Actual Timestamp of `product_data_timestamp` in Merchant Center BQ Data Transfer

[Mousa_Hamad]

We have configured multiple BQ data transfers from the Merchant Center (MC) transferring data from different MC accounts. We have noticed that `product_data_timestamp` is set to the exact same value for all the transferred data from all the MC accounts although they are not related and the transfers write data to different BQ tables.

The documentation says this is the "timestamp of the product data" but it could not be the time when the data was imported by the merchant center as the import schedules are different and it couldn't be a match to the millisecond.

Could you please explain what this timestamp exactly represents?

Thank you!

[jangemmar]

Hi @Mousa_Hamad,

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

I understand the confusion regarding the product_data_timestamp function in the Products table schema for Google Merchant Center.

Products and product issues data in BigQuery does not represent the real-time view of your Merchant account. While the documentation refers to it as the "timestamp of the product data," it's not the time when the merchant imported the data into the Merchant Center.

The product_data_timestamp reflects the time when Google Merchant Center processes a batch of product data updates. It's essentially a marker of when a group of changes was processed, not when individual products were imported.

Here are my recommendations when tracking individual product updates:

• Don’t rely solely on product_data_timestamp for tracking individual product updates.
• Use product_data_timestamp in conjunction with other fields to get a more comprehensive picture of changes in the product

I hope the above information is helpful.

[Mousa_Hamad]

Thank you @jangemmar for your reply.

I understand the logic you described, but how would you explain that multiple transfers against different MC accounts which are scheduled at the same time or close got the exact same value for product_data_timestamp? Could this be somehow related to the user account running the transfers as that is the only thing that they all share in our case?

Thank you!

[jangemmar · Accepted solution]

Even with separate Merchant Center accounts, This product_data_timestamp is decoupled from your individual import schedules because it reflects a broader Google-side process. So it's not a timestamp reflecting individual product data changes or import times. Instead, it is tied to a global account-level.

But if you have further questions about the behavior of the data, I suggest to contact Merchant Support.