StriveFormats
CSV Fixer
Google Merchant CenterInventoryImport blocker

Preorder or backorder without a date

availability is preorder or backorder, but availability_date is empty.

What is this issue?

availability is preorder or backorder, but availability_date is empty.

Affected field:availability_date
Import blocker: your file will fail to import until this is resolved.

What it looks like in your file

In your file
idavailability_date
2MUG-01(empty)
After the fix
idavailability_date
2MUG-012026-12-01T09:00-0500

Upload your CSV to check for this issue and export a clean file.

Fix now

Why Google Merchant Center rejects this

Google requires the date a preorder product will ship, and asks for it on backorders too.

Google Merchant Center-specific note

Google requires availability_date for preorder products and asks for it on backorders. Update it, or switch availability to in_stock, once the product ships.

Valid values / expected format

  1. ✓ISO 8601 date and time, like 2026-12-01T09:00-0500
  2. ✓No more than a year in the future

Fix in StriveFormats

StriveFormats flags every row where this required field is blank, so you can find and fill them quickly.

Open CSV FixerView templateGoogle Merchant Center Fixer guide

Fix in Excel

  1. 1In Excel, click the header letter of the availability_date column to select it.
  2. 2Press Ctrl+G (Go To), then choose Special → Blanks → OK. Excel selects all empty cells in that column.
  3. 3Type the required value and press Ctrl+Enter to fill all selected blank cells at once.
  4. 4If different rows need different values: use Data > Filter on the column, filter for '(Blanks)', and fill each row manually.
  5. 5Save as Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt).

Fix in Google Sheets

  1. 1In Google Sheets, click the header of the availability_date column.
  2. 2Go to Data > Create a filter.
  3. 3Click the filter icon on the column header, clear all checkboxes, then check '(Blanks)'. This shows only empty rows.
  4. 4Fill in the required value for each blank cell shown.
  5. 5Remove the filter: Data > Remove filter.
  6. 6Go to File > Download > Tab Separated Values (.tsv), then rename the file to end in .txt.

Prevent it next time

  1. ✓Start from the official platform template so you know which fields are required from the start.
  2. ✓Before exporting, run a quick filter on each required column and check for blanks.
  3. ✓Test with a small 5-row sample CSV before uploading your full catalog.
  4. ✓If a field is only required for certain product types, still include the column and leave the other rows blank.

How StriveFormats detects this

StriveFormats scans every row for blank or whitespace-only cells in the availability_date column. Rows where this field is empty are flagged because Google Merchant Center requires a value on every row.

►Technical detail
Google Merchant Center's importer checks the availability_date field against its official import specification. Values in the wrong format are flagged because an invalid value that slips through can show up in your store as a blank field, a zero or wrong text, with no error message.