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Google Sucks.

ripjack13

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So I just received news online (http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494286) that Google's phasing out Anything that has to do with weapons on their Google Shopping. Legal or not.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012 ... s-results/
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Dear Merchant,

We're writing to let you know about some upcoming changes to the product listings you submit to Google. As we recently announced, we are starting to transition our shopping experience to a commercial model that builds on Product Listing Ads. This new shopping experience is called Google Shopping. As part of this transition, we'll begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks. A new list of the allowed, restricted, and prohibited products on Google Shopping is available on our new policy page - http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd.

Based on a review of the products you're currently submitting, it appears that some of the content in your Merchant Center account, HamLund Tactical, will be affected by these policy changes. In particular we found that your products may violate the following policies:

Weapons

When we make this change, Google will disapprove all of the products identified as being in violation of policies. We ask that you make any necessary changes to your feeds and/or site to comply, so that your products can continue to appear on Google Shopping.

To help you through this new set of policies and how to comply with them, we would like to give you some specific suggestions regarding the changes needed to keep your offers running on Google Shopping.

Weapons

As highlighted on our new policy page http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd, in order to comply with the Google Shopping policies you need to comply first with the AdWords policies http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/StQ08jAzM4fVtG. 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. For more information on this policy please visit http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/GbBNIGHOribLzf.

We're constantly reviewing our policies, and updating them when necessary, to ensure we're offering the best experience possible to our users. We've identified a set of policy principles to govern our policy efforts on Google Shopping in the U.S. These principles are:

1) Google Shopping should provide a positive experience to users. Showing users the right products at the right time can truly enhance a user's experience. When people trust us to deliver them to a destination that's relevant, original, and easy to navigate this creates a positive online experience to the benefit of both users and merchants.

2 ) Google Shopping should be safe for all users. User safety is everyone's business, and we can't do business with those who don't agree. Scams, phishing, viruses, and other malicious activities on the Internet damage the value of the Internet for everyone. Trying to get around policies or "game the system" is unfair to our users, and we can't allow that.

3) Google Shopping should comply with local laws and regulations. Many products and services are regulated by law, which can vary from country to country. All advertising, as well as the products and services being advertised, must clearly comply with all applicable laws and regulations. For the most part, our policies aren't designed to describe every law in every country. All advertisers bear their own responsibility for understanding the laws applicable to their business. Our policies are often more restrictive than the law, because we need to be sure we can offer services that are legal and safe for all users.

4) Google Shopping should be compatible with Google's brand decisions. Google Shopping must be compatible with company brand decisions. Our company has a strong culture and values, and we've chosen not to allow ads that promote products and services that are incompatible with these values. In addition, like all companies, Google sometimes makes decisions based on technical limitations, resource constraints, or requirements from our business partners. Our policies reflect these realities.

We've given much thought to our stance on this content, as well as the potential effect our policy decision could have on our Merchants, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Sincerely,

The Google Shopping Team

© 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Merchant Center account.

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So I had to check it out.

Type in Mossberg.....

"Your search - mossberg - did not match any shopping results.

Suggestions:

Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords."
Same thing with ammo, 12g, 7.62, ect,ect....

Time to do your searching elsewhere....now, where is the question.
 
Yeah, I first heard about it on 68forums (where Hamlund Tactical is a site sponsor) and it has been quoted on the news, blogs, and all over the place since he posted it.

I even gave a heads up here a week or so ago, and I personally switched to "live search" which I think is part of bing.

I don't really like that search engine as much, BUT, I dislike googles search even more now that I can't find 80% of what I search for, so I sent them an email, told them why I was uninstalling their tool bar, why I was switching search providers, and replaced my email account. Since I'm sure the email isn't going to be read, I didn't waste my time rambling on and on and kept it short and sweet.

I am using msn's search bar now and opened up a hotmail account while I was at it.

I think google was wrong to have done that, so I'm not going to support their product.

Just FWIW, google also classifies knives, ammunition, firearm accessories in the same ban group.

In my humble opinion, they are intentionally alienating potentially hundreds of legitimate companies both small and large businesses rights by not allowing them to exersize their right to free trade, and interstate trade (commerce).

Censorship sucks, and if they are going to operate in the United States, they should not proactively restrict so many of our basic freedoms.

It's their free will to do so, but it's my choice to discontinue their services just as well.

I also stopped buying oreo's last week too. :?
 
I agree John....I'm closing my google account as well. I sent them an email telling them pretty much the same as you. Short and sweet. I didn't know knives were in the banned list. It is a "private" company and yes they can do what they choose, but I'll choose not to use them anymore.

And I've never been a fan of Oreos. Home made choclate chip cookies for me!!
 
I've been using bing.com for some time. I dont search anything on google.

Tryin to figure out what to do about youtube. I use that stuff and dont know if there is anything else like it.

If we could find somethin else youtube-esque, I wonder if we could make it work like the imbedded player and ditch the youtube imbed thing we have now. If google and it affiliates arent goin to support anything firearm, ammo, or knife related, why the heck would a forum such as ours support them or the affiliates?
 
Does Mossberg Owners pay to use their stuff or something or other?
 
Nah, dont think so... Just sux that google is attached to youtube, And I like youtube but I dont like google. I'm conflicted.
 
Don't know if it's true and I would like to hear an official answer, but I have heard that any firearm related video's on youtube will not be paid for those commercial clicky things.

I have several gun video's on youtube and even though I am eligible for ad sharing revenue, I have always declined because I hate waiting for those ads to run before the video I want to watch comes on, so I don't do that to people wanting to watch my video's.

Again, I have not seen OFFICIAL documentation saying as much and I would like to know if the info I read is true or not concerning the ad sharing. But I do remember reading that somewhere.
 
I've never done the ads either. I could do them on some videos, but not others because of the music I use...

I think all mine are gun related.
 
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