If you're looking for information about setting up your delivery settings in Merchant Center Next, click here.
Set up your delivery costs based on how you charge for delivery. The costs that you submit to Merchant Center must match the costs that you charge on your website. If you can't match the cost exactly, overestimate the figures that you submit to Merchant Center. Bear in mind that customers will consider these costs and the delivery speed when deciding whether to click on your product.
Learn more about how delivery settings work and when to use them.
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In this article
When to use
Use the delivery settings in Merchant Center to manually configure account-level delivery services. If you prefer to set your delivery cost and time for each product, use the delivery [shipping] attribute instead.
- The prices and delivery times configured using the delivery
[shipping]attribute will override account-level settings (including delivery service, delivery times and minimum order value) for the matching location for that product.
How it works
To set up account-level delivery settings, you'll need to configure a delivery service in Merchant Center or via the delivery settings API. Delivery services can be associated with either all products or with groups of products, the latter of which can be specified using the delivery label [shipping_label] attribute. For each delivery service, you can configure a number of settings, such as delivery cost and delivery time.
To ensure that customers see the most relevant delivery options during checkout and potentially improve conversion rates, provide all available delivery services and rates for each product in the Merchant Center, even if you choose not to display them all in your ads. This comprehensive data allows us to present the most suitable choices for each customer, potentially leading to higher conversion rates for you.
If you offer multiple delivery services for a product within a country, we'll automatically choose the most relevant delivery option, considering factors like delivery time, customer preference and other relevant details. This chosen option will automatically be used and shown as needed.
For example, if you have one service that specifies free delivery for products over 150 GBP and another service that specifies a carrier-calculated rate for all products, then free delivery would be shown for all products over 150 GBP.
Instructions
Create a new delivery service
The first step to set up delivery is to create a new delivery service. When creating your delivery service, you'll need to describe it, define which products it affects and specify the delivery speed and cost.
Note: You may configure up to 20 delivery services per country. If the sub-accounts do not have their own delivery configuration then delivery policies are inherited from the parent account.
To create a new delivery service:
- In your Merchant Center account, click the Tools and settings icon
.
- Select Delivery and returns under 'Tools'. This will take you to the 'Delivery services' tab.
- Click the plus button
to create a delivery service.
Step 1: Service settings
- Name your service. Add a descriptive name to distinguish your new delivery service from the others. Each service name must be unique within the service area and won't be shared with customers.
- Choose a service area or zone to which your products can be delivered. You will add information like the speed and cost of delivery in the next steps. This may not necessarily be where the order is dispatched from or where your business is based. The service area should include at least one country and you can specify multiple countries for your service area. Learn more about multi-country delivery.
- Select the currency used in the service area and make sure that it matches the currency listed in your feed. If the currency is different, your items may be disapproved.
- In 'Delivery location', indicate where customers can receive their orders. Either At the customer's address or Deliver to a collection point. Note that collection points are only available in selected countries. Learn more about countries eligible for a collection point.
Step 2: Delivery time
- Decide if you want to (a) show custom delivery times based on an existing carrier or partner that you work with or (b) set a range of delivery times. If you choose to show custom delivery times, Google estimates delivery times on your behalf. Learn more about letting Google calculate your delivery speed.
- For 'Order cut-off time', choose the time of day by which orders must be placed to process them on the same day. Also, select the time zone in which this time is calculated. For example, a cut-off time of 3.00 p.m. GMT means that orders placed after that time won't be processed until the next working day.
- For 'Order handling time', enter the minimum number of days required for processing an order, followed by the maximum number of days that processing could take.
- Note: If you process items the same day that they're ordered, your minimum order handling time is considered '0'. To choose which days of the week you're processing orders, use the drop-down menu and select a day range (e.g. Monday to Friday, Monday to Saturday). Select Custom days to create a custom day range for processing.
