Use the availability date
[availability_date]
attribute to tell customers when a preordered or backordered product will be dispatched.When to use
- Optional for each product
- Required if you set the availability
[availability]
attribute topreorder
orbackorder
. (You can then provide the date (up to one year in the future) when your product will be dispatched using the availability date[availability_date]
attribute.)
Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure that Google understands the data that you're submitting.
Type | Date, time and time zone, ISO 8601 compliant ( YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm[±hhmm] or YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmZ ) |
---|---|
Limits | 1–25 characters |
Repeated field | No |
Schema.org property (What's this?) |
|
File format | Example value |
---|---|
Text (TSV) | 2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |
XML (Feeds) | <g:availability_date>2016-11-25T13:00-0800</g:availability_date> |
To format your data for Content API, have a look at the Content API for Shopping.
Guidelines
Follow these guidelines to make sure that you submit high quality data for your products.
Minimum requirements
These are the requirements that you'll need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know on the Diagnostics page of your Merchant Center account.
- Provide a date up to one year in the future.
Note: The availability date should also be added to the product's landing page and be clear to your customers (for example, '6 May 2023'). If an exact date can't be provided, you can use an estimated date (for example, 'May 2023').
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimise your product data for performance.
- Only submit the availability date attribute for products with the availability
[availability]
attribute value set topreorder
orbackorder
. - Specify a time and time zone in addition to the date. If you don't, the default time is 12 a.m. (midnight) in the UTC time zone.
- Don't include date ranges. Since the attribute is required for products with the availability
[availability]
attribute value set topreorder
orbackorder
, Google recommends that you add an estimated date (up to one year in the future) and update the value as soon as the expected date that the product can be dispatched to the consumer is confirmed.
Examples
Product is available for preorder
Product data for an android squishable | |
Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
preorder [preorder] |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |
Product is available for backorder
Product data for an android squishable | |
Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
backorder [backorder] |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |
Get ready for the release date
Product data for an android squishable | |
Release status | Not released |
Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
preorder [preorder] |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |