Vehicle ads Merchant API guidelines

This article outlines Merchant API specifications and guidelines for vehicle ads. When you set up your Merchant Center account, you can upload your data sources using the Merchant API.

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Migration

If you are already using the Content API and are now migrating to the Merchant API, follow the guide to migrate from Content API for Shopping to Merchant API and to migrate your products.

API specifications

Note: The Merchant API no longer automatically registers an “API” data source upon your first product insertion. In Merchant API, you explicitly create data sources before you can upload products to them. This gives you more control over the organization and management of your product data pipelines from the start.

Account management

There are several Merhchant API endpoints that can be used in conjunction with Merchant Center advanced accounts:

accounts.list will return a list of accounts or sub-accounts of the current authenticated user.
accounts.homepage.claim can be used to claim websites of Merchant Center sub-accounts.

For a full list of endpoints, refer to the Account REST Resource page.

Creating a new API Data source

Use the accounts.dataSources.create method to create a new API data source. The table below lists vehicle ads-specific fields and attributes that need to be added when creating a new API data data source.

Fields Description Content

Destinations [included_destinations]

Required

Array of destinations to include for this data source. Specify this by declaring the state as enabled in your dataSources object (corresponds to marked checkboxes in Merchant Center).

Supported value:

vehicle_ads

legacyLocal

Required

Determines whether the products of this data source are only targeting local destinations.

Vehicle Ads is an explicitly local destination, so this declaration is required.

Supported value:

true

Sample JSON

Here is a sample dataSource object to use with the accounts.dataSources.create method to register a new Merchant API data source to submit your vehicles.

   "displayName": string,
   "primaryProductDataSource": {
     "legacyLocal": true,
     "feedLabel": string,
     "contentLanguage": string,
     "countries": [string],
     "destinations":[{
       "destination": "VEHICLE_ADS",
       "status": ENABLED
     }]

Use an existing API data source

Use the accounts.dataSources.list method to extract existing API dataSourceId. The dataSourceId has to be provided when adding or editing your vehicles.

Uploading offers

Note:

Price values are now submitted with amountMicros. For example: “amountMicros": "1599000000" is the equivalent of $1599 USD
The store code must be provided within the vehicle fulfillment [vehicle_fulfillment]. It will not be processed as a stand alone attribute.
For a full list of vehicle ads fields, refer to the vehicle ads data source specifications. In addition, the Merchant API Reference contains more information on API usage.
For a full list of endpoints, refer to the Account REST Resource page.
Most standard fields are listed in the productInputs.insert method (you can use asynchronous requests or HTTP batching to send multiple requests in a single HTTP call).
All fields in the product input and its sub-messages match the English name of their corresponding attribute in the Products Data Specification with some exceptions. The following reference documentation lists the field names in the camelCase casing style while the Products Data Specification lists the names in the snake_case casing style.

The table below lists vehicle ads-specific attributes that need to be added using the customAttributes field.

Attribute	Description	Content
Vehicle fulfillment `[vehicle_fulfillment]`	Required This group attribute is used with the `store_code` sub-attribute for in store fulfillment. Store code is not required for online offers. Learn more.	Supported value: in_store online This attribute can be repeated up to 3 times for each offer, allowing dealers to specify an option for each fulfillment type.
Vehicle category `[vehicle_category]`	Optional in Japan The vehicle category. This attribute is currently only used in Japan. Kei Jidosha: Light vehicles engines up to ~660 cc Futsu sha: Moderate, engines between 660-2000 cc and others that are not classified as Kei Jidosha or Ogata Sha Ogata sha: Large sized vehicles engine	Supported values `kei_jidosha` `futsu_sha` `ogata_sha`
Vehicle option `[vehicle_option]`	Optional List of installed options, using comma separators. (Example: Leatherette Seats, Rear View Camera, Navigation System, Front Seat Heaters, A/C, Sunroof, Bluetooth)	String The maximum number of values supported is 200. Each value may contain up to 256 characters. This is a repeated field which can take multiple values.

Sample JSON

For a full list of fields, refer to the vehicle ads data source specifications and Merchant API reference.

{ 
    "id": string, 
    "offerId": string, 
    "googleProductCategory": string, 
    "title": string, 
    "description": string, 
    "channel": "local", 
    "includedDestinations": ["VEHICLE_ADS"],
    "price": {
      "amountMicros": string,
      "currency": string
    }, 
    "brand": string, 
    "color": string, 
    "condition": string, 
    "imageLink": string, 
    "contentLanguage": string, 
    "targetCountry": string, 
    "vin" = string
    "model" = string
    "trim" = string
    "bodyStyle" = enum
    "year" = string
    "mileage" = {
      "value" = string
      "unit" = string
    },
     "customAttributes": [
  {
      “name”: “vehicle_fulfillment”,
      “groupValues”: [{
        “name”: “option”,
        “value”: string
      }]
 
... 
 } 
us": ENABLED
     }]

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URL: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/17066350