- For 'Transit time', add the possible range of working days that this service could take (e.g. one to five working days). While the exact time may vary based on the product or the customer's location, the range will give customers an idea of what to expect. To choose which days of the week are eligible for this delivery service, use the drop-down menu to select a day range (e.g. Monday to Friday, Monday to Saturday). Select Custom days to manually choose the transit days used for this delivery service. Learn more about letting Google calculate your delivery speeds. (Optional) In Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States you may set the transit time based on delivery destinations (regions). Click More transit times, select or create a destination. then enter the transit speed to that destination. Learn how to set up regions.
- (Optional) You can group products that share a transit time by applying the transit time label
[transit_time_label]attribute to specific product groups. This helps to provide a more accurate delivery time for your customers. Learn more about setting up transit time labels.
Step 3: Holiday delivery cut-off (available for the US and France, US public holidays only)
Set a holiday delivery cut-off if you require orders to be placed by a certain date for them to be delivered by a certain public holiday. Learn more about holiday delivery cut-offs.
Step 4: Delivery cost
When setting up your delivery cost, you can choose from several options such as free delivery, a fixed rate or free delivery over a certain amount. You can also switch to advanced settings to see more options.
Basic cost settings
Free delivery over a certain amountUse this option to offer free delivery for orders that are above a certain amount. To use this option:
- Enter an order value for 'For order price below'.
- Enter the delivery charge for this order value in 'I charge'.
Select this option to offer free delivery for all orders.
Use this setting to add delivery charges for a specified range of order value. For example, set a delivery cost of £5 for all orders below £60 and £10 for orders above £60.
- Enter an amount in 'For order priced below'.
- Enter a delivery cost in 'I charge'.
- Enter a delivery cost for 'For orders above – I charge'.
- Click on the plus button
Use this option if you charge a fixed delivery price for all orders. To use this option, enter an amount in 'All orders are dispatched for'.
Use this option if you charge common carrier-calculated rates. Customers will receive a rate based on the dimensions, weight, customer location and origin postcode. So make sure that you submit the delivery weight [shipping_weight] and dimensions (delivery length [shipping_length], delivery width [shipping_width] and delivery height [shipping_height]) in your product data.
Bear in mind that carrier rates are based on standard commercial rates, so if you charge less (e.g. because of a contract that you have with the carrier), add a negative amount or percentage (e.g. -10). If you use a non-commercial rate (often called 'retail'), you'll probably need to adjust the rates up by 50–60%.
When choosing a carrier rate, make sure that the products that will be covered by that option can actually be delivered by that carrier and service (e.g. the products aren't oversize or overweight). Otherwise, the rates that customers see won't be accurate and your products could be disapproved. Check with your carrier for information about size and weight limits.
To use this option:
- For 'Carrier service', select one of the supported carriers along with the service (e.g. UPS Standard). The carriers are different for each service area.
- Enter the 'Origin postcode' where the parcel will be dispatched from (e.g. 'PO16 7GZ').
- Next, if necessary, adjust the order by a percentage or a flat amount: (e.g. '£10' or '-5%').
Advanced settings
Switch to advanced settings if you need more options.
Minimum order valueIf you require a minimum order value for the service (e.g. if you require customers to spend £30 to use that delivery service), enter that amount. Products with a price below the minimum order will still be shown, together with your minimum order value. If you do not have a minimum order value, leave this field blank. Learn more about minimum order value.
Create a delivery rate table to define a single rate for all orders or create rules based on one or two dimensions. You can also assign delivery label [shipping_label] attributes to the delivery rates depending on what kind of product you're delivering (e.g. oversized, perishable, fragile) and then set up different delivery costs for those groups.
- On the 'Delivery cost' page, click Switch to advanced settings.
- To add a new delivery rate table, click the plus button
- Under 'Affected products', select whether you'd like to apply this rate to all products or only certain products.
- Select All products if you want the delivery rate to apply to every product. Note: If you have already created a rate table that uses a delivery label, you may find 'All other products' in place of 'All products'. This is because some products have already been filtered.
- Or, if you want your rate to apply to only specific groups of products:
- Select Filter products by delivery label.
- In the input field, type the values that you've submitted for the delivery label
[shipping_label]attribute and click Enter. You can also add labels that aren't yet in your feed.
- Under 'Delivery rate name', give your table a unique name.
