Invalid GTIN: check digit and length
A product in Merchant Center shows an invalid-GTIN message. Such a code is worse than an empty field, because Google treats it as an error. Usually the cause is a typo, a cut-off zero or a number copied from another field.
The demo has sample data; the login comes to your e-mail.
The message you see
A message about an invalid value of the [gtin] attribute (“Invalid value [gtin]” in the English interface); exact wording varies with the interface version.
Google Merchant Center → Products → Diagnostics, on the product.
What Basketly does
Basketly detects such a code as an error and removes it from the feed so it does not block the product. It cannot work out the right number; you do that in the shop.
Why Google flags it
Google uses the GTIN to recognise that this is the same product others sell. A code with a bad check digit or the wrong length points to no real product, so Google treats it as a data error. A missing GTIN is milder: a warning about lower visibility.
How Basketly handles it
- Products: the “wrong GTIN” check (an error, Google side) shows the value that triggered it and the product’s 0–100 score.
- Automatic feed fixes remove such a code; once removed, the feed treats the product like one without a GTIN, that is with a warning.
- Feed rules can copy a code from another attribute if the right EAN sits in another shop field.
- It does not suggest or invent the right number; it only removes a code Google would refuse.
How to fix an invalid GTIN by hand
The fix needs the real code from the packaging or the supplier.
Find the manufacturer’s code
Read the EAN or UPC from the packaging, an invoice or the supplier’s file. It has 8, 12, 13 or 14 digits.
Check the check digit
Use the GS1 check digit calculator Google points to. The usual mistakes are a typo and a cut-off leading zero.
Correct the code in the shop
Enter the right number in the product’s EAN or GTIN field. If the shop exports the code in another field, set a feed rule that copies it to gtin.
When there is no code
If the manufacturer assigned none, remove the field and set identifier_exists = no. Do not enter the SKU or a catalogue number.
What Basketly does not do
- It does not work out the right number: manufacturers assign codes.
- It does not guarantee approval after the wrong code is removed; Google judges other data too.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help: GTIN [gtin] (checked )
Frequently asked questions
Your question is not here? Write to us
Yes. A missing one is a warning about lower visibility, a wrong code is an error that can get the product refused.
Compute it with the GS1 calculator Google points to. The panel flags a code as wrong when the check sum does not match.
Better copy the right code into gtin. We remove a wrong code from the feed automatically, but then the product has no number.
See also
- Product feedsYour shop’s feed fixed automatically and by your rules, every product diagnosed against Google Merchant Center and Meta catalogue requirements, served at its own address.Read
- Missing GTINA product without a GTIN (EAN/UPC): when you must give one, when not, and how to fix it.Read
- GTIN starts with 2A code with prefix 02, 04 or 2 is an in-store number Google does not accept as a GTIN.Read
- GTIN (EAN, UPC)A product identification number (EAN, UPC, ISBN) assigned by the manufacturer.Read
Get started in under 5 minutes
Connect your shop and Meta and see how many purchases really arrive.
- Free up to 100 orders a month
- No developer needed
- Purchase balance and self-check