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This help center shows articles applicable to Merchant Center Next. Learn more about the upgrade and get answers to frequently asked questions.

Availability [availability]

Note: Do not delete a product when you're temporarily not accepting orders for it or if you want to temporarily stop showing your product on Google. Adding an offer back after deletion will take a significant amount of time before it can show again. Instead, if you want to temporarily stop showing your product, use the pause [pause] attribute. If your product is not in stock [in_stock] and you're temporarily not accepting orders for it, set availability [availability] to out of stock [out_of_stock].

Use the availability [availability] attribute to tell users and Google whether you have a product in stock.

In this article


When to use

Required Required for all products. The values in your feed should always match the information on your website.

These are the supported values that you can choose from:

  • In stock [in_stock]
    • You’re accepting orders for this product and can fulfill the purchase request. You’re certain that the product will ship or be in-transit to the customer in a timely manner because it's available for sale. You can deliver the product to all of the locations that you support in your product data and shipping.
  • Out of stock [out_of_stock]
    • You’re not accepting orders for this product, or the product isn't available for purchase.
  • Preorder [preorder]
    • You’re accepting orders for this product, but it’s not been released for sale. You're required to provide the availability date [availability_date] attribute to indicate the day that the product becomes available for delivery. The availability date should be visible on the landing page.
  • Backorder [backorder]
    • The product isn't available at the moment, but you’re accepting orders and it will be shipped when it's available again. You're required to provide the availability date [availability_date] attribute to indicate the day when it will be shipped. The availability date should be visible on the landing page.

Note: The preorder [preorder] value should only be used for new products that haven’t been released yet. Existing products that are out of stock and will be back in stock at a later date that you’re accepting orders for should use backorder [backorder].

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data that you submit.

Learn when and how to submit your product data in English.

Supported values
  • in_stock
  • out_of_stock
  • preorder
  • backorder
Repeated field No
Schema.org property (What's this?)

Offer.availability, Type: ItemAvailability

How to map to Merchant Center values:

  • in_stock: InStock, LimitedAvailability, OnlineOnly
  • out_of_stock: Discontinued, InStoreOnly, OutOfStock, SoldOut
  • preorder: PreOrder, PreSale
  • backorder: BackOrder
File format Example value
Text feeds

in_stock

XML feeds <g:availability>in_stock</g:availability>

To format your data for Content API, go to the Content API for Shopping resource.

Note: To ensure that this product data attribute gets recognized by our system correctly, remember to submit your data source file in a format that we support.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements you need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.

  • Indicate the product availability on your landing page. Learn more about Requirements for landing pages.
  • Match your product availability with your account shipping.
    • Ship the product to all of the locations that you support in your product data and shipping. This way, the availability that users see matches what you submit.
    • Match the availability listed in your product data with the availability listed on your landing page and checkout pages. When users come to your website, they expect to find the same availability on your landing page and during checkout that's provided in your product data. One common availability mismatch is that your shipping settings don’t reflect your delivery locations accurately.
    • Make sure the product can be shipped, not just picked up in store. In-store pickup is not currently supported with the exception of Argentina and Chile.
    • If there are fixed regions or zip codes within a country where you don’t sell or ship any products, you may be able to exclude this region or zipcode in your shipping settings. If you do this, ensure all shipping services have the same configuration to exclude this region.
  • Show a consistent availability across the landing page, structured data (if available), checkout page, and your data source. The availability of all of your products needs to match across all three. A mismatch in one of these will trigger a product disapproval.
  • If your products are not available within the entire target country, make sure your offers are set up as “out of stock” for the regions that the products are not available in. Check to see whether regional availability and pricing is available in your target country. Make sure your offers are set up as “out of stock” for those regions the products are not available.
  • If there are specific zip codes within a region where you don’t sell or ship any products, ensure you’re setting up regional availability and pricing.
  • Provide the most up-to-date data. Availability and prices of your products can change frequently. Learn more About maintaining high-quality product data.
  • Provide the availability date [availability_date] attribute if you submit [preorder]or [backorder]as the availability value. This information should be visible on your landing page.

Note: Add the availability date to the product’s landing page in a way that's clear to your customers (for example, “May 6, 2023”). If you can't provide an exact date, use an estimated date (for example, “May 2023”).

Best practices

These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.

