availability_date: Definition

 
Use the availability_date attribute to tell users when a preordered product will be shipped. 

When to use

Optional for each product

If you set the availability attribute to preorder, you can provide the date your product will be shipped using availability_date.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure we understand the data you're submitting. 

Type

Date and time, ISO 8601 compliant

(YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss, or YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ)
Limits 1–25 characters
Repeated field No
Schema.org property
(What's this?)

Offer.availabilityStarts, Offer.availabilityEnds, Type: DateTime
 
File format Example value
Text feeds

2016-12-25T13:00-0800
XML feeds <g:availability_date>2016-11-25T13:00-0800</g:availability_date>


For format API information, see the Content API for Shopping.

Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to make sure you submit high-quality data for your products.

Minimum requirements

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

  • There are no minimum requirements for this attribute. Keep in mind that you still need to follow the formatting guidelines or the information you submit can't be used.

Best practices

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

  • Only submit the availability_date attribute for products with availability set to preorder. 
  • Specify a time in addition to the date. If you don't, the default time is 12 AM, midnight, in the timezone of your target country. 
  • Don’t include an estimated date or a date range. We recommend that you provide a release date only when it's specific to help set the best expectations for users. The attribute is optional, not required, and you don't need to include a date that's potentially confusing.

Examples

Product is available for preorders with a specific release date

An illustration of an android plush 

Product Android Squishable
availability preorder
availability_date 2016-12-25T13:00-0800
Product is available for preorders with no specific release date

An illustration of an android plush 

Product Android Squishable
availability preorder
availability_date None, since the date isn't available
Get ready for the release date 

An illustration of an android plush 

Release status Not released
Product Android Squishable
availability preorder
availability_date 2016-12-25T13:00-0800
   
Release status Released
Product Android Squishable
availability in stock
availability_date None, since the product is no longer available for preorder
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