A marketplace is an online platform that provides a place for multiple individual merchants to sell their products. This article explains how to submit your data if you're a marketplace.
This article does not apply to you if:
- You manage your own website. If you manage your own website and store and it's not part of a marketplace.
- You're managing sellers as an agency. Agencies are third parties that submit items to Google on behalf of individual retailers. Each individual retailer is a separate entity and has a unique domain for its website such as example.com.
- You're an individual seller on a marketplace. Individual sellers should submit their product data directly to the marketplace and make sure all of their products comply with Shopping policies. If a marketplace doesn't submit feeds on behalf of sellers, sellers can refer the marketplace to this article.
Note: If you plan to upload a large number of feeds or make frequent changes to your product data, it is strongly recommended that you upload this directly using the Content API.
Managing sellers on a marketplace
There are unique considerations for marketplaces in both setup and ongoing maintenance.
Setup
- Sign up with an email address you check regularly and adjust your preferences to ensure you receive the latest account updates and quality suggestions. Opt in to receive “opportunities” and “tips and best practices”. Learn more about Merchant Center email preferences
- Request a conversion of your account to an advanced account setup. Choose “Marketplace”. If you successfully convert to an advanced account setup, you will receive a new MCA.
- Separate each seller into its own sub-account in the MCA. This is required and will help you manage multiple sellers.
- Submit product data on behalf of your sellers in their respective sub-accounts. Don't ask sellers to submit their own data, as such submissions won't be accepted. It is strongly recommended that you use the Content API to directly upload product data.
Note: If you have a multi-seller account, the external seller ID
[external_seller_id] attribute is required and must meet validation criteria; otherwise your products will be disapproved. Learn more about the external seller ID [external_seller_id] attributeOngoing maintenance
Follow these guidelines for marketplaces.
- Help your sellers. Because you'll be using one account, you'll need to handle any questions that your individual sellers have.
- Comply with Shopping ads policies. All products in each of your sub-accounts must comply with Shopping policies. Otherwise, sub-accounts or your entire account could be deactivated
- Avoid duplicate products. Make sure you don't submit the same products for the same seller. You're allowed to submit the same products only if they're from different sellers.
Keep in mind
Google reserves the right to deactivate sub-accounts of individual marketplace sellers. Learn more about Item disapprovals for policy violationsRelated links
- About performance reporting for marketplaces in Merchant Center
- Convert to an advanced account setup
- Shopping policies
- Follow the Merchant Center guidelines
- Content API in Merchant Center