Item condition
Item condition says whether a product is new, refurbished or used, which Google uses to refine search results and to tell offers of one product apart.
- Product condition
What it means
Google’s condition attribute takes three values. New is a product that has “never been used”, unopened in its original packaging. Refurbished is “professionally restored to working order” and comes with a warranty. Used covers anything second hand or changed from its original state, including when “the original packaging has been opened or is missing”.1
Condition is optional for new products and required for every used or refurbished one.1 In structured data the same fact is the itemCondition property, and Google maps schema.org’s NewCondition, RefurbishedCondition, UsedCondition and DamagedCondition onto its three values.1
A used copy keeps the manufacturer’s GTIN where it has one, with “used” in the condition attribute.2 Google’s duplicate check compares GTIN, multipack and condition together, so a new and a used copy of one product are not read as the same product listed twice.3
Think of it like this
Item condition works like the signs on a car dealer’s forecourt. The same model can be new, approved used with a warranty, or plain used, and each is a different offer at a different price.
For example
Why it matters
Condition sets what the shopper expects to unpack, and a used item sold as new is a complaint waiting to happen. Google says the value matters “since it is used to refine search results”.1
Not to be confused with
Refurbished and used are different things. In Google’s terms refurbished means professionally restored to working order and sold with a warranty. A second-hand item without that restoration and warranty is used, however good it looks.1
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help. Condition [condition].
- Google Merchant Center Help. GTIN [gtin].
- Google Merchant Center Help. How to fix: Duplicate GTIN.