Merchant Center Availability
Missing inventory and wrong availability
If the page cannot sell it, the feed cannot call it in stock.
Missing inventory data and incorrect availability mean Google cannot confirm the product can be bought in the way you described. The feed, the Shopify stock, and the landing page have to agree. Preorder and backorder need a date the shopper can see.
Line the three up
- Shopify stock for the variant, in the location you actually ship from.
- The availability value in the feed: in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder.
- The product page: a buy button, or a clear sold-out state. A page that 404s is not “in stock”.
A preorder without availability_date, or a date the page does not show, is incomplete. Pickup-only goods need that limit written on the page. Google’s landing-page rules say the availability has to be visible.
Questions people ask
The product is in stock in Shopify. Why the error?
The feed may be stale, the variant id may point at a sold-out size, or the page the feed links may not be the variant you think.
Should out-of-stock products stay in the feed?
They can, if the page says they are out of stock and the feed says the same. Calling them in stock is the failure.
Does a preorder need a ship date?
Yes. Submit availability_date and show the expected ship timing on the page.
Google’s own pages