- Create your table. Use the table to define a single rate for all orders or create rules based on one or two dimensions: price, destination (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States), weight or number of items. For example, if your products target Australia, you might set up the delivery cost by state and by weight. So that you charge a different rate for a 10 kg product delivered to Tasmania than you do if it's delivered to Western Australia. However, if you're mostly targeting other countries, you won't be able to specify delivery rates by location.
- First, click a dimension, such as order weight > weight in kilograms. You'll see a row where you can enter ranges.
- Enter a range, such as 0.0001 kg to 2 kg.
- For each row, select a delivery option, such as 'Flat rate'. Learn more about delivery options.
- Depending on the delivery option, enter a price, percentage, etc.
- To add more ranges, click + Row.
- To add a second dimension, click Add dimension, then click on an option such as 'Order price'.
- Next, set the value for each new column by choosing a delivery option, like you did before.
- To add more ranges, click + Column.
- Click Continue to return to the service level to add a new delivery rate or to save your delivery service.
Delivery options for delivery rate tables
When setting up your delivery rate table, you can choose from several options.
Fixed rate
Use this option if you charge a fixed delivery price, including free delivery, for all orders in a range. Customers will notice the same cost for all products in this range.
To use this option:
- When choosing a delivery option, select Fixed rate.
- Then enter an amount. If delivery is free, enter '0'.
Percentage of order total
Use this option if you charge delivery based on a percentage of the order cost. Customers will see the delivery cost as a percentage of the total order value. For Shopping ads and free listings, we use the product price as the order value.
To use this option:
- When choosing a delivery option, select Percentage of order total.
- Enter a percentage.
Carrier rate (AU, DE, UK and US only)
Use this option if you charge common carrier-calculated rates. Customers will receive a rate based on the dimensions, weight, customer location and origin postcode. So make sure that you submit the delivery weight [shipping_weight] and dimensions (delivery length [shipping_length], delivery width [shipping_width] and delivery height [shipping_height]) in your product data.
Bear in mind that carrier rates are based on standard commercial rates, so if you charge less (e.g. because of a contract you have with the carrier), add a negative amount or percentage (e.g. -10). If you use a non-commercial rate (often called 'retail'), you'll probably need to adjust the rates up by 50–60%.
When choosing a carrier rate, make sure that the products that will be covered by that option can actually be delivered by that carrier and service (e.g. the products aren't oversize or overweight). Otherwise, the rates that customers see won't be accurate and your products could be disapproved. Check with your carrier for information about size and weight limits.
To use this option:
- When choosing a delivery option, select Carrier rate.
- Next, select a carrier rate table that you've created before or select New carrier rate. When you create a new rate table, you'll notice a creation dialogue.
- For 'Carrier service', select one of the supported carriers along with the service (e.g. UPS Standard). The carriers are different for each service area.
- Enter the 'Origin postcode' where the parcel will be dispatched from (e.g. 'PO16 7GZ').
- Next, if necessary, adjust the order by a percentage or a flat amount: up (with a positive number, like '10') or down (with a negative number, like '-10').
- The carrier rate name will be inferred by the carrier service but you can provide a custom name if necessary (e.g. 'UPS Regular – Fareham').
- Your new carrier rate will be available to select and will show in the 'Carrier rates' table at the bottom of the page.
If you charge based on three or more dimensions, you can add a subtable for each cell. You'll choose from different options depending on your service.
For example, if your products target Australia and you charge various rates based on the price for products that are 1–5 kg and delivered to Queensland, add those rates with a subtable.
To use this option:
- When choosing a delivery option, use the 'Subtable' delivery option.
- Select a table that you've already created or select New subtable. When you create a new table, you'll notice that table listed below in 'Linked subtables'.
- For 'Table name', give your new table a unique name so that you can pick it out from a list.
- Click one of the available dimensions, then add delivery options and ranges like you did when you set up your delivery cost.
- Click Continue to return to the service level to add a new delivery rate or to save your delivery service.
The 'Affected products' filter allows you to exclude products from a delivery configuration completely, but you may want to be more specific. The 'No delivery' option allows you to declare that certain products can't be delivered in a specific situation or to a particular location.
