Local inventory ads and free local product listings policies

The local inventory ads and free local product listings feature are designed to surface local product and store information to users when the item they're searching for is available nearby. It's available for retailers who have local brick and mortar business locations in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, Ukraine, the US, UAE, and Vietnam.

To participate in local inventory ads and free local product listings, you must adhere to Shopping ads policies and the following exceptions and additions.

On this page

• Exceptions
• Additional requirements
• Troubleshooting common issues

Exceptions

The following Shopping ads policies don't apply to local inventory ads and free local product listings:

• Online payment and transaction requirements. Your site doesn't require an online checkout and payment option. If you offer online checkout and payment, you must adhere to website policies, including the posting of return and refund information. Learn more about quality standards for your ads and website
• Shipping. Given that local inventory ads and free local product listings require an in-store purchase and pickup, no shipping information is required.

Additional requirements

The following additional restrictions apply to participate in local inventory ads and free local product listings (not Shopping ads):

• Brick and mortar business location: You must have a local brick and mortar business location where customers can physically visit, view, and purchase the desired item.
• No membership exclusivity: If you require customers to be a club or store member to purchase products, you’re ineligible to participate in local inventory ads and free local product listings. However, you’re eligible to participate if non-members are also allowed to purchase, even if at a different price. If you offer tiered pricing, you must submit the non-member price using the price [price] attribute and ensure this non-member price is clearly displayed on your landing page. Member-specific pricing must be submitted using the loyalty program [loyalty_program] attribute.
• Additional fees: You must include any additional fees charged at checkout in the total product price. Follow tax and pricing according to your online offers and add any other additional fees to the product price. For additional fees charged only in certain locations, we recommend using merchant hosted local storefront (full) so your products are eligible to serve for all locations.
• Content policies: You can't advertise via local inventory ads and free local product listings if your store's primary purpose is to promote products that violate Shopping ads' content policies.
• Country: You must be physically located in the country for which your ads are targeted.
• Inventory verifications: You may be asked to participate in inventory verifications.

Troubleshooting common issues

• Missing inventory data or disapproved products: If your products are disapproved or show as 'Limited' due to missing inventory data, ensure you have submitted a local product inventory data source in Merchant Center. This data source needs attributes like store_code, id, availability, quantity, and price. Also, confirm that local inventory ads and/or free local listings are enabled as destinations for your data sources. Allow 24-48 hours for processing after updates. If the 'No physical stores found in countries of sale' error occurs, double-check your linked Google Business Profile, ensure store locations are verified with store codes, and that your local inventory data source has matching store codes.
• Mismatched data source attributes: Verify that the store code in your local inventory data source matches your Google Business Profile store codes. The item_id in the local inventory data source must align with the id in your primary product data source. Check for consistent data source labels and language settings. Ensure your local inventory data source is correctly set up as a 'local product inventory' type.
• Online-only businesses: If your business is online-only and you're viewing local listing issues, disable 'Local inventory ads' and 'Free local listings' in Merchant Center (Settings > Add-ons > Your add-ons). Uncheck "Free Local Listings" and "Local inventory ads" as Marketing methods in your data source set-up.