About shipping settings
When submitting your products to Merchant Center, you’ll also provide information about how much you charge for shipping. Your shipping settings are used across Google programs, including Shopping ads and Shopping Actions. Shipping cost is the most common reason for users abandoning their shopping choices, so setting up your shipping settings to display accurate information can help the performance of your ads.
This article explains how the various settings work and when you would use them. Learn more about setting up shipping settings
Submit shipping correctly for your target country
Australia, France, and United States
- Required for products that target any of these countries.
- Match availability on your landing page with the shipping information that you submit to Merchant Center. If you don’t deliver your products across the entire target country, then use No shipping to exclude certain states or postal codes.
- Submit the shipping cost for a user's location, not for a business or separate collection point.
Japan
- Optional for products that target this country.
- Match availability on your landing page with the shipping information that you submit to Merchant Center. If you don’t deliver your products across the entire target country, then use “No shipping” to exclude certain prefectures.
- Submit the shipping cost for a user's location, not for a business or separate collection point
Czechia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
- Required for products that target any of these countries.
- Submit the shipping cost for a user's location, not for a business or separate collection point.
Norway or Sweden
- Optional for products that target any of these countries.
- Submit the shipping cost for either a user’s location or for a collection point. For Sweden and Norway, you can instead submit the shipping cost to a collection point for the following carriers: PostNord, DHL, Bring, and Schenker.
Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Vietnam
- Optional for products that target any of these countries.
- Submit the shipping cost for a user's location, not for a business or separate collection point.
How it works
To show ads to a particular country or region, you must offer shipping and correctly set up shipping costs for that area. The shipping costs that you submit to Merchant Center must match the costs you charge on your website or at least overestimate those costs.
Because shipping costs vary by a variety of factors, the shipping settings in Merchant Center allow you to set up shipping tables based on factors like weight, price, destination, and more. Choose the shipping options that mirror how you charge shipping on your site. If you charge your customers exactly what you pay for shipping with common carriers, you can also select carrier rates in some countries and Google will automatically calculate shipping cost for you.
These settings can also take into account the product data that you submit through the shipping attributes: shipping_label, shipping_weight, dimensions (shipping_length, shipping_width, shipping_height).
What should be included in shipping
Shipping covers the cost charged by a shipping carrier or other cost directly related to shipping. A charge is considered to be a shipping cost if it’s described using 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 five terms above.
Ways to set up shipping
To get started with shipping, figure out what types of shipping cost models you need to add based on how you charge shipping. Keep in mind that the shipping costs that you submit to Merchant Center must match the costs you charge on your website or at least overestimate those costs.
| How you charge | Shipping option | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Free shipping for certain ranges | Free | Simple to configure and maintain |
| A flat shipping rate for all orders | Fixed rate | Simple to configure and maintain |
| Your shipping is based on rates from supported carriers | Carrier rate along with the shipping_weight and dimension attributes (available for AU, DE, and US) |
Rates are automatically calculated based on common carrier rates for all users, and the rates update if the carrier rates change |
| Based on a percentage of the order cost | Percentage of order total | Simple to configure and maintain and allows for varied shipping rates based on price |
| Based on more than 2 dimensions | Subtable | Add additional dimensions to your shipping service |
| Exclude a group of products from delivery in a shipping service | No shipping | Easily define products that you want to exclude from the shipping service |
| Unique shipping costs for one particular product | the shipping attribute |
Allows you to manually override account settings for a product with unique shipping rates |
Shipping-related product data
Shipping cost is often dependent on product details such as price, weight, or size. If you charge shipping based on these attributes or if you want to use carrier rates (which are calculated based on weight and size) you should add the relevant information to your product data.
| Based on product weight | the shipping_weight attribute (and account shipping settings) |
Include a shipping weight for each product so you can vary the shipping cost based on the weight |
| Based on product dimensions | the shipping_length, shipping_width, and shipping_height attributes (and account shipping settings) |
Include dimensions of a product to use for carrier rates |
| Different shipping costs for a group of products | the shipping_label attribute (and account shipping settings) |
Define groups of products (e.g., perishable or oversized) and then apply special shipping rates to those groups |
How more advanced shipping settings work
Depending on your shipping model, you might want to learn more about one or more of the more advanced settings described here.
