cost_of_goods_sold (cogs): Definition

 

When to use

 

Optional for all products

 

Use this attribute when reporting purchased item information using the global site tag. This data is used to calculate an estimated gross profit of your products. Gross profit is the difference between your revenue and the cost of goods sold (COGS). The information that you share with Google regarding COGS is for reporting purposes and does not need to be exact. You need only to provide a rough estimate of your actual COGS in order to get an indication of how much profit you made through conversions. If your COGS varies for a given product, we recommend you provide an average.

Format

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

Type	Number plus currency (use ISO 4217)
Repeated field	No

 

File Format	Example Entry
Text/Tab delimited	10.01 USD
XML (Feeds)	<g:cost_of_goods_sold>10.01 USD </g:cost_of_goods_sold>

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

 

Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to make sure you submit high-quality data for your products.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements your provided value will need to meet. If you don't follow these requirements, your items may not be eligible for reporting, which could result in incomplete reporting data.

• Use the currency with ISO 4217 codes e.g. "USD".
• Use '.' rather than ',' to indicate a decimal point.

Best Practices

Go beyond the basic requirements and optimize your product data for performance with best practices.  

• Use the same currency for COGS that you use for the price reported in conversion. This way you will avoid accidental inconsistencies due to currency conversion rates. 

Examples