Why You’re Seeing This Disapproval in Google Merchant Center?
If your are seeing “Mismatched Product Availability” errors in Google Merchant Center then you’re not alone — and yes, it will be hurting your Google Shopping performance.
This happens when your landing page product availability doesn’t match what’s in your product feed. Google flags this as a reliability issue, which can lead to disapprovals.
To protect users and deliver a consistent experience, Google cross-checks your product feed against your landing page and structured data (schema markup). If any of these signals conflict, your products may be pulled from Shopping ads and free listings — even if they’re perfectly available.
We help retailers prevent mismatches by ensuring consistency across all product data sources. Our proactive diagnostics help keep product listings accurate, updated, and fully compliant.
At FeedSpark, we’ve been managing Google Merchant Center feeds for as long as Google has offered them — and now, we’re sharing that experience with the world. Through our blogs, we’re opening up our playbook so marketers and eCommerce teams can better understand, fix, and prevent these common issues.
Where to Find Mismatched Product Availability Disapprovals
You can find this warning in your Google Merchant Center account by following these steps:
- Log in to your Merchant Center account
- Navigate to Products > All Products
- Click on the ‘Needs attention’ tab
- Look for “Mismatched value [availability]” under the disapproval reason
Clicking on the warning will show you which products have been affected — and why.
Common Causes of Mismatched Product Availability
Mismatches happen more often than you’d think, especially if your feed and website aren’t updating at the same pace. Below are the most common causes we see:
1. Inconsistent Feed and Landing Page Content
Your feed might say the item is “in stock,” but the website shows it as “out of stock.” Google treats this as a mismatch and disapproves the listing.
2. Structured Data Conflicts
Google also scans your site’s structured data. If your schema markup shows different availability than your feed or website content, it can trigger a disapproval, even when your product is in stock.
3. Shared URLs for Product Variants
Using a single URL for multiple variants (e.g. size, color) can confuse Google if one is available and the other isn’t.
4. Caching Delays or Slow Updates
Even with an accurate feed, caching or delay settings on your site can prevent updates from reflecting in real time when Googlebot crawls.
5. Google Crawl Errors
Sometimes, everything looks correct — but Googlebot still retrieves outdated or missing data due to crawl limitations.
How to Fix Mismatched Product Availability
1. Align Your Product Feed with the Landing Page
- Make sure your feed is updated regularly to reflect accurate stock levels
- Sync your inventory management system with your product feed
2. Check Your Structured Data
- Use Google’s Rich Results Test to check what structured data Google sees
- Ensure the structured data availability matches both the feed and the live product page
Example: product ID: XYZ
- Feed: Availability – In Stock
- Landing Page: Availability – In Stock
- Structured Data: Availability – Out of Stock
Even though the site and feed are aligned, the mismatch in schema alone can trigger a disapproval.
If Google can’t crawl your landing page reliably, it may misread your availability status — even if the feed is accurate. Learn how to fix crawl errors in Google Merchant Center.
3. Use Unique URLs for Product Variants
- Assign a dedicated URL to each variant (e.g., colour or size)
- Avoid using a shared URL for all variants if they have different stock statuses
4. Reduce Caching Delays
- Configure your website to update availability data as frequently as possible
- Avoid long cache expiration times for product pages
5. Handle Google Crawl Issues
- If all data appears correct but products are still flagged, request a manual review in GMC
- Navigate to the ‘Needs attention’ tab, select the affected product, and click ‘Disagree with decision’ to submit for review
- Reviews typically take up to 24 hours
- Tip: Enable Automatic Item Updates
Pro Tip: If your product availability changes frequently, you can reduce mismatch risk by enabling Automatic Item Updates in Google Merchant Center. This lets Google correct availability values using structured data, helping prevent disapprovals before they happen.
Final Thoughts – Don’t Let Small Mismatches Lead to Big Problems
Mismatched product availability is one of the most common and preventable disapprovals in Google Merchant Center.
At FeedSpark, through our fully managed service we proactively monitor feeds, website, and structured data to identify issues early and keep Shopping campaigns running without interruption.
Facing other disapprovals? Our guide to resolving Invalid Image warnings can help you fix another common GMC blocker.
Need help staying compliant and keeping your listings live? Let’s talk. We’ll help you take control of your Merchant Center performance — before errors impact your bottom line.
About The Author: Zoe Bates
More posts by Zoe Bates