Google Merchant Center reports Missing shipping costs when products have no shipping cost, and those products won't show to customers until you add one (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping costs). You can fix it in two places: a shipping policy in your Merchant Center account, which covers many products at once, or the shipping attribute in your feed for individual products. Google recommends setting up the account policy first.
Two ways to give Google shipping costs
Google's guidance is to set up shipping in your account settings first, then override it for specific products with the shipping attribute if needed (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping costs).
| Method | Best for |
|---|---|
| Account shipping policy (Shipping and returns) | Flat rates, free shipping thresholds or carrier rates that apply to most products |
shipping attribute in the feed |
Products whose shipping differs from the policy, such as bulky items |
Which countries require shipping costs is covered in Google Merchant Center required attributes.
Fix 1: add a shipping policy in Merchant Center
As of October 2026, Google's steps are (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping costs):
- In the Merchant Center menu, go to Products & store and select Shipping and returns.
- On the Shipping policies tab, select Add shipping policy. If you are asked, choose the option for online products.
- Choose the countries the policy covers, then set the products, delivery times and shipping costs.
- Save the policy.
Google notes that account-level changes may take 24–72 hours to appear in your account (same source).
Fix 2: set shipping per product in the feed
For products the policy doesn't cover, download the .csv list of affected products from Products > Needs attention, add a valid shipping value to each product in your product data, and upload the data again (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping costs).
Google also points you to the shipping weight and the shipping length, width and height values, which may need updating (same source). Policies that calculate costs by weight or carrier rates rely on them, and Google has separate issues for missing values: for example, it needs shipping_weight to calculate the shipping cost (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping weight).
In Product Feed Master, shipping, shipping_weight and the dimension fields are canonical fields you can map from your store export in the field mapping, so they are kept up to date on every sync.
Missing shipping sub-attributes and delivery dates
A product can have a shipping cost and still trigger Missing shipping sub-attribute. That issue means a required detail inside the shipping attribute is missing, so Google can't show estimated delivery dates for the product; any transit or handling time values for it are invalidated, although the shipping price can still be used (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping sub-attribute).
For delivery estimates, Google lists three sub-attributes: max_transit_time, max_handling_time and price (same source). Fill in the missing values for each affected product under Shipping & returns in the product editor, or in your product data, then upload it again.
How long until the issue clears
After you add a policy or upload corrected data, Google says the changes may take 24–72 hours to show on the Needs attention page (Google Merchant Center Help, How to fix: Missing shipping costs).
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to put shipping in my product feed?
No. A shipping policy in your Merchant Center account can provide the costs for many products. Use the shipping attribute only for products whose shipping differs.
Why does Google ask for shipping weight?
When shipping costs are calculated from weight, Google needs the shipping_weight attribute to work out the cost for each product.
How long do shipping changes take to apply?
Google says account-level changes may take 24–72 hours to appear, and the same applies to the Needs attention page after you re-upload product data.