New Google Taxonomy and GPS Specifications February 19, 2015

Just an fyi. Cindy checked her listings at Bonanza too and they have not updated the site with the new taxonomy.

Fortunately for us, Cindy had to replace her bookmarks after her computer crashed. It was while she was hunting for this list that she realized it had been updated.

Presto has given me a response to my email but I included a few more in my reply so I will wait until he responds back and bring it all here for those who may need it.

Note...I'm not familiar with Etsy's listing practice, but we all know that no matter what category we choose, Bonanza's can be different so we should all check WHEREVER we list to be sure we are spot on. It's been very frustrating for me because I have always done well with some of my categories and it's like I closed up shop of something.

This is from Google on the new requirements:
support.google.com/merchants/answer/6231410?hl=en

They are setting dates to begin enforcement. Would have been nice if they told us about it first....

OK, I've heard back from Presto, Here's the complete conversation.


Moms Pennies From Heaven <momspennies@gmail.com>
9:59 AM (9 hours ago)

to webmaster
Good Morning...

It has come to my attention that Google released a new list of product specifications for our category feeds.

Can you advise if we will now need to edit all our listings to match or has Presto taken steps to update our feeds with this new information? Books (Media) is one of the categories that has been changed. I haven't looked at any others yet. This will effect over 600+ listings I currently have assigned according to the old list.

Here is the new list dated Feb 19,2015
www.google.com/basepages/producttype/taxonomy.en-US.txt

Thanks for your input on this.
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webmaster@prestobiz.com
2:43 PM (4 hours ago)

to me
Hi Marianna,

Your feed to Google has been validated to meet the requirements which will be required on September 15, 2015.

Google has updated the Google categories (called the Google Product Taxonomy) including rolling up all "Books" items under the Google category of "Media > Books". However, Google accepts the sub-categories for Books if you have them defined on your items.

Here is the official rule from Google regarding Google categories assigned to your items:

"Values you submit for the 'google product category' attribute can be any taxonomy value we've published since August 2011."

Therefore, you can continue to use "Media > Books > Non-Fiction > Family Relationship Books" or simply set the Google category as "Media > Books". This also holds true for all other changes in Google categories.

(Optional) Although it is not required, the following are categories that Google recommends a switch to the latest Google categories. It may have a small benefit for exposure of items to use the new categories under the following:

Arts & Crafts
Decor
Hardware
Sporting Goods
Motor Vehicle Parts & Accessories

As you identified, the new list of Google categories can be found on Google's Taxonomy page:
www.google.com/basepages/producttype/taxonomy.en-US.txt

The good news is that you should not have to make any changes to "Books" and all of the changes for Google categories are optional for your existing shopping feed.

Best regards,

Peter C. | PrestoStore Webmaster
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Moms Pennies From Heaven <momspennies@gmail.com>
3:28 PM (3 hours ago)

to webmaster
Thank you Peter...

Can you advise on this?
Google has Media > Music & Sound Recordings
Is this the one I need to use now for Music CD's and Audio Books?

I spent several hours today switching all my Candle holders over to the new taxonomy. Despite what Google is saying, these have always been my best selling products and sales have been non existent for months in that category, unless they come from my Pinterest Catalogs. For this reason, I feel Google has been hiding this category. There has definitely been a slow down for some time now, and as a group, none of us could pinpoint the problem. It's only because Cindy's computer crashed and she had to hunt for a new bookmark that she came upon the updated list. Why is it that Google does not notify us of these changes? Do they notify you? I notice that Bonanza has not updated it's site either to include these new changes. I don't care about that store though because I feed only from my webstore at Presto. And it's important to me that it is correct.

