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 you’ll want to be sure your shipping settings are accurate and up-to-date.
This article explains how the various shipping settings work and when to 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 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, 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 that you charge on your website. Note: If there is a discrepancy between the shipping cost on your website and the shipping cost you submit to Merchant Center, the cost submitted to Merchant Center needs to be the greater of the two.
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 for 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 the shipping cost for you.
Shipping settings can also take into account product data that you submit using 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 cost 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 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.
Product details | Attribute | What to add |
Product weight | The shipping_weight attribute |
Include a shipping weight for each product so you can vary the shipping cost based on the weight |
Product dimensions | The shipping_length , shipping_width , and shipping_height attributes |
Include dimensions of a product to use for carrier rates |
Different shipping costs for a group of products | The shipping_label attribute |
Define groups of products (e.g., perishable or oversized) and then apply special shipping rates to those groups |
Different transit times for a group of products | The transit_time_label attribute |
Specify transit times for product groups to provide greater accuracy in estimated delivery dates |
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_weight
shipping_length
shipping_width
shipping_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)
Transit time labels
transit_time_label
attribute to the corresponding products in your feed. Transit time labels help give your customers a more accurate estimated delivery date, which can help influence their purchase decision. Learn more about transit time labelsOversize and freight shipping (LTL)
- Tag oversized or heavy products with the
shipping_label
attribute. With theshipping_label
attribute, 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_label
attribute 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 than the one listed on your website, your products will be disapproved.
Estimated delivery time
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