Use the availability date [availability_date] attribute to tell customers when a preordered or backordered product will be shipped.
On this page
When to use
Optional for each product
Required if you set the availability
[availability]attribute topreorderorbackorder. (You can then provide the date (up to 1 year in the future) when your product will be available and get shipped using the availability date[availability_date]attribute).
Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data you're submitting. Learn how to Submit attributes and attribute values.
| Formatting specifications | |
|---|---|
| Technical name | availability_date |
| Type | Date, time, and timezone, ISO 8601 compliant ( YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm[±hhmm], or YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmZ) |
| Limits | 1 – 25 characters |
| Repeated field | No |
|
Schema.org property (What’s this?) |
Offer.availabilityStarts, Type: DateTime |
File format examples
To ensure your attribute is recognized correctly, use the formatting specific to your data source type.
| Data source format | Examples |
|---|---|
| Text (TSV or CSV) data sources |
|
| XML data sources | <g:availability_date>2016-11-25T13:00-0800</g:availability_date> |
|
Merchant API |
To format your data in the Merchant API, check the Merchant API resource. |
Minimum requirements
These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.
- There are no minimum requirements for this attribute. Keep in mind that you still need to follow the formatting guidelines or the information you submit can't be used.
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.
- Submit the availability date attribute for products with the availability
[availability]attribute value set topreorderorbackorder. - Specify a time and timezone in addition to the date. If you don't, the default time is 12 AM, midnight, in the UTC timezone.
-
Don’t include date ranges. Since the attribute is required for products with the availability
[availability]attribute value set topreorderorbackorder, Google recommends adding an estimated date (up to 1 year in the future) and updating the value as soon as the expected date the product can be shipped to the consumer is confirmed.
Examples
| Product data for an android squishable | |
| Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
preorder |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |
| Product data for an android squishable | |
| Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
backorder |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |
| Product data for an android squishable | |
| Release status | Not released |
| Attribute | Value |
Availability [availability] |
preorder |
Availability date [availability_date] |
2016-12-25T13:00-0800 |