Merchants Up in Arms over Google Shopping's Weapon Ban

Google is banning merchants from advertising weapons and ammo in its Google Shopping search engine as it moves its model from a free to paid service. Sellers began discussing the new policy on a discussion board called 68forums.com. One seller, HamLund Tactical, pasted a copy of an email he had received from Google that said merchants using Google Shopping must comply with Google AdWords policies.

Google formerly allowed merchants to send product feeds to Google Product Search so their items would show up (at no charge) on Google Shopping and in the Google Shopping widget on Google.com search results. But Google announced last month it was moving to a paid model and told merchants they must begin using Google Product Listing Ads by the fall in order for listings to show up in Google Shopping search results.

The email from Google to HamLund Tactical stated, "We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping. In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center." It pointed to Google Shopping policies in the Google Merchant Center, which prominently displays the following message:

IMPORTANT: All products submitted to Google Shopping must adhere to Google AdWords policies
Review the AdWords policies carefully and ensure your products comply to them.

The Google AdWords policy, found on this page, states:

"Google AdWords doesn't allow the promotion of weapons or devices designed to cause serious harm or injury. The promotion of weapons includes guns, gun parts or hardware, ammunition, bombs, knives, throwing stars, and brass knuckles. We've created this policy to comply with legal regulations."

The news is drawing the ire of members of various firearm-related discussion boards.