The shipping [shipping] attribute lets you provide shipping speed and cost for a product. Use this attribute when the shipping settings aren’t defined at account level in Merchant Center or if you wish to override the account level shipping settings for individual products.
For example, you can use the shipping [shipping] attribute to override your shipping settings for bulky or fragile products.
In this article
When to use
It depends: You may or may not need to submit this attribute depending on the product or the countries in which your products show.
Shipping covers the cost charged by a shipping carrier or other costs directly related to shipping. A charge is considered to be a shipping cost if it includes the words "handling", "delivery", "shipping", "logistics", or "carrier". Shipping can include cross border charges if the cost is included under a shipping term on your website. Shipping should also include insurance costs related to any of the 5 terms above.
Shipping also covers speed, or the time from when a customer places an order to when they receive it. Shipping speed includes both handling time (sometimes referred to as processing time) and transit time. Handling time is the time from when an order is placed to when it’s handed off to the shipping carrier. Transit time is the time from when an order has been handed off to a shipping carrier to when the customer receives it.
Shipping speed and cost are the most common reasons for users abandoning their shopping choices, so showing accurate information can help the performance of your ads and free listings.
The shipping [shipping] attribute can also be used to specify the countries to which your product ships for programs that don’t require shipping costs.
Shipping costs can be provided via the shipping [shipping] attribute or at the account level.
Learn more about Setting up shipping services in Merchant Center.
Shipping costs are required for Shopping ads and free listings for any of the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- New Zealand
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- The United Kingdom
- The United States
You may be required to provide shipping costs in additional countries based on local laws or regulations.
Use this attribute to specify additional countries your product ships to.
Also, use this attribute when shipping costs for your product aren't defined in Merchant Center or when you need to override the shipping settings that you set up in Merchant Center, such as for bulky or fragile products.
Sub-attributes
The shipping [shipping] attribute uses sub-attributes to define country, delivery area, service, price, handling time, and transit time.
These are the various sub-attributes:
-
Country
[country](Required)
The country that the product can be delivered to. Submit an ISO 3166-1 country code (for example: CH). - Delivery area (Optional)
To specify where your product can be delivered, submit one (and only one) of the following:- Region
[region](Optional)
Submit a region, state, territory, or prefecture. This is supported for Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States. Submit a subdivision code from the ISO 3166-2 code tables (AU, BR, FR DE, IN, JP, NZ, US) without country prefix (for example, NSW, RJ, ARA, BE, AP, 03, AUK, NY). - Postal code
[postal_code](Optional)
Submit a postal code range. This is supported for Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, and the United States.- Use a ZIP or postal code (for example, 94043 for US and 2009 for Australia).
- Use a range of postal codes (for example, 94002-95460 for US and 2009-3000 Australia).
- Use a range of postal codes using a prefix with a wildcard ( * ) (for example, 94*).
- Use a range of postal codes using 2 prefixes with wildcards ( * ) (for example, 94*-95*).
- Location ID
[location_id](Optional)
Submit a numeric criteria ID of your location defined by Google Ads API (AdWords API) (for example, for California use 21137). This is supported for Australia (state), Brazil (state), France (region), Germany (state), India (state and territory), Japan (prefecture), New Zealand (region), and the United States (state). - Location group name
[location_group_name](Optional)
Submit a location group that you set up in your "Region" settings in Merchant Center. Use the "Region ID" for the location group name. Use those group names here (for example: West Coast, Outback). This is supported for Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Region
- Service
[service](Conditionally optional)Note: Service
[service]sub-attribute is conditionally optional. If you are using offer level shipping attribute and want to provide multiple shipping options, the service[service]sub-attribute is required. It functions the same as policy name at the account level, so Google can identify it's a different shipping service.- Use this sub-attribute if you have multiple shipping options for a single location. For example, “Standard” and “Express” shipping options.
Price[price](Required to provide shipping speed overrides, otherwise optional)- Submit a fixed shipping cost, and use a period [.] as the decimal separator (for example: 3.00 USD). Avoid commas [,] to ensure that the price is interpreted correctly.
[price] sub-attribute of the shipping [shipping] attribute, the account shipping service settings (including shipping service delivery times and minimum order value) will be ignored for the matching location for that product.- Handling time (Optional)
To specify how long a product may spend in handling submit the following sub-attributes:- Minimum handling time
[min_handling_time]
This is the minimum number of days between when an order is placed and when it's handed off to a shipping carrier. - Maximum handling time
[max_handling_time]
This is the maximum number of days between when an order is placed and when it's handed off to a shipping carrier.
- Minimum handling time
You can also use the standalone handling time attributes instead of the shipping handling time sub-attributes. If you use both the handling time sub-attributes and the standalone handling time attributes, only the shipping sub-attributes are considered.
