How can I resolve the Google Merchant GTIN error?

[brokerobot]

GTIN error is being reported on the merchant center product page. I have about 50% of my inventory in Shopify with the UPC number and Merchant center is giving me the GTIN. I have manually added the upc from Shopify into Merchant Center and it is not updating and still declaring that error.

[Salil1]

Hi

I assume you have "Missing Value [GTIN]" for around 50% of your products. I also assume you are using the Shopify Google Channel app to sync your product data to Google Merchant Center. 

Shopify's Google Channel will send any data you have entered in the barcode field to Google Merchant Center as GTIN. I think the mistake you are making is changing the GTIN directly in Google Merchant Center. This change will be overwritten by Shopify every day. If you want a permanent solution, make the change in Shopify. Update all your products with the Barcode data. If you have products that do not have a barcode, do not add any random code, this may lead to product disapproval.

If you can please also share a screenshot here and I will try to debug this issue further.

[brokerobot]

I am using the Shopify Google App. Attached is a screenshot of the product barcode in Shopify and a screenshot of the same item in Google Merchant asking for the same info. As a test I added the barcode manually and it does not keep that data in Google Merchant.

[Salil1]

Hi

I validated your gtin as well. Your product data looks correct. Everything looks right from your end. Maybe it is the default Shopify app's problem, as @EmmanuelFlossie pointed out. 

You can use any third-party app (I am biased towards our app, obviously 😀) and see if this fixes your issue. All the apps usually have a free trial, and you should be able to see whether this issue is fixed within that trial period.

If you use our app, feel free to mention my name, and I will instruct my team to ensure all your GTIN-related issues are looked at.

[Salil1]

Hi 

I tried reproducing this issue in our app and I can see that we are able to read this exact GTIN for a sample product. attaching screenshots for the same 

Shopify products edit pageAdNabu's Google Shopping feed appMerchant center data

[brokerobot]

Thank you for the help, unfortunately I do not have the budget for paid apps. Too bad Shopify does not offer very good support for the products they develop, between their apps not working and their themes having a poor code base, I might be switching platforms.  

[EmmanuelFlossie]

If you are using the default Shopify app, yes this app is bugged for over a year now. My recommendation is to use an app such as: https://apps.shopify.com/multiple-google-shopping-feeds

Alternatively, you could also add barcodes + brand in a spreadsheet along with the id, as a supplement feed, here is a guide: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7439058?hl=en

[donnamac]

@EmmanuelFlossieWhen you recommend using a different google feed, do you mean in ADDITION to the Shopify developed app or INSTEAD of it?  Thx

[EmmanuelFlossie]

You should only have 1 feed app per channel. So for Google Shopping, only use 1 app. This to avoid conflicts, and policy violations.

[Leslie_Wiles]

Hi, thank you for helping to resolve this terrible issue. Our store has seen declining sales due to this Shopify syncing issue, as 95% of our products are custom made. All my products are marked Custom and approved, but not showing on google because it says "GTIN Needed" then "GTIN isnt needed for custom" in the same sentence! WTH?! Shopify Support has been absolutely no help. They just tell me they know its a problem and they'll pass onto their programmers. lol, sure they will. Meanwile, our store is basically shut down because thats literally the main sales channel. Anyways, hoping your suggestion can be a work around, so I just installed the app you recommended. Now what? Do I have to link it to the Google Sales Channel somehow? Please advise! I am not a programmer by any means, and having to fix my own site seems so daunting. Thanks in advance!

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@Leslie_Wiles if your products are custom, you may try : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvilyMb2Bo

For the app https://apps.shopify.com/multiple-google-shopping-feeds, there should be a step by step guide on setting up the feed.

And here is a starter guide: https://docs.woolytech.com/category/32-feed-settings

[Leslie_Wiles]

Thank you for this information. Is 'Brand" titled "Vendor" at top of the editing area? and is "Custom Product" the "Custom Identifier" column and should be marked NO? GTIN is titled Barcode and MPN is MPN, but cant find those 2 exact terms on any of the fields. I have attached a screenshot of the editing column names for your reference and completed the steps in your 1st video yesterday, so now I just need to correct the product info for it to work, I think. 

[Leslie_Wiles]

Is 'Custom product' along the top the same as 'Identifier Exists'? If so,
then this needs to be marked False/No to indicate it doesnt have GTIN,MPN,
or Brand. Shopify help keeps saying mark this true, but there isn't a
column for "Identifier Exists" in the Google Shopping Sales Channel
descriptor options. If thats not it, where is the column to edit the
"Identifier Exists" field???? This is the programming issue with Shopify's
Source Feed unable to sync properly.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Custom Product, is a Shopify specific attribute, not Google Merchant Center.

All the steps you want to take will not work, if you want to resolve the issue, I recommend you follow this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvilyMb2Bo

[SomchaiKittisak]

Facing same error for couple of days and applied various methods to resolve it but badly failed to find issues from google/youtube. I must appreciate this active community who replies on time in details, I will apply all of the suggestions mentioned above, hopefully this will helpful for me.

Thanks

[SomchaiKittisak]

I am glad to inform this is working well for me now! 

[sebleb]

Quote : "I am glad to inform this is working well for me now!"

Hello, how did you fix the problem ?

[keysol]

Hi,

It wont' work that way because inventory updates automatically from shopify to google shopping. Unfortunately this issue still exists for majority of the stores.

I have a number of clients and all are having the same issue except 1.

Finally this app is available in the market: https://apps.shopify.com/gtin-fix

This app has no products limit unlike others. You can run it for all of your products to fix Limited performance due to GTIN issue on google if you already have UPC populated.

Thanks