New Google Merchant Center Rules: Is Your Online Store Ready?

New Rules for Online Sellers

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The first wave of Google Merchant Center rules rolled out yesterday (April 8). This introduced three important changes:

• New installment pricing rules – Google no longer supports using the [price] attribute for deposits on installment products (usually expensive goods where customers might want to split the payments), so online businesses must now use the [downpayment] sub-attribute within the [installment] attribute. This change helps customers see the correct pricing when paying in full or via installments.
• New energy labels for EU countries – This change specifically applies to merchants selling in EU countries, meaning products will now display a broader [certification] attribute and support new and old EU energy labels. However, some countries (Norway, Switzerland, and the UK) will continue to show the original energy efficiency class attributes, so make sure you swap to the new energy label type if relevant to your business.
• Improved delivery details – You can now add more delivery options and detail to your products, including the ability to note how many business days it might take to ship so accurate delivery times are displayed on ads and product listings.

What’s Changing in July?

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Google will update its Merchant Center again on July 1, 2025, with additional changes and rules, including:

• Member pricing updates – If you’re offering memberships and loyalty discounts, you’ll have to swap from the usual pricing attributes to use the [loyalty_program] attribute instead or risk your products getting rejected. This applies to member programs that are both free and paid to join.
• No US sales tax requirements – From July, businesses won’t need to provide sales tax information through your Merchant Center settings. This means that any products previously removed because of a lack of tax information could start reappearing in search results and ad campaigns.

While only phase one of the new Google Merchant Center rules has rolled out, it’s important to prepare your business to avoid missing out on sales and traffic. If the April or July changes apply to your store, make sure to update how you display your pricing and relevant product information.