I have had my store for sometime now. I’ve never fixed the GTIN issue with Google. Most of my products (80%) are flagged for now GTIN. I make my own products and have my own brand. I shouldn’t need it right? If not, how do I fix it. THANK YOU!!!
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Hello @313Body
Yes, you should get a GTIN for your custom products. A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is a unique identifier assigned to a product by its manufacturer or distributor. It is used to track products throughout the supply chain and to help consumers find products they are looking for.
Google Merchant Center requires that all products have a GTIN in order to be eligible for some features, such as product listing ads. If your products do not have a GTIN, you will not be able to take advantage of these features.
There are a few ways to get a GTIN for your custom products. You can purchase a GTIN from GS1, the global organization that assigns GTINs. You can also purchase a GTIN from a third-party reseller.
Once you have obtained a GTIN for your products, you can add it to your product listings in Google Merchant Center. To do this, go to the “Products” tab in Google Merchant Center and click on the “Add Product” button. In the “Product Details” section, enter the GTIN in the “GTIN” field.
Once you have added the GTIN to your product listings, your products will be eligible for all features in Google Merchant Center that require a GTIN. This will help you to reach more customers and increase your sales.
Even if I already have bar-codes for all my products? I have almost 1000 products. I looked up the cost, and that’s RIDICULOUS for a small business to have to pay that.
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Hello @313Body ,
I am Gina from flareAI app helping Shopify merchants get $6Million+ in sales from Google Search, on autopilot. Hope you are having a good day.
To indicate that your products don’t have a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) and to address the GTIN issue in your Shopify store, you can use the “identifier_exists” attribute.
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Access your Shopify admin panel and go to the “Products” section.
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Select the product for which you want to indicate that a GTIN doesn’t exist.
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Scroll down to the “Attributes” or “Variants” section, depending on your product setup.
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Add a new attribute called “identifier_exists” if it doesn’t already exist. If it exists, edit the attribute.
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Set the value of “identifier_exists” to “FALSE” to indicate that a GTIN doesn’t exist for the product.
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Save the changes.
By setting the “identifier_exists” attribute to “FALSE,” you are informing Google and other platforms that your product doesn’t have a GTIN.
Additionally, make sure to follow any other relevant guidelines or requirements provided by Google and other platforms to ensure compliance with their policies.
It’s important to note that the use of “identifier_exists” is specific to Google Merchant Center and may not be recognized or utilized by other platforms or channels. Therefore, if you’re selling on multiple platforms, check their respective guidelines for handling products without GTINs.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Gina
Hi @313Body
If you make your products and have your own brand, you can choose either to buy barcodes or not.
If you choose not to, this is how you can fix the GTIN error issues.
Go to Google Merchant Center and set the attribute: identifier_exists = false.
Make sure the brand is set to your brand name.
I have a video with step-by-step instructions on how to fix it in Google Merchant Center - you can check it out here:
Fix Google Merchant Shopify error: Limited performance due to missing identifiers
Good luck!
Clarice
Do not buy barcodes, it is not necessary as others have indicated otherwise.
Having barcodes when making your own custom products, will not increase your performance.
You are also not required to buy barcodes.
Instead you need to make sure you submit the correct values.
Make sure to remove the brand and MPN values and set identifier exists to no.
Here is a guide:
Hey Gina,
Is there a way to do this process through the BULK PRODUCT Editor in the sales channels google tab? I have over 300 products and doing this individually sounds exhausting.