NOW, Lois advises me that she is seeing something about shipping having to be set. How does that effect those of is who have calculated shipping set up? Here is the paragraph from Google:

support.google.com/merchants/answer/6231410?hl=en

Shipping costs: You need to submit accurate shipping costs for the US, UK, Germany, Australia, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Japan. If accurate shipping price configuration is not possible, you'll need to overestimate the shipping cost when you enter it.
I will wait on your response before I share this in the group at Facebook.
Thanks Peter.
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webmaster@prestobiz.com
5:00 PM (2 hours ago)

to me
Hi Marianna,

The Google category of "Media > Music & Sound Recordings" would be used for all Music CD's and audio books.

Unfortunately Google does not notify us of changes until a warning or error appears in one of your Google Shopping accounts that we manage for PrestoStore sellers. In the case of the February announcement, the warning only mentioned the required field changes (which we already properly set for feeds to Google). This includes the shipping for items and the calculated shipping method when you use calculated shipping. We currently submit accurate shipping within the feed (or, weights and shipping method for calculated shipping). No changes are required by sellers for the feeds.

Thank you for notifying the other members of the FB group.

Best regards,

Peter C. | PrestoStore Webmaster

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This is an fyi for anyone who may have had questions about the new update...

Sharon, What I do is choose "collectible" and then in the listing indicate that the item is new. This refers to Presto listings... The reason I do this is because there is no indicator for the buyer to see on the listing page that tells the buyer whether an items is new or used. So I just mention it in the listing itself and the choose collectible. There are quite a few of my holders that have no MPN to reference, even though they are new. Glass is a tough category to begin with. We have to find a way to work around these issues that we have no control over.

I know this is a long post, but please do read it as it provides some detailed info that's important to us. Topics covered include GTINs and finding UPIs, using the product type attribute to provide more specific categories than the taxonomy, and info related to offering calculated shipping and how we can override what is shown in GPS.

Unique Product Identifiers (UPIs)

About GTINs, I thought the MPN was considered as one. Although, I don't think I've been entering them as GTINs, whether the UPC, MPN or ISBN. I'm not sure if eCrater automatically translates them to GTINs or not, but I haven't been entering UPCs for everything because I thought the MPN was the more important one.

For those items you have trouble providing UPIs for, this is what Google says: "Where unique product identifiers are required but no such identifier exists for an item (e.g. custom goods), submit the 'identifier exists' attribute with a value of FALSE." The attribute name would be entered as identifier_exists. As for the value, I've always entered it in lowercase and it's accepted. Here's what Google suggests for finding UPIs:

When you're working with unique product identifiers, it's important that you don't invent or approximate the values. Each product has a prescribed value assigned by the manufacturer, and any other value will be flagged as invalid.

Ways to find unique product identifiers:

• Refer to the GTIN on your product's packaging. Learn more
• Use the Google Shopping "Compare prices" page under the "Details" section for any product.
• Look up UPCs or EANs at the Internet UPC Database website, which includes many, though not all product identifiers that have been issued.
• Look up ISBNs at ISBNdb.com or on Google Books.
• Contact your product's manufacturer to ask for it.
  

Source: support.google.com/merchants/answer/160161 (scroll down to Troubleshooting)

Product Type Attribute for More Specific Categories

One good thing I've noticed relates to the categories I've been including on my eCrater listings. I've been using the 'product type' attribute for those, so I don't have to worry about updating them -- at least not in order for Google to accept them. I do need to update them, though, and add them for the newer listings since I quit including it when I thought it had to follow the ever-changing taxonomy.

The 'product type' attribute is perfect for providing a more specific category than the taxonomy, particularly where media and collectibles are concerned. You can base the categories you use on your own shop's category structure or just conjure them up willy-nilly to include any searchable keywords. If conjuring them up, make sure you follow the rules of category structures -- putting the main category at the beginning and breaking them down into subs.

For Calculated Shipping Users

For those who use calculated shipping, this is what Google says:

If you choose carrier-calculated rates, you'll always need to include the 'shipping weight' attribute; the 'shipping length', 'shipping width', and 'shipping height' attributes are recommended if the dimensional weight of your items is higher than their actual weight.

