Invalid returns policy URL

What Google requires

A valid, on-domain, reachable policy page

The policy URL must start http:// or https://, use only forward slashes and no spaces or stray symbols, and comply with the URL RFCs. It has to sit on the same domain as your products, be reachable, and link to the exact return policy for the product rather than an FAQ or an interstitial page. Google's stated cause for Invalid returns policy URL is a policy_url whose domain does not match the domain of your products.

What Google does

The policy is not applied and the default can take over

A URL on a mismatched domain, or one that does not resolve to a real return policy page, invalidates the policy, and Google can fall back to your default. The returns detail shoppers see is then not the one you meant to publish, quieter than a disapproval and just as costly.

How to fix it by hand

Give it an absolute, on-domain URL

• Use a full https:// URL on the same domain as your products, reachable without a login.
• Point it at the exact return policy page, not an FAQ or a terms page.
• Keep to forward slashes and encode the address; avoid backslashes, spaces and stray symbols.

What FeedMender checks today

Two checks apply, read from the scanner's registry

Two format checks, partial coverage. return_policy_url_invalid confirms that the value in the return_policy_url input field FeedMender reads begins with http:// or https://. returns_policy_url does the same for the policy_url inside a per-policy override in the returns attribute. Both check only the scheme.

• return_policy_url_invalidblocks
• returns_policy_urlblocks

What the scan does not check today: whether the URL's domain matches your product domain (Google's stated cause of this issue), whether the URL is reachable, the page it leads to, or the account's return settings. FeedMender confirms the scheme, nothing more.

The quicker way

Let the scan read the URL

Run the free scan and it flags every returns policy URL that is not absolute, in either field. The scan to identify errors is free and shows every finding before you pay anything. You only pay for the fix.

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