Carrier rates (AU, DE, UK, and US only)
| Region | Supported shipping carrier |
|---|---|
| Australia | AusPost, TNT, TOLL |
| Germany | DHL, DPD, Hermes, UPS |
| United Kingdom | DHL, DPD, Royal Mail, TNT, UPS, Yodel |
| United States | FedEx, UPS, USPS |
To use carrier rates, you’ll also need to submit shipping-related attributes (see table above):
shipping_weightshipping_lengthshipping_widthshipping_height
Learn more about setting up carrier rates.
Rate modifications
Carrier rates use the standard commercial rates for each carrier, but you can adjust the rates (up or down) by a percentage or flat amount.
Some carriers have multiple rates for commercial and personal purposes. Google uses commercial rates (e.g., “Standard” for FedEx and “Daily” for UPS). If you use non-commercial shipping rates (often called retail), you’ll likely need to adjust the rates up by 50 – 60%.
If you have a contract with the carrier, then you might need to adjust your rates up or down (using a negative number) by a percentage or flat amount.
Subtables and complex shipping models
Shipping from outside the country of sale
- If you ship across borders, you normally incur additional costs such as customs, duties or import tax. Do not include such costs in the shipping attribute unless the shipping provider is fully responsible for the handling of goods through customs and the cost is included under a shipping term on your website. Learn more about export requirements
Note: Shipping to South Korea from outside South Korea is not permitted.
No shipping
Delivery zones (AU, FR, and US only)
Oversize and freight shipping (LTL)
- Tag oversized or heavy products with the
shipping_labelattribute. With theshipping_labelattribute, you can give oversized products a label (e.g., oversized) and then specify special shipping for those products. For example, you could add a shipping label for common freight classes. - Add rates based on weight and destination using tables and shipping groups. It’s easiest to split up complicated shipping settings, either by using subtables or shipping groups.
- Base rates on shipping labels. Using shipping labels, you can create different rate tables for different product groups by creating shipping groups. For example, you could use the
shipping_labelattribute to indicate a freight class for each product. Then create a group for each label such as one group for Class 70 and one for Class 100. - Base rates on weight and location. If you don’t want to use shipping labels, you can link subtables for different weight classes with different rates for each state or group of postal codes.
- Base rates on shipping labels. Using shipping labels, you can create different rate tables for different product groups by creating shipping groups. For example, you could use the
- Overestimate the cost. If you can’t provide an accurate cost, then overestimate. Your products won’t be disapproved for providing a higher shipping cost than what your website states. If you provide a lower cost, your products will be disapproved.
Shipping from multiple locations
- Tag products with the
shipping_labelattribute. With theshipping_labelattribute, you can add the source or location of your products as a label (e.g., “Atlanta”). - Use shipping groups. If you have shipping labels for your source locations, you can specify special shipping for those products by creating a separate shipping group. For example, you could create two shipping groups for products coming from two different locations.
- Specify one carrier service per source location. Carrier rates allow an origin postal code. If you ship using common carriers, you can use this to automatically calculate shipping cost. For example, if you ship items under 50 lbs from one location, you can assign a carrier rate to that set of products.
Keep in mind that if you dynamically choose where to ship from at the time the user checks out, there is currently no way that this can be configured in Google Shopping. Learn more about setting up shipping settings
Estimated delivery time
Transit time refers to the time it takes the shipping company to deliver the product to your customer. You can configure transit time options within each shipping service in your Merchant Center account.
Handling time refers to the time it takes for an order to be ready for pickup by the delivery company. This includes the time to process the order, send it to the distribution center and the time until it is picked up by a delivery company. You submit this either in Merchant Center within the shipping service or with your product data (use the
max_handling_time and min_handling_time attributes). Learn more about setting up estimated delivery timeHoliday shipping cut-off
Merchant Center is programmed to offer holiday shipping cut-offs for the following US holidays:
- Valentine’s Day
- Easter
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Independence Day
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas