Missing Shipping Information
Your product has no shipping rules configured in Google Merchant Center for the countries you're targeting. Google requires that every product shows a delivery cost and estimated delivery window to shoppers before they click — it's part of the shopping experience guarantee. Missing shipping information means the product can't show in ads because Google doesn't know what to display in the 'Free shipping' or 'Arrives by [date]' line under your ad.
Missing shipping information [shipping]Impact: Products without shipping information are disapproved for Shopping ads in every country where shipping is missing. You cannot serve ads for these products until at least one shipping option (cost + estimated delivery time) is configured for each target country.
Root Causes
- 1You haven't set up account-level shipping rules in Merchant Center, and no product-level shipping attribute is in your feed — products have no shipping info at all.
- 2You configured shipping only for your home country but your Google Ads campaign targets additional countries where no shipping service is defined.
- 3Your feed explicitly includes an empty shipping column, which overrides any account-level shipping settings you may have configured.
- 4A feed app updated the shipping column and accidentally wrote a blank value, wiping out your previously working shipping config.
- 5You added a new product type or weight range that falls outside your existing shipping weight tiers, leaving those products without a matching rule.
Fix by Platform
- 1The simplest fix: set up shipping at the Merchant Center account level. In GMC, go to Shipping and returns → Shipping services → Create a service. Define cost (flat rate or free) and delivery time (e.g., 3–7 business days) for each target country.
- 2Account-level shipping applies to all products automatically. This is the recommended approach for most stores.
- 3If you prefer product-level shipping (e.g., different rates per product): in the Google & YouTube Sales Channel or your feed app, enable the 'shipping' attribute and set it per product or variant.
- 4Do NOT add an empty shipping column to your feed — an empty value overrides your account-level settings. Either populate the column with valid shipping data, or remove the column entirely.
- 5Verify in GMC → Products → Diagnostics that the error is specifically 'Missing shipping information' and not 'Incorrect shipping cost' — they have different root causes.
When This Doesn't Apply
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Frequently Asked Questions
I have shipping set up in Merchant Center. Why do my products still show this error?+
The most common cause is a blank shipping column in your feed that overrides your account settings. Open your actual feed file (download the latest version from GMC → Feeds → your feed name) and look for a 'shipping' column. If it's there but has blank values for some products, that's your problem — either delete the column or populate it correctly.
What's the minimum I need for shipping to count as 'configured'?+
Google requires at least: (1) one shipping cost value (can be $0 for free shipping), and (2) one delivery time estimate (e.g., '3-7 business days'). A service name is optional. Both must be defined for each target country — not just your home country.
Should I use account-level or product-level shipping settings?+
Account-level is simpler and covers all products automatically. Use product-level shipping when you have meaningful variation in shipping cost or delivery time by product (e.g., heavy furniture ships differently than a t-shirt). For most Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix stores, account-level shipping is the right choice.
My shipping is free for all products. Do I still need to configure it?+
Yes. 'Free shipping' is still a shipping configuration — it's just a cost of $0. Go to GMC → Shipping and returns, create a service, set the cost to $0, and add your delivery time. Free shipping actually improves your CTR significantly (Google shows a 'Free delivery' badge under your ad).
How long after fixing shipping does it take for products to get re-approved?+
Once you've configured shipping and your feed is re-fetched (or you manually trigger a rescan in GMC → Feeds), affected products typically re-enter review within 24–48 hours and are approved within 3–5 business days for established accounts.