Delivery Time For Product Feed (Google Merchant Center)

Technical Q&A
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Topic summary

Main issue: Google Merchant Center (GMC), when connected via Shopify’s Google & YouTube app (API feed), shows “Free Delivery by” dates ~3 weeks out, far slower than the merchant’s actual 1–7 business day delivery. Switching to custom shipping rates without transit times did not change the displayed date.

What was suggested: Previously, you could disable automatic shipping import in the Shopify app and then edit or recreate shipping settings directly in GMC.

Key clarification: Delivery dates shown in Shopping ads and free listings are algorithmic estimates based on your data and Google’s AI. To improve accuracy, Google recommends submitting shipping verification data (evidence of actual handling/transit performance).

Update (most recent): Google changed behavior—if you are using the Google & YouTube app, you can no longer manually edit GMC shipping settings even when set to manual (video link provided). A user also asked how to remove the date entirely; no solution was provided.

Status and next steps: No confirmed fix within the app-driven setup. The actionable path is to provide shipping verification data to influence displayed estimates. The thread remains open/ongoing without a definitive resolution.

Summarized with AI on December 29. AI used: gpt-5.
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That is incorrect. You can setup manual shipping times, simply disable the automatic shipping import in the Google and Youtube app, once done.

You can edit GMC shipping settings or pause the existing one and create a new one.

However, if you mean the delivery time in the shopping ads or free listings, that is a different story. These are estimated based on a combination of your data and AI. So to have Google show more accurate shipping estimates in ads or free listings, you need to submit shipping verification data. More info: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/10834831?hl=en

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