"The other day, I saw the Google News channel on X respond to claims that Google is going to allow merchants to overcharge you for products sold through the new AI checkout protocol. Some are saying Google will show a higher price in the AI Mode shopping experience, and charge you more, than what is on the website, if you check out manually. I found it crazy because Google has checks and balances to ensure merchants can't do this and Google responded as such."
"Lindsay Owens wrote "Big/bad news for consumers. Google is out today with an announcement of how they plan to integrate shopping into their AI offerings including search and Gemini. The plan includes "personalized upselling." I.e. Analyzing your chat data and using it to overcharge you." But no, Google has had policies about suspending merchants who change their pricing at checkout and even allows Googlebot to add items to the cart so Google can automatically check if merchants are doing this."
"These claims around pricing are inaccurate. We strictly prohibit merchants from showing prices on Google that are higher than what is reflected on their site, period. 1/ The term "upselling" is not about overcharging. It's a standard way for retailers to show additional premium product options that people might be interested in. The choice is always with the user on what to buy."
Claims circulated that Google would allow merchants to overcharge customers via a new AI checkout protocol and by showing higher prices in an AI Mode shopping experience. Google enforces policies that prohibit merchants from displaying higher prices on Google than on their sites and can suspend merchants who change pricing at checkout. Googlebot can add items to carts to verify price consistency and Google sometimes labels detected pricing mismatches. "Upselling" refers to presenting premium product options, not increasing the charged price without consent. The "Direct Offers" pilot enables merchants to provide lower-priced deals or added services and cannot raise prices.
Read at Search Engine Roundtable
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