Google Merchant Center 'Condition' Errors on Shopify: New, Used, and Refurbished

Short answer: Google's [condition] attribute says whether an item is new, used, or refurbished. If you do nothing, Google assumes new, which is fine for most stores. The problems start when you sell used or refurbished goods but the feed still says new: Google treats that as a mismatch between your product page and your data, and it can disapprove the item or flag it for misrepresentation. On Shopify there is no built-in condition field, so you set it with a metafield that the Google and YouTube channel reads. The fix is to add that metafield and set the correct value on every non-new product.

If you sell anything pre-owned, open-box, or refurbished, this attribute matters more than it looks, because getting it wrong is the kind of inconsistency Google polices hardest.

What "condition" actually controls

• new: brand-new, unopened, in original packaging. The default Google assumes if you say nothing.
• used: previously owned or opened, including open-box and second-hand.
• refurbished: professionally restored to working order, often with a warranty.

A shopper searching for a used camera and a shopper searching for a new one want different results, so Google needs the value to be accurate. When the condition in your feed contradicts what the product page clearly describes, that contradiction is the problem, not the condition itself.

Why this trips up Shopify stores

Shopify has no native "Condition" field. By default the Google and YouTube channel sends new for everything. For a store that only sells new goods, that is correct and you never see a problem. But a store selling vintage, pre-owned, open-box, or refurbished items is silently sending "new" for products the page itself describes as used, and that inconsistency can get the product disapproved or contribute to a misrepresentation review.

How to set condition on Shopify

The Google and YouTube channel reads [condition] from a product metafield. To set it:

1. In your Shopify admin go to Settings → Custom data → Products and add a metafield the Google channel recognizes for condition (the Google and YouTube app documents the exact namespace and key it reads).
2. On each used or refurbished product, open the product, find the new metafield, and set the value to used or refurbished exactly (lowercase, one of Google's three allowed values).
3. Leave genuinely new products alone. The default "new" is already correct for them, so you do not need to touch every product, only the ones that are not new.
4. Save and let the channel re-sync, then request a review in Merchant Center if the status does not clear on its own.

Make the page and the feed agree

The single most important rule: the condition in your feed must match what the live product page says. If the title or description says "refurbished," the feed must say refurbished too. If the page says nothing and the item is new, the default is fine. Lining these up is also how you avoid the condition issue feeding into a broader misrepresentation flag, which is far harder to clear than a single disapproval.

If you only sell new products

You can safely ignore this attribute. Google already assumes new, so there is nothing to fix. This guide matters only when some or all of your catalog is used or refurbished.

Catch the used items still labeled "new." Feed Doctor scans your Shopify catalog and flags products whose condition is unset or inconsistent, alongside brand, GTIN, image, price, and the other fields Google rejects, so a pre-owned item never goes out mislabeled as new. Try it free for 7 days.