What is MerchantReturnPolicy in Schema.org?

Your store already has a return policy: a page with deadlines, conditions and who pays return shipping. MerchantReturnPolicy is that same policy written in structured data, with a closed vocabulary a machine can read without interpreting sentences. It is a Schema.org type. It does not replace your returns page: it summarizes the policy for a search engine. It matters because, according to Google, with this markup Search can show your return policy next to your products and in knowledge panels.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

How it works

Schema.org defines MerchantReturnPolicy as the information about product return policies associated with an organization, a product or an offer.⁠^{[2]Schema.org. MerchantReturnPolicy} Google simplifies those three options into two levels. The store's general policy goes on the organization node, with the hasMerchantReturnPolicy property, and Google recommends putting it on a single page of your site that describes your return policy: there is no need to repeat it on all of them. A specific product's goes on its offer, only when that product has different terms, and it supports fewer properties than the organization's.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data} The Organization entry shows where the general one hangs, and the Offer entry, where a product's goes.

That split is recent. Google has supported the policy at the organization level since June 11, 2024; on June 10, 2025 it gave it a documentation page of its own; and on July 11, 2025 it clarified that an offer's policy supports only some of the properties and that the general policy has to go on the organization node.⁠^{[3]Google Search Central. Latest documentation updates}

For Google there are two ways to meet the requirements. The first is to give the country where the policy applies (applicableCountry, as a two-letter code, up to 50 countries) and its type (returnPolicyCategory), which has three values: limited window (MerchantReturnFiniteReturnWindow, which also requires merchantReturnDays, the days since delivery), returns not permitted (MerchantReturnNotPermitted) and unlimited window (MerchantReturnUnlimitedWindow). The second is to give only the link to the page that describes the policy, with merchantReturnLink, whether it is yours or that of a service that handles your returns.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

The rest are recommended, and they are what make the markup useful:⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

There is also a restocking fee (restockingFee) and seasonal exceptions (returnPolicySeasonalOverride), for example a different window over the holidays.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

What surprises most is the order of preference. Google combines several sources and applies the strongest: first the Content API for Shopping, then the returns settings in Google Merchant Center or Search Console, then the product's markup and, last, the organization's. If you have markup and also configure returns in Search Console, Google uses only what is in Search Console.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data} Between the two kinds of markup, if you give both, the product's wins.⁠^{[4]Google Search Central. Merchant listing (Product, Offer) structured data}

In a store

What matters for the markup is that it says the same as your page, and your page says what your store really does.

Fictional example. An invented US store publishes this policy: 30 days from delivery, return by mail, the customer pays return shipping unless the product arrives defective, and a full refund. Shirts embroidered with initials cannot be returned. Here is how it translates:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "@id": "https://www.example.com/#organization",
  "name": "Calella",
  "hasMerchantReturnPolicy": {
    "@type": "MerchantReturnPolicy",
    "applicableCountry": ["US", "CA"],
    "returnPolicyCategory": "https://schema.org/MerchantReturnFiniteReturnWindow",
    "merchantReturnDays": 30,
    "returnMethod": "https://schema.org/ReturnByMail",
    "returnFees": "https://schema.org/ReturnFeesCustomerResponsibility",
    "itemDefectReturnFees": "https://schema.org/FreeReturn",
    "refundType": "https://schema.org/FullRefund"
  }
}

The embroidered shirt carries its own policy on its offer with MerchantReturnNotPermitted, which beats the general one for that product.⁠^{[4]Google Search Central. Merchant listing (Product, Offer) structured data} And if one day the store configures its returns in Search Console, this markup stops being what Google uses.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

How to check it

1. Search for hasMerchantReturnPolicy in the source code of the page where your organization node lives, and note the country, the policy type and the days.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}
2. Compare it with your returns page, sentence by sentence: the window, who pays return shipping and the refund type have to match.
3. Look for policies inside the offers on your product pages. Each one has to correspond to a product with different terms, because it beats the general one.⁠^{[4]Google Search Central. Merchant listing (Product, Offer) structured data}
4. See whether you have returns configured in Merchant Center or Search Console. If you do, those are what Google uses and that is where they have to be kept up to date.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}
5. Check which rich results Google detects: run the URL through the Rich Results Test and see what it finds and with which errors or warnings.⁠^{[1]Google Search Central. Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data}

Related concept: return policy

The return policy is the document: what you promise the customer, with its fine print and its exceptions. MerchantReturnPolicy is its summary in a vocabulary of closed values. The policy is written for people; the markup translates it into values a machine can compare. The order never flips: first the policy is decided and published, and then you mark up exactly what it says. The return policy has its own entry.

To keep going, the structured data reading path orders the rest of the terms, and the OfferShippingDetails entry does the same for shipping.