subscription_cost: Definition

Use the subscription_cost attribute to tell users the details of a monthly or annual payment plan that bundles a communications service contract with your wireless product (mobile phone or tablet).

Note: This attribute is currently not available in the United States or Latin America.

When to use

Optional for each product

The subscription_cost attribute uses 3 sub-attributes:
  • period (required)
    The duration of a single subscription period. Either “month” or “year”.
  • period_length (required) 
    Integer, the number of subscription periods (months or years) that the buyer must pay.

  • amount (required)
    ISO 4217, the amount the buyer must pay per month. When displaying this amount, we may round up to the nearest whole unit of local currency to save space. The provided value must still exactly match the amount as shown on your site.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure we understand the data you're submitting. 

Type Unicode characters (Recommended: ASCII only)
Repeated field No
 
File format Example entry
Text feeds

 

Format the value by submitting period, period_length and amount separated with colons ( : ). Don’t use quotation marks. For example, for 12 monthly payments of 50 EUR each, submit:


month:12:50 EUR

 
XML feeds

<g:subscription_cost>

  <g:period>month</g:period>

     <g:period_length>12</g:period_length>

  <g:amount>50 EUR</g:amount>

</g:subscription_cost>


For format API information, please see Content API for Shopping.

Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to make sure you submit high-quality data for your products and get the best performance from your ads.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show ads for your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in the Diagnostics page of your Merchant Center account. 

  • Submit the price attribute with the total amount due at checkout (including down payment and activation fee) for the product.
  • Match the communications payment plan that you display on your landing page. You can also display other communication options on your landing page, but the plan that you submit must be straightforward to find on the landing page.
  • Don’t require that users have a loyalty card to choose the service plan that you submit. 
  • Don't use the subscription_cost attribute for software subscriptions. Software subscriptions must be prepaid, and submitted using the yearly prepaid cost as the price attribute.Learn more about advertising software subscriptions

Best practices

These are best practices that can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance. 

  • Submit exact values for your subscription costs accordingly to ISO 4217. For example, submit 1.01 EUR instead of 1.0012 EUR, otherwise we will round the submitted value. Use the same currency for subscription_cost, installment and price.
  • If the product is also paid for in monthly installments, use the same number of months for the subscription_cost as for the installments.

Examples

Example of a mobile phone, sold with a subscription plan

Submit a total value for the down payment in the price attribute (as low as 0) and include any activation fees and/or one-time charges. Specify in your title that your wireless product requires a contract of a certain duration. Leave the installment attribute empty.

Product data for Google Pixel 5” 32GB Very Silver with a 12-month service contract, of 35 EUR per month, and a down payment of 649 EUR
Attribute Product data
id _pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract
title Google Pixel 5” 32GB Very Silver (with contract)
link https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone?sku=_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract_newsim&contract=yes
image_link https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone/silver.png
availability In Stock
price 649.00 EUR
installment (must be empty because there are no installment payments)
subscription_cost month:12:35.00 EUR
google_product_category Electronics > Communications > Telephony > Mobile Phones
brand Google
gtin 00821793049157
mpn G-2PW4100-021-B
condition New
color Very Silver
shipping 0.00 EUR
 

Example of a mobile phone sold in installments and bundled with a subscription plan

Submit a total value for the down payment (as low as 0) in the price attribute and include any activation fees and/or one-time charges. Submit zero in the price attribute if there are no up-front costs. Specify in your title that your wireless product requires a contract of a certain duration and an installment plan. 

Product data for Google Pixel 5” 32GB Very Silver with 12-month contract and paid in 12 monthly installments
Attribute Product data
id _pixel_phone_silver_32gb_contract_and_installments
title Google Pixel 5” 32GB Very Silver (with contract & SIM, 12 monthly payments)
link https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone?sku=_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract_newsim&contract=yes
image_link https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone/silver.png
availability     In Stock
price 0.00 EUR
installment 12:60.00 EUR
subscription_cost month:12:30.00 EUR
google_product_category Electronics > Communications > Telephony > Mobile Phones
brand Google
gtin 00821793049157
mpn G-2PW4100-021-B
condition New
color Very Silver
shipping 0.00 EUR

For more examples, please see the best practices for advertising wireless products and services

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