To use this option:
- When choosing a delivery option, select No delivery.
Exclude products by order weight or order value
You can add the 'No delivery' option to exclude delivery based on order weight and order value. For example, if your express service is limited to orders up to a specific weight, you can use the weight dimension to set all orders above the limit to 'No delivery'. If you require a minimum order value for a delivery service, add it in the service description.
If a product is excluded from this delivery service by order weight or order value, here's what will happen:
- If the product isn't associated with any other delivery service, the product will be disapproved. For example, if your product weighs 100 kg and you've set 'No delivery' for orders over 70 kg.
- If the product is associated with another delivery service that you've created, then the cheapest available delivery cost will be shown to customers. For example, if you've excluded the product from your express service but it's still covered by another service.
To exclude products by order weight:
- When setting up your delivery cost, click a weight dimension such as Order weight > Weight in kilograms.
- Enter a range, such as 0.0001–10 kg.
- Then select No delivery as the delivery option.
- To add more weights, click + Row.
Exclude products by destination (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States)
To exclude regions, set up your delivery table using the 'Destination' as a dimension that you need.
You can also use 'No delivery' to indicate that you don't deliver to a particular combination of a region and another dimension, for example if you don't deliver heavy products to Jersey.
If a delivery service is the sole source of delivery speed and cost, and you exclude products for certain locations, delivery speed and cost won't be shown to customers in that region.
To exclude products by destination:
- When setting up your delivery rate table, click Destination.
- Choose a region that you deliver to or create a new one.
- To add more regions, click + Row.
To exclude products by destination and dimension:
- When setting up your delivery rate table, click Destination.
- Click Add dimension to add either order price, weight or the number of items to the table.
- Select No delivery as the delivery option as needed.
Other options for delivery
Region
Set up different delivery rates and speeds for specific areas within countries based on postcode or administrative region:
| Country | Delivery time | Delivery cost: |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Postcode | Postcode and state |
| Brazil | Postcode | Postcode and state |
| Canada | Postcode | Postcode |
| France | Postcode | Postcode and region |
| Germany | Postcode | Postcode and state |
| India | Postcode | Postcode, state and territory |
| Japan | Prefecture | |
| New Zealand | Postcode | Postcode and region |
| The United Kingdom | Postcode | Postcode |
| The United States | Postcode | Postcode and state |
Custom region
You can create custom regions and reuse these regions to set up delivery. This delivery option is currently available for Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Learn how to set up regions.
Set transit times for regions
- Under the delivery service 'Delivery time' table, click More transit times.
- Click Add destination.
- Select the region and assign a minimum and maximum transit time.
- If a region hasn't been created yet, you can create one from the delivery rate table.
Set delivery costs for regions
- Under the 'Delivery rate' table, click Add dimension.
- Select destination by postcode.
- Select the region and assign a delivery cost to that zone.
- If a region hasn't been created yet, you can create one from the 'Delivery rate' table.
Delivery services can cover multiple countries. For multi-country delivery, the delivery cost will be in the same currency for all countries added to the service. If you select a destination with a currency different from the delivery service's specified currency, the delivery cost will be automatically converted into the destination currency.
Multi-country delivery doesn't support the following features:
- Advanced transit times
- Destination-based delivery rates
- Holiday delivery cut-off
- Delivery to collection points
If you convert a delivery service with any of these features into a multi-country setup, these features will be removed. Learn how to show products in multiple target countries.
Check your delivery cost
Once you've entered your delivery information, you can check the delivery cost (and tax rate) that will be displayed in your ads and free listings. Along with the delivery cost, you can view the source of that cost (e.g. settings in Merchant Center or the delivery [shipping] attribute in your product data).
To view this information:
- Click Products in the navigation menu, then click All products.
- To view various details about the product, click the title of the product.
- Scroll down to review information about delivery (and tax).
For countries where you can specify delivery rates based on the delivery destination (e.g. the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan), you'll need to enter a delivery destination to calculate a result. For all other countries, you'll see the country-wide rate.
Need more help?
Take a look at this guided help article: I need help fixing my delivery information in Merchant Center.