Availability value translator
Your store’s stock words, translated into the availability value each channel accepts, the way the free feed check proposes it for a whole feed.
The four words, per channel — TikTok’s five, Pinterest’s three
Google’s availability specification lists in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder and backorder; a value outside the list is “Invalid value [availability]” and the product is disapproved. Meta’s specification documents in stock and out of stock and reads Google-format feeds. OpenAI’s product feed specification uses in_stock, out_of_stock, pre_order, backorder and unknown, with pre_order spelt with an underscore.
TikTok is the exception worth knowing, because it has a fifth value and one of them is a word nobody else publishes. Their catalog product parameters list in stock, out of stock, preorder, available for order and discontinued — so a backorder, a product you can order today and ship later, has a name of its own here instead of borrowing “preorder” the way Microsoft makes you. Their feed templates write the spaced form in lower case, the same as Meta.
Pinterest goes the other way. Its catalog requirements list three values only — in stock, out of stock and preorder — so a backordered product has to be sent as a preorder, the same compromise Microsoft forces. Sending the word “backorder” there is sending a value their list does not contain.
One more TikTok difference that is not about availability but costs more feeds: brand is one of their nine required fields, where Google treats it as optional. And a catalog’s currency is chosen when the catalog is created and cannot be changed afterwards — every product priced in anything else is rejected with “Invalid value: price”, which is a whole catalogue in one go if you pick wrong.
Questions merchants ask
Why does “available” fail everywhere?
Because no channel’s list contains it. Google accepts in_stock, out_of_stock, preorder and backorder; Meta documents in stock and out of stock; TikTok in stock, out of stock, preorder, available for order and discontinued; Pinterest in stock, out of stock and preorder; OpenAI in_stock, out_of_stock, pre_order, backorder and unknown. Anything else is read as invalid, and by some channels as unavailable.
Which words does the translator know?
Schema.org names such as InStock and SoldOut, the values yes, no, true and false, and common stock words in English, Romanian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish and German. Each is matched against the whole value, so “not available” is not read as “available”. It also reads a number on its own as a stock quantity. A word it does not know is left for you to decide; a feed FeedRobin builds from a feed file treats it as out of stock.
Is “in stock” with a space wrong for Google?
Google reads it, but its specification lists in_stock. Meta and Microsoft document the spaced form. If one file goes to several channels, it cannot match all their specifications at once, which is why the free check reports the spaced form as legacy rather than as an error.
Sources
Google Merchant Center Help, Availability [availability]; Meta Business Help, Product data specifications for catalogs; TikTok Ads Manager Help, Catalog Product Parameters; Pinterest Business Help, Get started with retail catalogs; OpenAI, Products feed specification.