If Merchant Center flags a product for missing shipping, Google does not know what delivery costs for that product in the country you are targeting. In many countries that stops the product from showing. This guide explains when shipping is required, and where to set it for a Shopify store.
When Google requires shipping
Google requires shipping costs for Shopping ads and free listings in a list of countries that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France and Japan. Shopify's help page for the Google & YouTube channel puts it plainly: if an offer in one of those countries has no shipping information, the offer is disapproved.
- Required: A shipping cost for every region you ship to
- Currency: The currency of the target country
- Digital products: Google says to submit a shipping cost of 0
Set it at account level first
Google recommends account-level shipping settings and describes the per-product shipping attribute as an override, for cases like bulky or fragile items. In Merchant Center, shipping lives under Shipping and returns, on the Shipping policies tab, where you select Add shipping policy.
- Countries: Pick the countries that share the same costs
- Products: All products, or specific products grouped by a shipping label
- Speed: Handling time and transit time
- Cost: A cost type that matches what your site charges
On Shopify, check the channel setting
In the Google & YouTube channel settings, the Product feed section has a Shipping settings option with two choices. One imports your Shopify shipping rates automatically, and the other leaves shipping for you to set up in Merchant Center. With automatic import, Shopify re-imports your rates whenever your store's shipping settings change.
| Automatic import needs | What does not sync cleanly |
|---|---|
| A shipping zone for your target country in your General shipping profile | Rates in custom shipping profiles |
| Settings that pass Shopify's check | Carrier-calculated rates outside the supported carriers and countries |
If your setup does not qualify for automatic import, Shopify says to set your rates manually in Google Merchant Center.
Make the cost accurate
The cost you submit should reflect what a shopper pays for delivery. Google's guidance is to include every charge that is part of delivery, and to overestimate if you cannot calculate an exact figure.
- ✅ Shipping, handling and carrier charges, plus related insurance
- ✅ An overestimate when the exact cost is unknown
- ❌ Import duties and other government-imposed fees
- ❌ Free shipping promotions in the shipping cost, which Google wants submitted as promotions
Watch for overrides
If you send a price in the shipping attribute for a product, Google ignores your account-level delivery times and minimum order value for that product and location. That is a common reason for a product behaving differently from the rest of your catalog. For other disapprovals, see how to fix disapproved products.
Doing this at scale
FeedFix checks every product against Google Merchant Center and Meta Catalog rules and scores each one from 0 to 100 per channel. It drafts compliant title and description rewrites you review as before/after diffs, then apply in bulk, and every change is audit-logged. See FeedFix.