Google Merchants/Shopping - Create Your Data Feed (Tax & Shipping)

Overview

The tax setting should only be used for merchants submitting feeds to the US. Please do not use this setting if you are not submitting feeds to the US. For Canada and India, it is required to submit prices which are exclusive of applicable taxes (including, for example, value added tax). For all other countries, it is required to submit prices which are tax inclusive.

You can submit this information in two ways:

1. Set account-level default values in your Google Merchant Center account: These preferences will serve as the default values for all of your items. This is the easiest way to set up tax and shipping for your account.
2. Include item-level override values in your data feeds or via the API: These values will override your account-level default settings for that item.

Tax (US only)

You have three options in your Google Merchant Center account:

1. Opt to not charge tax.
2. Set a tax rate based on the state an item ships to.
3. Use an estimate based on the destination ZIP code. Note: To estimate the tax rate, we use data from Tax Data Systems based on the destination ZIP code.

You can also include item-level override values using the new 'tax' attribute, which replaces the attributes 'tax percent' and 'tax region'.

Important: For your tax rate to appear in the search results, it is required to have shipping submitted for your items.

'tax'

The 'tax' attribute is an item-level override for merchant-level tax settings as defined in your Google Merchant Center account. Format: Each tax attribute group consists of four sub-attributes: Name Requirement Description Examples country optional The country an item is taxed in (as an ISO 3166 country code) US region optional The geographic region that a tax rate applies to, e.g., in the US, the two-letter state abbreviation, ZIP code, or ZIP code range using * wildcard CA, 946* rate required The tax rate as a percent of the item price, i.e., number, as a percentage 8.25 tax ship optional Boolean value for whether you charge tax on shipping, y for yes or n for no - the default value is n y Note:If country and region are not included, we assume the rate is for the target country of the item. If region is included, then country must be included as well. If region is not included, the rate is for the entire country. If tax ship is not included, the default value is 'n'.

Tab-delimited example: Separate each sub-attribute with a colon, and each tax attribute group with a comma. All colons, even for blank values, are required, i.e., three colons are required. ::0: US::0: US:CA:8.25:y,US:926*:8.75:y

XML example: The four sub-attributes are country, region, rate, and tax ship. Include each tax attribute group as a separate attribute.    US    CA    8.25    y

Shipping

You have three options in your Google Merchant Center account:

1. Specify a flat shipping rate (or free shipping).
2. Define custom tables if the shipping rate you charge varies by price, weight, or number of items. Note: If you define a table based on the number of items, for now, we'll use the rate in the first row only.
3. (US only) Apply a carrier-calculated rate if the shipping rate you charge is based on rates from UPS, FedEx, or USPS. Note: We use daily rates for UPS, and standard (non-retail counter) rates for FedEx.

If you use either the carrier-calculated option (US only) or the weight-based table option, please be sure to include the'shipping weight' attribute. You can include item-level override values if, for instance, you sell oversized items, calculate a specific rate for each item, or have separate rates for specific regions. Please use the revised 'shipping' attribute for this option.

Note: Please remember that you must only provide direct-to-consumer shipping rates, as per our Program Policies. Rates for other methods, like ship-to-store delivery, are not allowed.

'shipping'

The 'shipping' attribute is an item-level override for merchant-level shipping settings as defined in your Google Merchant Center account. Format: Each shipping attribute group consists of four sub-attributes: Name Requirement Description Examples country required The country an item will ship to (as an ISO 3166 country code) US region optional The geographic region that a shipping rate applies to, e.g., in the US, the two-letter state abbreviation, ZIP code, or ZIP code range using * wildcard Note: Please be aware that values of the shipping attribute should be in order from the most specific to the most broad geographic target areas. For example, please put all the zip code level shipping attribute values first, and end with the broadest shipping attribute values for the whole US that apply when no other more specific values apply. CA, 94* service optional The service class or delivery speed Ground price required Fixed shipping price (including VAT). Only ship-to-consumer rates are allowed. 7.95 USD Note: If country isn't included, we'll assume the shipping price applies to the target country of the item. If region isn't included, the shipping price will apply across the entire country.

Tab-delimited example: Separate each sub-attribute with a colon, and each shipping attribute group with a comma. All colons, even for blank values, are required, i.e., three colons are required. :::7.95 USD US:::7.95 USD US:MA:Ground:5.95 USD,US:024*:Ground:7.95 USD

XML example: The four sub-attributes are country, region, service, and price. Include each shipping attribute group as a separate attribute.     US     MA     Ground     5.95 USD

More detailed examples for the US

Shipping Defaults

You can setup one shipping default per region. For example, if you are submitting products to both Google Shopping US and Google Shopping Germany, you could set up one shipping default with the region as Germany and the other with the shipping region as the US. The US default rule will then be applied to your offers submitted to Google Shopping US, and the German default rule will be applied to your offers submitted to Google Shopping US. This allows you to automatically show accurate shipping information for products targeted in different regions.

> Update your Google Merchant Center account settings with tax and shipping information