Use business days. For example, if a customer orders on Tuesday and the shipment leaves the warehouse on Friday at the latest, the maximum handling time is 3 days.
- Transit time (Optional)
To specify how long a product may spend in transit, submit the following sub-attributes:- Minimum transit time
[min_transit_time]
This is the minimum number of days between when a product is handed off to a shipping carrier and when it's delivered to the customer. - Maximum transit time
[max_transit_time]
This is the maximum number of days between when a product is handed off to a shipping carrier and when it's delivered to the customer.
- Minimum transit time
[max_handling_time], either the sub-attribute of shipping or the standalone attribute, and the maximum transit time [max_transit_time] sub-attribute of the shipping [shipping] attribute. You must also submit a value for the price [price] sub-attribute of the shipping [shipping] attribute for your handling time and transit time sub-attributes to be considered valid.Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to ensure Google understands the data you're submitting. Learn how to Submit attributes and attribute values.
| Type | Unicode characters (Recommended: ASCII only) |
|---|---|
| Supported values |
For AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, NZD, SGD, USD: For RO: For AED, BRL, CNY, DKK, HKD, ILS, MYR, NOK, PLN, SAR, SEK, TRY: For ARS, CZK, MXN, THB, TWD, UAH, ZAR: For KRW: For HUF For CLP: For COP: For VND: |
| Repeated field | Submit the shipping [shipping] attribute up to 100 times per product |
| Schema.org property |
Type: |
| File format | Example entry |
|---|---|
| Text feeds |
Format the name by including which sub-attributes you’re submitting. Include shipping For example, to submit country, postal code, price, handling time, and transit time: Name
If you name the sub-attributes you're using, you can give them to us in any order. However, if you provide sub-attribute values but do not name them, we’ll assume that your attribute values include sub-attributes in this order:
Format the value by submitting the value of each sub-attribute listed in the same order as in the name and separated with a colon ( Name To submit multiple locations, submit the attribute (with the same name) multiple times. For example: Name Name If you don’t want to provide an optional sub-attribute for a particular product, then still add a colon ( Name Name |
| XML feeds |
Include the optional sub-attributes if you need them. To specify a shipping cost for different delivery locations, submit the shipping
|
To format your data for Content API, view the Content API for Shopping resource.
Minimum requirements
These are the requirements 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 in your Merchant Center account.
- Submit complete and correct shipping information, including speed and costs.
- Shipping speed and cost are 2 of the most common reasons why shoppers abandon a product, so be sure that your shipping settings are accurate and up to date to make your ads and listings effective.
- Include all relevant shipping charges. Include all charges for a purchase that include the words "shipping", "delivery", "handling", "logistics", or "carrier".
- Overestimate if you can’t provide an accurate shipping cost. Match or overestimate the cost users would pay. Note that overestimating excessively may negatively impact your product performance.
- Use the rate for shipping directly to an individual. Don’t use other rates such as the rate for shipping to a store or a rate that requires a membership to be applicable.
- Display product details on your landing page to all users. Ensure when a user clicks your ad, can view details about your product, even if you don’t ship to the user’s location.
- Comply with local laws when submitting shipping information.
- Provide the country sub-attribute. Always provide the country
[country]sub-attribute of the shipping[shipping]attribute to ensure your products ship correctly.
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.
- Use account shipping settings in Merchant Center. With these settings you can create simple flat rates or complex, custom models. Use the shipping
[shipping]attribute as a last resort to override the settings you create in Merchant Center. - Submit a shipping price that can be represented in your target country's currency (according to ISO 4217). For example, instead of 1.0012 USD, submit 1.01 USD. If your price can’t be represented in your target country's currency, then we’ll round it to a value that can.
- If you submit the attribute multiple times, avoid submitting conflicting information. For example, don’t submit 2 different prices for the same region or the same service class.
- Submit shipping promotions through the promotions feed. For example, if you're offering free shipping for a 2 week summer sale, upload a shipping promotion in the merchant promotion feed and enter the dates that it is valid for. Using the code will give consumers free shipping when they check out on the website.
- Submit all additional shipping-related charges that you charge as a merchant and that are not government-imposed. For example, service, processing, activation, and handling charges. Don’t submit this information as part of the tax
[tax]or price[price]attributes, instead bundle them with the shipping cost in the shipping[shipping]attribute, or using the Merchant Center shipping settings. - Do not include government-imposed fees such as import duties, recycling fees, copyright fees, or state-specific retail delivery fees in the shipping cost.
- Submit shipping costs for any region you ship to. If you don’t submit a shipping cost for a region that you ship to, either in your product data or through your account shipping settings, your product or account could be disapproved.
- Align your Shopping campaigns in Google Ads with your shipping settings and the availability of your product.
Additional guidelines
Review each section closely to determine if the requirements apply to your country or product. If you don't follow requirements that apply to you, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.