Restricted GTIN: how to fix it
What the "Restricted GTIN" error means in Merchant Center and how to tell a real retail barcode from a restricted one.
"Restricted GTIN" means the number you submitted falls in a reserved numbering range that isn't valid for retail listing, such as in-store coupon or variable-weight prefixes. Check the barcode is a genuine retail GTIN, and contact the manufacturer if you're not sure.
What triggers it
A GTIN can pass its checksum and still be invalid for retail listing, because certain numbering ranges are reserved for purposes other than uniquely identifying a sellable product online: in-store variable-weight barcodes (used for items priced by weight at a till), coupon and promotional prefixes, and similarly restricted ranges. Google flags any of these as "Restricted GTIN" regardless of whether the maths checks out.
This tends to happen when a barcode gets scanned or copied from the wrong source, an in-store label rather than the manufacturer's retail packaging, or a legacy code inherited from an old POS system.
/tools checks submitted GTINs against known restricted prefix ranges during validation, catching numbers that would pass a simple checksum test but still fail Google's retail-listing rules.
Step by step
- Check the GTIN's prefix range. Numbers starting with certain ranges (in-store variable-weight prefixes, coupon prefixes) are reserved for internal or promotional use and aren't valid for online retail listing, even though they pass the checksum.
- Confirm the barcode is genuinely the retail one. Compare against the packaging barcode used at checkout, not an internal stock label, weighing-scale code, or in-store coupon barcode that may have been scanned by mistake.
- Contact the manufacturer if uncertain. If you can't tell which barcode is the real retail GTIN, the manufacturer or distributor can confirm the correct one.
- Resubmit with the correct GTIN. Push the corrected feed once you have a legitimately-issued retail GTIN. Clears automatically on the next crawl.