## Summary

> [!CAUTION]
> **Caution:** Before you can manage sub-accounts, you need to have an [MCA](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/188487).

You can authenticate with an MCA to manage sub-accounts without setting up
authentication for each sub-account. MCAs can't have product information
themselves, so you need to create sub-accounts for merchants that have their
product information.

You can create sub-accounts manually or through the Content API for Shopping as
described in the following sections.

By default, MCAs can manage a maximum of 50 sub-accounts. If you need more than
50 sub-accounts, you can request more with the [quota form](https://support.google.com/merchants/contact/additional_items).

## Manual steps

1. Sign in to your [Merchant Center](https://merchants.google.com) account.
2. Click **Accounts**.
3. Click the **+** plus button.
4. Accept the [Google Merchant Center Terms of Service](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/160173).
5. Enter a name for the new account.
6. (Optional) Enter a URL for the account.
7. Click **Save**.

## Automatic steps

> [!WARNING]
> **Warning:** Ask the merchant to accept the [Google Merchant Center Terms of Service](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/160173) before you create a merchant account on their behalf.

1. Choose the [Terms of Service](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/160173) for the merchant's country and language.

   The Terms of Service links don't work in an iframe. You may need to send the
   merchant a stored copy of the Terms of Service and have a way to keep your
   copy up to date.
2. Keep a record of the acceptance of the Terms of Service and be prepared to
   provide these records to Google if requested.

3. Use the [`accounts.insert`](https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/reference/rest/v2.1/accounts/insert) method of the [`accounts`](https://developers.google.com/shopping-content/reference/rest/v2.1/accounts) service to create a
   new sub-account.

See the [Shopping samples](https://github.com/googleads/googleads-shopping-samples) for other uses of the `accounts.insert` method.