How is a restocking fee represented in return policy markup?

Definition: In Schema.org MerchantReturnPolicy structured data, restockingFee accepts either a MonetaryAmount for a fixed charge or a Number for a percentage of the price paid by the customer. Google's return policy documentation places this property in the business return policy property set.

Key facts

• Google's merchant return policy documentation defines restockingFee as a charge to the consumer when a product is returned.
• A Number expresses a percentage of the price paid by the consumer; MonetaryAmount expresses a fixed amount, according to the same Google documentation.
• Schema.org lists MonetaryAmount and Number as the expected types for restockingFee.
• Schema.org describes MonetaryAmount as a monetary value or range, with currency identifying the currency in which the amount is expressed (MonetaryAmount).
• Google says a standard policy is nested under Organization with hasMerchantReturnPolicy, while a product exception is nested under Offer (return policy documentation).

What do the two value types mean?

The choice follows the way the policy charges the customer. Use a Number when the fee is calculated as a percentage of the price paid. Use a MonetaryAmount when the policy states one fixed monetary charge. Google's wording defines the distinction directly: “Specify a value of type Number to charge a percentage of the price paid by the consumer or use MonetaryAmount to charge a fixed amount.”

The markup shape is therefore:

{
  "restockingFee": <Number percentage>
}

or:

{
  "restockingFee": {
    "@type": "MonetaryAmount",
    "value": <Number fixed amount>,
    "currency": "<ISO 4217 currency code>"
  }
}

The value and currency members come from the MonetaryAmount shape. Schema.org says that currency is the currency in which the amount is expressed and recommends the ISO 4217 currency format. It also recommends Number as the value type for a MonetaryAmount value (Schema.org's MonetaryAmount definition).

Which policy level can contain it?

Google's return policy page says a standard policy that applies to most or all products belongs in Organization through hasMerchantReturnPolicy. A different policy for one product belongs under Offer. The same page says that offer-level policies support a more limited set of properties than the organization-level description.

Google's merchant listing documentation lists the product-level MerchantReturnPolicy fields as applicableCountry, returnPolicyCategory, merchantReturnDays, returnFees, returnMethod, and returnShippingFeesAmount. restockingFee is absent from that current product-level table. The organization-level return policy table is the documented location for this property.

How should you validate it?

Google recommends placing business return information on one policy page and says the MerchantReturnPolicy markup does not need to be repeated on every page. After adding the markup, Google's structured data guidance says to validate the code with the Rich Results Test, then use URL Inspection to test how Google sees a deployed page. The page was last updated 2026-09-08 UTC.

Related terms

• MerchantReturnPolicy structured data
• Product structured data
• Offer structured data
• JSON-LD

FAQ

Is restockingFee the same as a return shipping fee?

No. Google defines restockingFee as the charge for restocking a returned product. Its merchant listing documentation describes returnShippingFeesAmount as the cost of shipping a product back, with returnFees set to ReturnShippingFees when the merchant charges that shipping fee.

Should a percentage be written as MonetaryAmount?

No. Google's type definition assigns percentage fees to Number and fixed fees to MonetaryAmount. The latter carries a monetary value and a currency.

Is restockingFee listed for product-level merchant listing markup?

The current Google merchant listing table lists a smaller set of return policy properties and does not list restockingFee. The documentation places the property in the organization-level MerchantReturnPolicy table.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Merchant return policy (MerchantReturnPolicy) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "MerchantReturnPolicy", 16 September 2026
3. Schema.org, "MonetaryAmount", 16 September 2026
4. Google Search Central, "Merchant listing (Product, Offer) structured data", 8 September 2026

---

Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer