As from Monday 16th May Google’s new GTIN requirement will come into force. If you haven’t read previous blogs (or received an email from Google) about the change it means all merchants must supply GTINs for all products where they have deemed that GTINs are available, otherwise they shall be disapproved in Google shopping.
Not all products require a GTIN – only the brands that Google have determined need one.
What this means for our clients.
At Feed Manager we have identified a long list of additional brands that require a correct GTIN in order to be loaded to Google. From tomorrow, all products that fail to have a valid GTIN for these brands will be removed from feeds to Google. But they will appear on your error reports from us so you can see a full list of products affected.
You will see a series of new messages in our import error report. These warnings are based on simpler versions of Google’s own messages in their diagnostics.
| Google diagnostic | What it means |
| Coupon Code GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
| GTIN is not associated with this brand | This GTIN is not within the range owned by the brand used in the product detail – replace |
| Invalid GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
| Item from a designated brand uses a restricted GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
| Item uses a restricted GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
| Reserved range GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
| Restricted usage GTIN | Not a universal GTIN value – cannot be used – remove and replace |
All GTINs that we have seen so far that trip any of these warnings are now part of our product verification processes, and will be rejected on import.
There is only one GTIN error that we cannot prevent from being included in a Google submission. This will generate Google’s ‘GTIN not associated with this brand’ error. This error is caused by a merchant using a legitimate GTIN, but not one within the range of valid GTINs used by that specific brand. So the number itself is OK, but not in the context of how it’s being used.
Any other GTIN errors remaining within Merchant Centres from Monday 16 May are those we haven’t been able to identify yet, but this is a continuous process and we shall continue to add them to our GTIN/ Brand list.
