Restricted Products On Google Shopping
Though Google Shopping provides all sorts of Product Ads, it never serves anything which is inappropriate as per Google’s ‘family safe’ criteria. Those items which fail to qualify are entered in Google Shopping’s ‘Restricted Products and Services’ list. Items like weapons, tobacco, medicine, or products which are related to gambling and health care (among others) fall in this category:
* Note: Alcohol restrictions vary by country.
On reading the list, for some items, it becomes crystal clear why they are categorized as restricted, (certainly no one wants to see people buying Pandas on Google Shopping). But for some categories like Alcohol & Tobacco, the reason doesn’t seem that obvious right-away, especially when they were allowed on Google Product Search.
Hence, note that, if a shopper searches for any of these restricted categories – suppose wine or alcohol – no restricted product appears, all they see is the list of related products.
(The Moscato link provided above under the ‘Searches related to wine’ leads the shopper to products like moscato glasses, wine stoppers and similar products; not wine!) Note that some of the products from the restricted list like wheelchairs and other supplement items are still available on Google Shopping, but to buy them one may need authenticated approval from a doctor.
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