Does a Compare-At Price Trigger Merchant Center Misrepresentation?

The compare-at price is the crossed-out "was" price on a Shopify product. Google's help page on syncing Shopify sale prices says how it travels. It only works through the Google & YouTube app on Shopify, with its Automatic Product Sync setting turned on. Then your original price goes in Compare-at price and your sale price goes in Price. The compare-at price has to be higher, or no sale shows. Google says the new prices land within 24 hours of saving.

Your product feed is the list of products and prices Google reads. In that feed, your compare-at price becomes the normal price, and your Shopify Price becomes the sale price, which Google stores in a field called sale_price. Google's sale price page sets four rules. The sale price must be lower than the normal price. It must match what the product page and checkout show. The product page must show both prices, and checkout only the sale price. And you keep sending the full price while the sale runs.

Google also suggests sending the sale dates in a field called sale_price_effective_date. Without it, the sale price counts right away.

None of that is a misrepresentation risk. It is a normal sale, and Google built a field for it.

Google's misrepresentation policy has a type called dishonest pricing and transaction conditions. It bans "pricing practices that create a false or misleading impression of the cost of a product". Google calls that type egregious. Egregious means the account can be suspended on detection, with no warning first.

The policy does not name compare-at prices, RRP or strikethroughs. So we will not tell you the exact signal Google uses. It does not publish one. But a "was" price you never charged is a false impression of the cost. That is the plain reading.

The common case is the supplier RRP. That is the recommended retail price, the price a supplier suggests shops charge. A Shopify Community thread from November 2024 shows the problem. A store owner said the gap between the old and new price was the wholesaler's RRP and their own price. A community expert replied that you cannot show RRP as your own price, because that is misleading. We agree. An RRP is fine to mention as the supplier's price. It is not fine as your own crossed-out price if you never sold at it. Then it does not belong in Compare-at price.

Google already checks your price history before it shows a sale. Its page on sale price annotations sets the rules for the crossed-out price and sale badge. The discount must be more than 5% and less than 90%. Both prices must be on the product page.

Then comes the history. Take Shopping ads in the United States. You must have charged the base price on 5 of the past 30 days, or 15 of the past 200 days. Twelve other markets, including the UK, Germany, France, Canada and Australia, need 30 of the past 200 days. Google adds that the badge is never guaranteed, even when you meet the rules.

Missing those rules does not suspend you. Google just skips the badge. But it shows what Google counts as a real old price: one you actually charged.

This is not only a Google rule. In the EU, Article 6a of the Price Indication Directive covers the price cuts you announce. The European Commission's guidance defines the prior price. It is the lowest price you charged in at least the 30 days before the cut. Earlier sale prices in that window count too.

In the US, the FTC's guide on former price comparisons says the same thing in older words. A former price is fair if you offered it to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period. If you inflated it just to show a big cut, the FTC calls the bargain a false one.

This is not legal advice. Check the rules for each market you sell in. The safe habit works everywhere, though. Only show an old price you really charged, and clear it when the sale ends.

Our longer guide on fixing a misrepresentation suspension covers the review steps, on the ZenoX blog. Want someone to look over your prices and feed? Post them in our free Google Ads eCom Lab on Skool. It has 1,600+ members and a weekly Google Ads question thread. We run it, so weigh that. Spending at least €10K a month on ads? Then our team can run the account for you through our Google Ads dropshipping service.