Create sub-accounts for merchants

  • Managing sub-accounts requires an MCA, which cannot have product information itself, necessitating sub-accounts for merchants with products.

  • Sub-accounts can be created either manually or automatically through the Content API.

  • There is a default limit of 50 sub-accounts per MCA, but more can be requested.

  • Manual sub-account creation involves signing into Merchant Center and using the accounts section.

  • Automatic sub-account creation requires the merchant to accept the Google Merchant Center Terms of Service beforehand and uses the accounts.insert API method.

Summary

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.

Manual steps

  1. Sign in to your Merchant Center account.
  2. Click Accounts.
  3. Click the + plus button.
  4. Accept the Google Merchant Center Terms of Service.
  5. Enter a name for the new account.
  6. (Optional) Enter a URL for the account.
  7. Click Save.

Automatic steps

  1. Choose the Terms of Service 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 method of the accounts service to create a new sub-account.

See the Shopping samples for other uses of the accounts.insert method.