Shopping feeds basics: the fields, channels and marketplace fees behind a UK catalogue

What to take away

The fields that decide whether a product appears

A shopping feed is a structured file of product data that a platform reads on a schedule. Google decides how each product appears in its Shopping results, and ranking rules shift without notice.

Feed quality shows up as coverage and accuracy, not design. A missing identifier or a title cut mid-phrase can stop a product appearing, and nothing on your site flags the error. Google reports it in Merchant Centre instead.

Google's product data specification requires seven fields for every product: id, title, description, link, image_link, price and availability. Brand is required for most new products, and a GTIN is required where the manufacturer assigned one. Condition defaults to new, so set it explicitly for used or refurbished goods.

A feed reaches Google by file upload, by a scheduled fetch from a URL, or through the Merchant API. Google asks you to refresh at least every 30 days, and daily if prices or stock change often. Amazon UK and eBay UK use their own bulk upload routes, so a single file rarely serves every channel.

The ongoing job is feed management: mapping categories, fixing disapprovals, refreshing prices and retiring discontinued lines. Most operations keep one master product database and two or three exports shaped for the channels that earn.

Which UK channels carry demand

Four routes matter for most UK catalogues: Amazon and eBay marketplace search, Google Shopping, social shops on Meta and TikTok, and retail media placements on retailer sites. The same marketplaces serve England, Scotland and Wales, so channel rules do not change by nation.

Marketplace conditions sit on top of that:

If you need a defensible number for a business case, the shopping feeds market size guide separates statistics that bound a claim from those that only add context. Trade data shows a category is traded internationally; it cannot show that your price converts.

Marketplace concentration narrows scope further. Where Amazon or eBay dominates the categories you sell, your realistic reach is smaller than national totals suggest.

What it costs and when it pays for itself

Business model choice fixes your margin before any tool is selected. The shopping feeds business models comparison shows how stock ownership, returns and customer data shift between the main options.

Feed costs fall into four lines: software subscription, agency retainer, image work and internal time. Vendors price by product count, channel count or both, so ask each one for a written quote for your catalogue. No public price list covers them, so the figures below are assumptions for illustration, not vendor prices.

Marketplace fees, from the platforms' own pages

Fees come off every sale before feed costs matter. Amazon UK's pricing page says most referral fees run between 8% and 15%, with 15% for several broad categories such as Toys and Games, Sports and Outdoors, and "Everything else". Most categories carry a £0.25 minimum referral fee. The Professional plan costs £25 a month excluding VAT; the Individual plan charges £0.75 per item sold instead.

eBay UK's business seller fee page, last updated on 30 September 2026, gives a most common final value fee of 10.9%, with other categories between 9.9% and 12.9%. The per-order fee is £0.30 for orders of £10 or less and £0.40 above that. Google Shopping free listings charge no commission. Always re-check each page, because rates change.

Example: a worked break-even test

Assume a 2% conversion rate and £9 contribution per order after fees and delivery. Feed operations cost £3,650 a month, split for illustration into software £450, agency retainer £1,500, image work £700 and internal time £1,000.

Covering that bill needs about 406 orders a month, which needs roughly 20,300 sessions. At an average order value of £45, that is about £18,300 of monthly revenue. The £9 contribution is specific to this illustration.

Google Shopping free listings and Meta Commerce Manager cost nothing to open, so cost sits in software, agency retainers and image work. Free and paid Shopping placements share one Merchant Centre feed, and the free listings vs paid ads comparison explains where they diverge.

UK feed agency retainers are quoted monthly and usually cover category mapping and disapproval fixes. Ask what is included, because image editing and new-channel setup are often billed separately.

Listings must not mislead by omission. The unfair commercial practices rules now sit in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which replaced the 2008 regulations from 6 April 2025, and claims in ad copy fall under the UK advertising codes.

Goods placed on the GB market follow the GOV.UK manufactured goods guidance, which covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland follows separate rules, so a cross-border catalogue needs a second check. Toys, cosmetics and electricals carry extra data duties.

Common questions

Which feed fields cause the most disapprovals?

Missing or incorrect GTINs and brand values top the list, followed by price or availability mismatches, image failures and policy breaches in titles. The Google Merchant Centre feed disapprovals guide sets out the diagnosis order.

How many products do I need before a feed pays for itself?

There is no threshold count. The test is contribution per order against monthly feed cost. A 200-line catalogue with repeat buyers can clear its bill while a 20,000-line catalogue cannot.

Do I need VAT registration to run a feed in England?

Registration depends on taxable turnover, not on selling through a feed. HMRC's UK-wide registration threshold has been £90,000 since April 2024, so check the current figure on GOV.UK. See how HMRC VAT rules shape feed prices for what the feed must show.