Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping (Shopping Actions) Onboarding

To sell on Google Shopping via Google Shopping Actions, you need to set up the following:

  • Google Merchant Center
    Accessible from merchants.google.com, this is the merchant center allows you to upload product data to Google. The merchant center doesn’t list products without Shopping Actions.
  • Google Shopping Actions
    This is a program that you need to apply for after setting up your Merchant Center. It enables you to make your products available via Google Voice Assistant, YouTube, and Google Shopping.

Table of contents

  1. Set Up your Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping Actions
  2. Contact GeekSeller
  3. Invite GeekSeller to Your Merchant Center
  4. Prepare and submit products
  5. Synchronize Quantities
  6. Connect Shipping Carriers and Manage Orders
  7. Set Up Shopping Actions
  8. Final Review and Activation

1. Set Up your Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping Actions

  1. Create a Google Merchant account to gain access to the Google Merchant Center.
  2. You apply for Google Shopping Actions from your Google Merchant Center:
    Please note that if your Merchant Center was not created in the US or France, the Shopping Actions option won’t appear. The merchant needs to create their Merchant Center in those two places and accept those terms of service to see the option.

2. Contact GeekSeller

Send us an email answering the following questions:

  • Do you work with a 3PL or do you pack and ship in-house? If you ship in-house, how do you generate labels?
  • Which shipping carriers do you use?
  • Are you planning to use GeekSeller’s order management panel to generate and print shipping labels?
  • Do you have your product data uploaded to the Google Merchant Center? Do the SKUs match on other marketplaces?
  • Where do you want to enter quantity information?
  • Do you want to adjust quantities using the GeekSeller interface or CSV?
  • Would you like Google Shopping to share inventory levels with other marketplaces?

3. Invite GeekSeller to Your Google Merchant Center

  1. Open the Merchant Center
  2. Click the settings button and select “Account access”
  3. Add another user under the email address: GeekSellerCom@gmail.com
  4. Under User access, select “Admin” and “Standard” to allow us to help with account set up and product creation
  5. Send us your Merchant ID via email to Support@GeekSeller.com
  6. GeekSeller team will need about 24 hours to set up for you the integration. We need this time because to complete this process, GeekSeller needs to generate on your Google account API keys and insert them to GeekSeller. Sellers can do it on their own (see the steps) if they do not want to wait.

4. Prepare and Submit Products

Go to your GeekSeller Google panel and import data via spreadsheet or create products one by one.

Important! If you’re switching to GeekSeller panel (which uses Google API) for item submission, make sure that you’re not using any other data feeds anymore to submit product items. If you keep on submitting items on both mediums, unexpected results may occur (source).

5. Synchronize Quantities

Let our team know which way you want to manage quantities:

  1. Use GeekSeller as a bridge to send quantities from one marketplace to another
  2. Use GeekSeller as your central hub for quantity data through the Master Panel

6. Connect Shipping Carriers and Manage Orders

To use the Master Panel to generate labels, complete the following steps:

  1. Connect UPS
  2. Connect FedEx
  3. Connect EasyPost to access over 100 carriers and the best rates for USPS through Commercial Plus Pricing
    (GeekSeller does not make commissions on referrals to EasyPost, we recommend this company based on their outstanding service and great pricing).
  4. Connect a 3rd party systems (contact support for more info)

7. Set Up Shopping Actions

Log into your Merchant Center, select Shopping Actions from the left sidebar.

 

8. Review and Activate

  • Terms of service
    Take some time to familiarize yourself with Google’s terms.
  • Review
    Double-check your storefront and make sure your products and graphics are displayed properly. Add a few items to the cart to review taxes and shipping charges.
  • Activate
    Google will email you a few days after you request final validation to notify you that your store is ready to be published.
    Log in to your Google Merchant Center, click on Shopping Actions and click “PUBLISH STOREFRONT.”