the bank considers 30 days as reasonable). Restocking fees must be expressed in marketing materials for the bank to take the merchant's side.
  2. Shipping, the bank considers products not received in 30 days as grounds for a chargeback. The bank wants customers to be advised of backorders if they are not going to receive the product in 30 days, and may consider a merchant as risky for failing to advise. Restocking fees on backorders must be expressed in marketing materials for the bank to take the merchant's side. A verbal on a backorder can not be proven to the bank if contested it needs to be in writing.
Again, I'm not an attorney some policies may be recalled policies and not legal truths.

Google

If Google is looking for implied data ... unless the information exists I don't believe it would be considered misleading, unless a layman can look at the pages and say Google was wrong. Ya cherry-picking is a bad idea on Google's side ... may cause problems, but customers may have also been cherry-picking for implied policies, which is worse.

It is a wake-up call that the information needs to be published on the site. Because people may hold the site to their unrealistic expectations, and their bank may side with them.

Google is not helping the merchants by trying to find implied data and express it as an explicit statement.

If a customer has questions they can ask and they may not ask if Google expresses it as an explicit statement. Not everything is shipped in 3-7 days ... In my mail-order experience, orders before noon are shipped the same day ... everything else in stock is shipped the next business day (Friday to Monday being four days not counting holidays)... and items in transit from suppliers are 7-14 days with 5 days being normal but worse case with delays 14 days. And well within the bank's 30-day window, for the customer to have it in their hands.
 
This is so helpful. Thank you for the comprehensive reply.

This customer is in the United States so they do fall under the UCC.

On this store, some items are ready-to-ship and have a return policy, while others are completely made-to-order and have a no-return policy. For custom items, shipping times can vary wildly among items in the same category.

I agree with avoiding unrealistic expectations.

Due to the variance in shipping times, do you suggest putting a generic statement like "shipping times vary, please view each product" -- and the actual shipping times can be stated in the schema under that category page?
Wow, thank you for bringing this up ... it looks like it can cause problems.

Can I first address the issue outside of what Google is doing? I've years of experience in the mail order industry. Before Google existed.

But before I do ...



... yes, insert the shipping times and return policy onto pages, and schema. Using category pages for default time frames and product pages to reflect differences.

Mail Order Industry Implied terms and conditions

In my jurisdiction, I'm under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), and there are implied terms, time frames, and warranties for products being shipped. Banks further define the time frames, "codified as reasonable," in their policies for chargebacks.

Disclaimer: I'm not an attorney and do not offer legal advice. I'm offering marketing advice.

  1. Anything not labeled as, "as is," has an implied warrant to do what the advertisement copy says and if it does not can be returned, (for replacement or refund depending), in a reasonable amount of time, (the bank considers 30 days as reasonable). Restocking fees must be expressed in marketing materials for the bank to take the merchant's side.
  2. Shipping, the bank considers products not received in 30 days as grounds for a chargeback. The bank wants customers to be advised of backorders if they are not going to receive the product in 30 days, and may consider a merchant as risky for failing to advise. Restocking fees on backorders must be expressed in marketing materials for the bank to take the merchant's side. A verbal on a backorder can not be proven to the bank if contested it needs to be in writing.
Again, I'm not an attorney some policies may be recalled policies and not legal truths.

Google

If Google is looking for implied data ... unless the information exists I don't believe it would be considered misleading, unless a layman can look at the pages and say Google was wrong. Ya cherry-picking is a bad idea on Google's side ... may cause problems, but customers may have also been cherry-picking for implied policies, which is worse.

It is a wake-up call that the information needs to be published on the site. Because people may hold the site to their unrealistic expectations, and their bank may side with them.

Google is not helping the merchants by trying to find implied data and express it as an explicit statement.

If a customer has questions they can ask and they may not ask if Google expresses it as an explicit statement. Not everything is shipped in 3-7 days ... In my mail-order experience, orders before noon are shipped the same day ... everything else in stock is shipped the next business day (Friday to Monday being four days not counting holidays)... and items in transit from suppliers are 7-14 days with 5 days being normal but worse case with delays 14 days. And well within the bank's 30-day window, for the customer to have it in their hands.
 
Thank you, I was worried I might be misunderstood,

On this store, some items are ready-to-ship and have a return policy, while others are completely made-to-order and have a no-return policy. For custom items, shipping times can vary wildly among items in the same category.

Ya, things customized (for example silk-screened painting) can not really be resold so they can not be refunded, only repaired if not functioning. In my experience, the bank may be willing to recharge a back charge or the restocking fee and not fault the merchant when the wording is clear, but if the customer back charges a second time the bank will not, (can not), engage in collections. Rather banks weed out customers who abuse the chargeback systems as risky.

Due to the variance in shipping times, do you suggest putting a generic statement like "shipping times vary, please view each product" -- and the actual shipping times can be stated in the schema under that category page?

If the product schema has the actual shipping, (and it is reflected on the page), Google should use the schema. Adding "shipping times vary, please view each product," would be useful for customer expectations. However, since some items are ready to ship. I would like to suggest some A/B word testing -- Maybe "Items in stock are ready to ship, customized items vary in shipping, please see details for each product" -- to test if it affects conversion rates.
 
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That is some good advice. Anyway a customer can get confused, a customer will get confused.

"Funnel friction" can occur showing shipping warnings prior to product presentation. Sequencing messaging in a way that is intuitive to the customer might be beneficial.
 
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