What Promotion ID is shopify sending to google merchant center

Topic summary

Main issue: Promotions in Google Merchant Center (GMC) are being disapproved due to missing or misapplied promotion_id when using Shopify’s Google sales channel.

Key points:

  • promotion_id is required only when a promotion applies to a subset of products. Shopify’s free Google Shopping app doesn’t expose a native promotion_id field.
  • Workarounds:
    • Map Shopify’s “custom label 0” to GMC’s promotion_id via Feed Rules (Products > Feeds > your feed > Feed rules > set promotion_id = custom label 0).
    • Use a supplemental feed (e.g., Google Sheets) and add a promotion_id column; GMC can accept attributes from supplemental feeds even if not present in the primary feed.
  • Steps: Add promotion_id values to relevant products, process the feed, wait ~30 minutes, then create the GMC promotion using the same IDs.

Rule setup and testing:

  • Use feed rule conditions (e.g., set promotion_id when custom label 0 has the value).
  • Validate with the Feed Rules preview and “Apply all rules” test tools.

Latest updates:

  • A user’s rule showed promotion_id not being set; guidance was to fix the rule and test. If Shopify metafields for custom label 0 are inconsistent, consider a dedicated feed app for better control.

Status: Ongoing; no final resolution, actionable paths provided.

Summarized with AI on December 30. AI used: gpt-5.

Hi Partners and Developers

Does anyone know much about the API feed for the google sales channel?

Specifically for merchant center promotions.

When creating promotions in merchant center they keep getting disapproved with this notification:

SKU’s keep getting disapproved and the promotion doesn’t show on the shopping ads.

I am wondering if shopify sends any data to the [promotion_id] attribute.

Thanks for any help.

The promotion ID is only required if the promotion applies to only a selected subset of products.

The free shopping app, does not have a promotion id attribute available. However you could add the promotion value in custom label 0

Then in Google Merchant Center go to Products > Feeds > click on the feed > feed rules > create a rule for promotion_id and select set to and choose custom label 0

If you don’t want to do these steps, change your data feed solution to something that allow you to add promotion id values.

Hi EmmanuelFlossie,

I used a supplemental feed by creating a google spreadsheet this was done to alleviate the missing value GTIN error on Google Merchant Center (GMC). Can i take that same file add a column promotion_id and fill in the id (that i will use on my promotion) for all relevant promotions ? Does this means i would have to add the attribute to my google feed in GMC?. Any help on how to do this would be appreciated. When i create my promotion i would then create an id and fill that in to my supplemental feed and update the feed that way. Im just not too clear on how to create the attribute on the GMC side.

thanks

RJ

Yes, you can use the same supplement feed and add the promotion_id column.

No, supplement feeds are there to overwrite or add attributes and data. So it does not need to exist in the primary feed.

Yes, first add the promotion id in the feed, process it, wait half an hour, then create the promotion using the same ID in the promotion creation tool.

awesome thank you very much!

Hello Emmanuel, Do you have any steps on how to create this rule? This would be very helpful since i am trying to figure it out.

Attributesearch
Rule

promotion iddelete

Draft

Set to: Content API.custom label 0

If promotion id has no value yet › Apply default rule: Take from: Content API

All other attributes
Default rule

Take from: Content API

The steps highly depend on what the rules need to be.

If it’s a search and set, then use the edit source method.

If you want to search and modify, then use the modification method.

You can use the ID search function in the top right corner to test if the expected rules are working on a specific product.

I am trying to set up a promotion for 15% off certain products. I have
applied a promotion id to a few products in this category for testing. I
put this promo id in the custom label 0 like you mentioned and now I am
trying to set up the rule that it sees this promo id from the shopify feed
and it will be applied accordingly. Do you have the options I should
choose so this will work? How would I say that this works? Would these test
products display a coupon?

The rule will be: If promotion id has value set to xxx

Hello Emmanuel,

I did what you said, and created a rule to set the custom label 0, to promotion id.

But i am having 2 problems:

  1. the value is displaying in the google merchant feed still as "custom label 0"and not as promotion id.

  1. on shopify, not all products has the metafields “custom label 0” and i cant find the way to add it.

Most likely the rule you have setup, is not correct. Check by testing, you can test two ways, using the preview tool in the top right corner, when creating rules.

Or using the test function when applying all rules.

My recommendation if you want better control how the data feed is created, use: https://apps.shopify.com/multiple-google-shopping-feeds