  • When your product is temporarily unavailable in the target country and you’re not accepting orders for it, set the availability [availability] attribute to out_of_stock. If we find that a product is out of stock on your landing page or during checkout, but the availability attribute is set to in_stock in your product data, we disapprove the product.
  • Don't set the availability attribute to out_of_stock when you take down your website for maintenance or a holiday. Use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute instead. By following this best practice, you prevent unnecessary disapprovals in your account and get your products running again more quickly than if they'd been disapproved.
  • Don’t use out_of_stock when you don't want your product to show. If the product is available for sale but you want to stop your product showing on certain or all destinations, use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] or pause [pause] attribute. For example, you can deactivate your product from showing on Shopping ads, but still show your products through other formats, such as free listings. If we find that a product is in stock on your landing page or during checkout, but the availability attribute is set to out_of_stock in your product data, we disapprove the product.
  • Temporarily pause your product. If you want to stop your product from showing in ads or free listings for up to 14 days, with the option to reactivate quickly, use the pause [pause] attribute.
  • Don't set the availability attribute to out_of_stock for products that you're no longer selling. Remove any discontinued products from your product data.
  • Consider using automatic item updates to help you avoid availability mismatches. Automatic item updates is a feature that uses your landing page status to automatically update your product data, which prevents disapprovals.
  • Product variant availability in the data source should match the availability on the landing page. The availability of a product variant (for example, a shoe in size 8) in your data source should match the availability of the same product variant on its landing page.

    Examples

    Product is available for sale

    An illustration of an android plush

    Product data for an Android Squishable available for sale
    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] in_stock

    The landing page for this product should display an "in stock" status.

    Product inventory ran out

    An illustration of an android plush

    Product data for an Android Squishable that is out of stock
    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] out_of_stock

    The landing page for this product should display an "out of stock" status.

    Product inventory on backorder

    An illustration of an android plush

    Product data for an Android Squishable that is on backorder
    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] backorder
    Availability date [availability_date] 2021-05-24T13:00-0800

    The landing page for this product should display an "on backorder" status. The availability date information should be displayed on the landing page.

    Product inventory on preorder

    An illustration of an android plush

    Product data for an Android Squishable that is on preorder

    Attribute

    Value

    Availability [availability]

    preorder

    Availability date [availability_date]

    2021-05-24T13:00-0800

    The landing page for this product should display an "available for preorder" status. The availability date information should be displayed on the landing page.

    Temporarily stop a product from showing on Google

    If you want to temporarily stop displaying a product in certain locations on Google, but you still have the product marked as being in stock on your landing page, you can use the excluded destination [excluded_destination] attribute. This attribute allows you to control where your product is shown.

    To stop your product from showing in ads for up to 14 days, with the option to reactivate quickly, use the pause [pause] attribute.

    An illustration of an android plush

    Product data for an Android Squishable that is in stock and shown as in stock on the landing page

    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] in_stock
    Excluded destination [excluded_destination] Shopping_ads*
    Shown in Shopping ads? No
    Shown in free listings? Yes

    Product data for an Android Squishable that is in stock and shown as in stock on the landing page

    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] in_stock
    Excluded destination [excluded_destination] Free_listings
    Shown in Shopping ads? Yes
    Shown in free listings? No
    Product data for an Android Squishable that is in stock but paused for 14 days or less from showing in ads
    Attribute Value
    Availability [availability] in_stock
    Pause [pause] ads

    *Note: Exclude all destinations that you don’t want to use. Learn more About the excluded_destination product data attribute.

    Variants

    If your product comes in multiple colors or sizes, you might have different availability for each of these variants. The availability of a product variant (for example, a shoe in size 8) in your data source should match the availability of the same product variant on its landing page.

    Example:

    An example of ads without placeholder images

    Product data for a small green Google T-shirt priced at $10.99 USD
    Attribute Value

    Title [title]

    Google T-Shirt - Green - Small

    Price [price]

    10.99 USD

    Availability [availability]

    in_stock

    Color [color]

    Green

    Size [size]

    S

    ID [id]

    9876-S-GRN

    Item group ID [item_group_id]

    9876
    Product data for a small blue Google T-shirt priced at $10.99 USD
    Attribute Value

    Title [title]

    Google T-Shirt - Blue - Small

    Price [price]

    10.99 USD

    Availability [availability]

    in_stock

    Color [color]

    Blue

    Size [size]

    S

    ID [id]

    9876-S-BLU

    Item group ID [item_group_id]

    9876
    Product data for a small yellow Google T-shirt priced at $10.99 USD
    Attribute Value

    Title [title]

    Google T-Shirt - Yellow - Small

    Price [price]

    10.99 USD

    Availability [availability]

    out_of_stock

    Color [color]

    Yellow

    Size [size]

    S

    ID [id]

    9876-S-YELLOW

    Item group ID [item_group_id]

    9876

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