Google Shopping in Germany: what a foreign shop needs first

Google Shopping in Germany runs on the same Merchant Center as everywhere else. What changes for a shop based abroad is what has to be true before the first product is approved and the first order goes through: Google’s product data rules for Germany, German consumer law on the product page and at checkout, and shoppers who are used to both.

My short version: German product data and German pages, prices in euros including VAT, shipping costs for Germany in the feed, a return policy people can find, and a checkout that shows what German law asks for. The campaign comes after that.

1. What Merchant Center asks for when you sell to Germany

Language

Google lets you submit products in any language Merchant Center supports, and German and English are both on the list. It then targets people who use your chosen language. The same page says that landing pages should be in the same language as the product data, and that the parts of the landing page and checkout a shopper needs to navigate and decide must be in that language too.

So an English feed for Germany is allowed, and it reaches the people Google treats as English users. To reach people who search in German, I would translate titles, descriptions, landing pages and checkout. Google calls this option “target country currency, local language”.

Currency and price

The supported currency for Germany is the euro. If your product data is in another currency, Google’s currency conversion converts the price automatically and shows both prices in the ad. Your site still charges in your own currency, so the final amount depends on the exchange rate of the buyer’s card or payment provider. I would use that to test, and price in euros on the page once Germany is a real market.

For Germany, as for Austria and Switzerland, Google wants the price including VAT in the price attribute, and the landing page price has to match the product data. The standard rate in Germany is 19%, with a reduced rate of 7% for a defined list of goods and services (§ 12 UStG). A shop that shows net prices at home needs gross prices for the German feed and page.

Shipping and returns

Shipping costs are required for Shopping ads and free listings in Germany. If you cannot give an exact cost, Google’s instruction is to match or overestimate what the buyer will pay. Shipping speed is made up of handling time and transit time, and Google only calculates it if you submit both maximum values.

On returns, the Merchant Center guidelines ask you to add return policy information to your product data and make it easy to find on your site. Even if you do not offer returns or refunds, you have to state the policy explicitly.

Contact, payment and checkout

The same guidelines ask for contact information that is clearly available on the website, and for at least one conventional payment method at checkout. The checkout requirements add that private individuals must be able to buy, so fields such as a company name have to be optional, and that the checkout has to be secured with a valid SSL certificate.

Unit prices and energy labels

Two attributes that a shop from outside the EU may not have in its feed yet. Certain products sold by weight, volume, length or area need the unit pricing measure in the EU. Products that must show a graphical energy efficiency label in the EU use the certification attribute, which points to the EU’s EPREL database.

CSS partners

In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and 18 other European countries, Shopping ads are placed through Comparison Shopping Services. Google Shopping is one of them. You can give your product data to any CSS, or to several at the same time. How the choice works and why I do not leave accounts on the default is in CSS partners for Google Shopping.

2. What German law adds on the product page and at checkout

I am not a lawyer or a tax adviser, and this is not legal or tax advice. It is what the rules say and where they touch a shop. The Impressum, the total price and the 30-day rule for price reductions are in Advertising in Germany. These come on top:

• Unit price. Whoever offers consumers goods by weight, volume, length or area has to state the unit price next to the total price, clearly and legibly (§ 4 PAngV). The section lists exceptions.
• Right of withdrawal. Consumers have a right of withdrawal for distance contracts (§ 312g BGB), and the period is 14 days, for goods counted from receipt (§ 355 BGB). Goods made to the customer’s specification are one of the exceptions. The consumer bears the direct cost of sending goods back only if the trader has informed them of this (§ 357 BGB).
• Before the order. At the latest when the ordering process begins, the shop has to state clearly whether delivery restrictions exist and which means of payment are accepted (§ 312j BGB).
• The order button. The same section requires the button to be labelled, legibly, with nothing but the words “zahlungspflichtig bestellen” or an equally unambiguous wording. If that duty is not met, the contract does not come about. I would use the statutory words and not a translation of “Continue”.
• Delivery date and warranty. The information a shop owes the consumer includes the date by which it commits to deliver, and the statutory warranty for goods with its minimum duration of two years (Art. 246a § 1 EGBGB).
• Packaging. The Central Agency Packaging Register writes that anyone distributing packaged goods in Germany has to be registered in its LUCID register. Since 12 August 2026, a company based abroad that sells packaged products directly to end users in Germany and has no branch here also has to appoint an authorised representative. The registration itself stays with the company.
• VAT. For goods sent from another EU country to a private customer in Germany, German law places the delivery where the transport ends. That rule does not apply to a seller established in only one member state while the total of its cross-border distance sales and certain telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services to private customers in other member states stays within €10,000 per calendar year (§ 3c UStG). Where you owe VAT is a question for a tax adviser.

3. What German shoppers expect, as far as it can be sourced

Payment

The retail research institute EHI ranks payment methods by their share of online revenue. In 2024, the latest year I could open at EHI’s own site, PayPal stood at 28.5% and purchase on invoice at 25.8%, followed by direct debit at 17.3% and credit or international debit cards at 12.3%. The panel was 153 retailers. PayPal and invoice together come to 54.3%. A checkout that only takes cards leaves out the two methods that lead this ranking.

Returns

In a Bitkom survey published in June 2025, fieldwork in January 2025, 94% of online shoppers in Germany said a free return is important to them, and the same share said so about a fast refund. 68% consider a return period longer than the statutory one essential. 49% have kept a product because the return process was too complicated. The survey covered 1,006 internet users aged 16 and over, 978 of whom shop online.

What I take from both: payment methods, delivery time and return terms belong on the product page, before the basket.

One shop from my own work

MYTRAURINGstore sells wedding and engagement rings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I have managed its Google Ads since June 2023: Performance Max focused on key products, a separate brand campaign, remarketing, and a campaign for a free ring sizer for couples who do not know their size yet. From 18 June to 15 September 2026 Google Ads recorded 384 purchases at a 6.16× ROAS, product and brand campaigns together. That is one account, not a promise for yours.

Google’s own description fits that setup: you manage Shopping ads in Google Ads using Shopping or Performance Max campaigns. When Performance Max works and when I stay away from it is in Performance Max, and what clicks cost in my accounts is in Google Ads costs in Germany.

Conclusion

The order I would work in:

1. German product data, landing pages and checkout.
2. Prices in euros including VAT, identical in the feed and on the page.
3. Shipping costs and times for Germany in Merchant Center, and a return policy that is linked on the site.
4. The legal items from section 2, checked by a German lawyer: withdrawal information, order button, delivery date, packaging register.
5. PayPal and purchase on invoice at checkout.
6. Conversion tracking behind a consent banner. The background is in Tracking and cookie consent in Germany.
7. Then the campaign, and the CSS decision.

What I would leave alone: an English feed with converted prices as the permanent setup, and a shipping estimate that is lower than what the buyer pays.

If you want a second opinion on your Shopping setup for Germany before you launch, book an intro call.