Merchant Center disapproves a product with “Missing value [availability]” when the availability attribute is absent; it is required for every product and takes in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder or backorder. Add the column to your export, derived from stock status, and re-fetch the feed.
| Shown in Merchant Center as | Missing value [availability] |
|---|---|
| Attribute | availability |
| Effect | Product disapproved |
| Where to find it | Products → Needs attention, then filter by this issue |
| Free check | Reported by the free feed check |
What Merchant Center means by “Missing value [availability]”
The availability specification marks the attribute as required for every product, with four values (in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder, backorder). A row without it is reported as “Missing value [availability]”, following the pattern Google’s product issues list uses for absent required attributes, and the product is disapproved. The specification gives no default value for availability.
Not to be confused with a value Google does not recognise (“available”, “yes”), which is “Invalid value [availability]”. Missing means the field is not there at all.
Why it happens
- The export has a stock quantity but no availability column, and nobody derived one.
- A header typo, such as
availabilty. - Empty cells for variants when stock is tracked at the parent.
- A comparator-format feed that expresses availability as a delivery time rather than a word, converted to Google’s format with no availability attribute added.
How to fix it
In Shopify
Our integration derives availability from inventory quantity and the “continue selling when out of stock” setting on every variant, so the field is never empty. A third-party export that leaves it blank needs its mapping fixed to derive from inventory.
In WooCommerce
Our free plugin maps WooCommerce’s stock status (in stock, out of stock, on backorder) to Google’s words for every variation. If another export leaves the column empty, add the mapping from stock status; a quantity alone is not enough.
In a CSV or XML feed
Add an availability column (spelt exactly) and fill every row with one of the four values, derived from your stock: quantity above zero or unlimited is in_stock; zero is out_of_stock, or backorder if you keep taking orders; a future release is preorder. A backorder or preorder product also needs an availability_date. Then re-fetch.
How long until Merchant Center clears it
Google’s help page for the issue, titled “How to fix: Missing availability”, says that after the corrected product data is uploaded again, the changes may take 24–72 hours to show on the Needs attention page.
What FeedRobin does about it
In a feed file, the free feed check reads the first value under availability, stock_status, in_stock or stock, in that order, and counts every product with none and every value that is not one of Google’s four. In the feeds we serve, the availability of a product from a Shopify store or from our WooCommerce plugin is derived from the store; a product from a CSV or TSV file or an XML feed with no value under availability, stock_status, in_stock or stock goes out as in stock. The exception is DeliveryTime NO, Compari’s value for a product that cannot be ordered: the check and the feeds treat it as out of stock. A number under stock is read when the other three are empty or absent: above zero as in stock, zero or below as out of stock. Our Google and Custom XML feeds send backorder and preorder without availability_date, also when the file has it. In Merchant Center, a supplemental data source with the id from our feed and availability_date can add it; the supplemental sources tab needs the Advanced data source management add-on.
Questions merchants ask
Does the specification give a default value when the field is empty?
No. Google’s specification lists availability as required for every product and, unlike several other attributes, gives it no default value.
My export has a stock quantity column. Is that enough?
Not as-is. Google wants one of four words, not a number. Map quantity above zero to in_stock and zero to out_of_stock (or backorder with an availability_date, if you keep selling), and write that into an availability column.
What about products that are always available, like digital goods?
They still need the attribute, set to in_stock. Required means present on every row.
Sources
- Availability [availability] — Google Merchant Center Help
- How to fix: Missing availability — Google Merchant Center Help
- Availability date [availability_date] — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product issues (Content API for Shopping, sunset on 18 August 2026): common item-level issue codes with their description and detail
- Product data specification — Google Merchant Center Help
- Create a product data source — Google Merchant Center Help
- Heureka Offer Feed XML Documentation — Heureka
- Informaţii privind formatul fişierului cu datele produselor (the product data file format) — Compari.ro