shipping_weight attribute lets you include the weight to use when calculating shipping costs through your Merchant Center settings. For example, you would use shipping_weight when using carrier-calculated rates.
When to use
Optional for each product
If you set your account shipping settings in Merchant Center based on weight, then use the shipping_weight attribute to submit the weight for each product. Methods that calculate shipping using weight include carrier-calculated rates and shipping weight tables. Learn more about shipping settings.
Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure we understand the data you're submitting.
| Type | Number plus unit |
|---|---|
| Supported units |
For imperial: Supported values: |
| Repeated field | No |
| File format | Example entry |
|---|---|
| Text feed |
|
| XML feed | <g:shipping_weight>3 kg</g:shipping_weight> |
To format your data for Content API, see the Content API for Shopping.
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 the Diagnostics page in 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 best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.
- Set up shipping services through Merchant Center. To take advantage of the weight that you submit, make sure to set up shipping services through Merchant Center. Learn more about configuring shipping settings.
- Use the actual shipping weight. Some carriers take into account both weight and package dimensions when calculating shipping cost. When you use a carrier-calculated setting, we’ll calculate the applicable shipping cost based on both weight and dimension. Submit dimensions through
shipping_length,shipping_width, andshipping_height. - Respect carrier weight limits. All carriers have limits to what can be shipped using their services and most carriers don't accept packages over a certain weight. Carrier-rates do not support products exceeding these limits and you should define shipping cost for them using shipping tables. Learn more about carrier calculated rates and supported countries / carriers.
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 Diagnostics in your Merchant Center account.
- Submit weight using the
shipping_weightattribute. - Submit dimensions using
shipping_length,shipping_width, andshipping_height. - Use a shipping table to set up LTL shipping costs in your account shipping settings. Carrier-calculated rates don’t support LTL pricing for heavy or large products.
- Submit the
shipping_labelattribute to assign a freight class to each product and define multiple shipping groups in Merchant Center. You can then create tables specific to each freight class. - Use the highest possible shipping a user might pay. If you have difficulties submitting accurate shipping cost (for example, due to real-time cost calculations at checkout), you should submit the highest possible shipping cost a user might pay.