Item-level shipping settings: Use the 'shipping' attribute to provide a shipping value for a product which overrides any of the account-wide shipping settings.

For the 'shipping' attribute, there are sub-attributes that can also be used. To see them, click on the drop-down arrow for the Shipping section on the page linked to after the 'Important Notes' below. The only required attribute here is the price with the country's currency included (ex: 6.50 USD), BUT you can apply up to 100 entries per product to override the over-estimated shipping displayed on GPS.

In this case, you'd want to include at least the 'region' attribute, which would be the state for the US. You can also enter the 'service' attribute for the shipping method (ie, First-Class, Priority, Ground, etc.). So, while it might be tedious, those of us using calculated shipping finally have a way to ensure GPS users are seeing appropriate shipping rates. Otherwise, the highest shipping rate will continue to be shown in GPS.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• If an item is eligible for First-Class or Media Mail, but you offer the higher shipping options in addition to those, this would be a highly recommended attribute to use since you can apply just ONE entry for the entire US. In this case, you would not need to use any of the sub-attributes other than price [ex: shipping(price)]. Otherwise, I believe the highest shipping cost for the highest method will still be shown in GPS.
  
  
• If none of the other sub-attributes are included (price is required), Google will assume that your attribute values include 4 sub-attributes (country, region, service, price). From Google: When submitting the shipping attribute, you’ll tell us what sub-attribute values to expect by the way you format the attribute name in the header row. The attribute name should consist of the attribute name (in this case, 'shipping') followed by the sub-attributes you’ll submit in parenthesis and separated by colons. EX: shipping(country:region:service:price)

Examples for entering the shipping attribute in various ways:


As you can see above in the last two entries, if you want to enter shipping by state, you don't need to include (country:region:service:price) in the attribute name as long as you enter the values for each of the sub-attributes and separate the entries for each state with commas. If you don't specify any sub-attributes in parentheses in the attribute name, you will have to enter a colon ( for each of the four whether or not you enter its value. The only space that will be accepted in the value is between the amount and USD.

If you don't enter a country, Google will assume the entry is for your target country. As for what determines your target country, those in the US will always be targeting the US, but I'm not sure about Canadians using an American-based marketplace. Since Etsy, eCrater, Presto, eBay, Amazon, etc., are all based in the US, I would have to assume that their target country would also be the US no matter where the seller lives.

However, for those marketplaces that have separate sites for different countries (ie, eBay.com.ca -- or however their URL appears for the Canadian version of the site), I would have to assume the target country is Canada. Presto users outside of the US might ask Presto about that.

Source: support.google.com/merchants/answer/160162 (scroll down to Shipping)

Miscellaneous

About the 'id' attribute, does anyone use that or recommend using it? I do create my own SKUs and don't reuse old ones after something sells. It's not really important since nobody will be searching for my items that way. I'm just curious. Besides, I'm thinking that this is really for those who make their own products and are trying to build their brand where repeat customers would eventually search for products by ID.

@momspennies

Per the link you left on Google changes:

"GTINs: For Australia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the US, you need to submit 'gtin' and 'brand' attributes for all products sold in ‘new’ condition from a designated brand. The list of designated brands will grow over time. The requirements remain the same for products that don't meet these criteria."

This one change really, really does stink. It used to be that for fashion we did not have to worry about this one at all. Now if it is new, the way I am understanding it, is that we do. And they say the brand list will be growing. I might as well include all brands at this time because they will be sure to add it later.

I remember a very long time ago when Google made much of its changes at one time when Judy said that "for now" you do not require a GTIN for clothing. I cringed at that even back then and now here it is.

Editing to add: Maybe I need to think again on them adding all brands because surely the brands that are no longer in business or the ones where they've changed their names (question on this one) will not be included.

For example, jewelry never used to require the GTIN even if it was new. But the brand Weiss is no longer in business today, so I would surely think that this one would never be added to their list of Brands.