Subscription cost [subscription_cost]

Note: Products with the subscription cost [subscription_cost] attribute are not eligible for cross-border trade and can only have one targeted country.

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

When to use

Optional for each product

This attribute is only available in certain countries:

Africa: South Africa
Asia-Pacific: Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom
Middle East: Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
North America: Canada

This attribute is only supported for mobile products with the following Google product category code (GPC):

Watches (ID: 201)
Mobile phones (ID: 267)
Tablet computers (ID: 4745)
Mobile phone prepaid cards & SIM cards (ID: 6030)
GPS tracking devices (ID: 6544)

Australia: This attribute should not be used for wireless devices such as mobile phones or tablets advertised in Australia. Use the price [price] attribute to specify the minimum total cost ('minimum quantifiable price') of the device, including the deposit, instalment payments and wireless subscription plan. Use the title [title] attribute to indicate that the device is payable in instalments and if it comes with a wireless plan.

This attribute uses three sub-attributes:

Period [period] (Required): The duration of a single subscription period. Either month [month] or year [year].
Period length [period_length] (Required): Integer, the number of subscription periods (months or years) that the buyer must pay.
Amount [amount] (Required): ISO 4217, the amount that 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 the value by submitting period [period], period length [period_length] and amount [amount] separated with colons ( : ). Don't use quotation marks.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure that Google understands the data that you're submitting.

Learn when and how to submit product data in English

Type	Unicode characters (Recommended: ASCII only)
Repeated field	No

File format Example entry

Text (TSV)

File format	Example entry
Text (TSV)	`month:12:50 GBP`
XML (Feeds)	`<g:subscription_cost>` `<g:period>month</g:period>` `<g:period_length>12</g:period_length>` `<g:amount>50 GBP</g:amount>` `</g:subscription_cost>`

month:12:50 GBP

XML (Feeds)

<g:subscription_cost>

<g:period>month</g:period>

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

<g:amount>50 GBP</g:amount>

</g:subscription_cost>

To format your data for Content API, see the Content API for Shopping resource.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements that 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 your Merchant Center account.

Submit the price [price] attribute with the total amount due at checkout (including deposit 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 easy 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 [subscription_cost] attribute for software subscriptions. Software subscriptions must be prepaid, and submitted using the yearly prepaid cost as the price [price] attribute.
Use in approved countries only. Use of the subscription cost [subscription_cost] attribute in unapproved countries will result in disapprovals.
Use for approved product categories only. Use of the subscription cost [subscription_cost] attribute for other categories of products will result in disapprovals.

Best practices

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

Submit exact values for your subscription costs according to ISO 4217. For example, submit GBP 1.01 instead of GBP 1.0012, otherwise we will round the submitted value. Use the same currency for subscription cost [subscription_cost], instalment [installment] and price [price].
If the product is also paid for in monthly instalments, use the same number of months for the subscription cost [subscription_cost] as for the instalments.
If your product has instalment payments, submit the same number of months for the subscription cost [subscription_cost] attribute as for the instalment [installment] attribute. If the number of months is different and we need to combine your instalment and subscription cost due to space constraints, we will use the highest of the two values. For example, if your instalment plan is 12 months but your subscription service contract is 24, we will use 24 months.
If the subscription cost for your product increases after a certain period of time, you must use the highest payment in the amount [amount] sub-attribute. For example, if the subscription payment increases from GBP 25 to GBP 35 after 12 months, specify GBP 35.

Examples

Mobile phone, sold with a subscription plan

Submit a total value for the deposit in the price [price] attribute (as low as 0) and include any activation fees and/or one-off charges. Specify in your title that your mobile product requires a contract of a certain duration. Leave the instalment [installment] attribute empty.

Product data for a Google Pixel 5" 32 GB Very Silver with a 12-month service contract of GBP 35 per month and a deposit of GBP 649
Attribute	Value
ID `[id]`	_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract
Title `[title]`	Google Pixel 5" 32 GB Very Silver (with contract)
Link `[link]`	https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone?sku=_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract_newsim&contract=yes
Image link `[image_link]`	https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone/silver.png
Availability `[availability]`	`in_stock`
Price `[price]`	649.00 GBP
Instalment `[installment]`	(Must be empty because there are no instalment payments)
Subscription cost `[subscription_cost]`	`month:12:35.00 GBP`
Google product category `[google_product_category]`	`Electronics > Communications > Telephony > Mobile phones`
Brand `[brand]`	Google
GTIN `[gtin]`	00821793049157
MPN `[mpn]`	G-2PW4100-021-B
Condition `[condition]`	`new`
Colour `[color]`	Very Silver
Shipping `[shipping]`	0.00 GBP

Mobile phone sold in instalments and bundled with a subscription plan

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

Product data for a Google Pixel 5" 32 GB Very Silver with 12-month contract and paid in 12 monthly instalments
Attribute	Value
ID `[id]`	_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_contract_and_instalments
Title `[title]`	Google Pixel 5 32 GB Very Silver (with contract and 12 instalment payments)
Link `[link]`	https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone?sku=_pixel_phone_silver_32gb_12month_contract_newsim&contract=yes
Image link `[image_link]`	https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone/silver.png
Availability `[availability]`	`in_stock`
Price `[price]`	0.00 GBP
Instalment `[installment]`	12:60.00 GBP
Subscription cost `[subscription_cost]`	`month:12:30.00 GBP`
Google product category `[google_product_category]`	`Electronics > Communications > Telephony > Mobile phones`
Brand `[brand]`	Google
GTIN `[gtin]`	00821793049157
MPN `[mpn]`	G-2PW4100-021-B
Condition `[condition]`	`new`
Colour `[color]`	Very Silver
Shipping `[shipping]`	0.00 GBP

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?