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Sale price annotation

A sale price annotation is the original price that Google may show crossed out next to a product's current, lower price, together with a sale badge.

How it works

The annotation needs two prices. In the feed, price holds the original price and sale_price the sale price. In product markup, a second price marked StrikethroughPrice makes the active price a sale price. Even when every condition is met, Google decides whether the product listing shows it.

Google’s conditions for Shopping ads (free listings have their own):

  • a discount of more than 5% and less than 90%, with both prices on the landing page;
  • the original price in effect for at least 30 of the past 200 days, not necessarily in a row; in the US, 5 of the past 30 days or 15 of the past 200;
  • the product sold in one of 13 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US.

Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine are not on the list; stores outside it can look at alternatives to Merchant Center promotions. A “Price drop” annotation has its own rule: it compares the new price with the 60-day average. Sale price in Google Shopping covers setup.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop has sold a dinner set at 600 since spring and sets sale_price to 510: (600 − 510) ÷ 600 = 15%, inside the 5–90% range. In Germany the listing can show 600 crossed out; in Czechia, only 510. A mug cut from 400 to 390 is 2.5% off, below the 5% floor: no annotation.

Not to be confused with

  • Merchant promotions — an offer link such as “15% off” next to the product; the discount applies at checkout.
  • Promotion asset — an offer line in the ad text, set up in Google Ads, not in the feed.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “Raise the set to 700 for a week, then cut it back to 600, and Google will cross out 700.” Right: in Germany, 7 days at 700 fall short of Google’s 30 of the past 200. Under EU law, the prior price in a price-reduction announcement is the lowest price of at least the previous 30 days: here 600, so there is nothing to announce.

Sources