How to Switch Merchant Accounts

Created by Patrycja Cyrul, Modified on Thu, 18 Apr at 11:26 AM by Aneta Węglarz

Method 1. Automatic migration (recomended)

Access the “Overview“ page in CSS Center

Link to CSS Center: https://g.co/csscenter

Access to the CSS Center is only available to users who are logged in to the Google account and have admin rights in the CSS.

click “Add a merchant”
provide the ID of the Merchant Center account you would like to connect with your CSS
specify the type of switch (see below)
if you choose a MCA sub-account (former "Full Switch"), provide the ID of your new multi-client account of your CSS
there is some validation added by Google to make sure that we entered the correct data, after entering data "Request" button reamin greyed out like it still is disabled. Also when when you put mouse cursor on that button, cursor icon will change to lock sign. However, when you click it - the submit will be sent
After you’ve initiated an account switch, the admins of the GMC account will be notified about that (on notification bell in the account), and they can approve or decline it. When the switch has been approved by the GMC admin, the grace period can take up to 14 days*
overview on account(s) switch status process can is available in "Reports" → Account switch tab. There you will find grace period time settings for your CSS also.

*Default grace period time for CSS's is set to 14 days, it can be changed in 0 - 14 days range. For Google Shopping it's set to 0 days so switch should take up to several minutes after acceptation by GMC admin

Mind that during the grace period, the merchant can still change the mind.

Google will connect the account to your CSS within 14 days.

Types of Switch

MCA sub-account (former Full Switch):

The account is completely transferred as a CSS GMC sub-account. In this case, MCA CSS administrators become account managers, they have full access to it. It is no longer a standalone GMC account, but nothing changes in user experience and interface of that account.

It is a convenient solution when both GMC account and MCA CSS account are managed by the same team.

For example, when an advertising agency manages customers accounts or a Brand manages its own accounts and wants to transfer these accounts to its own CSS.

When using this method, in some cases you can get this error:

Account switch not possible: your CSS does not have admin access rights to MCA [MCA ID]; try switching as standalone account instead, or ask the MCA owner to give admin access to your CSS

In that case, please log in to your CSS Multi-account GMC (not CSS Center) and go to Account access section. Then, under Comparision Shopping Service users check if your CSS have admin role set up. If not, please set it.

Standalone account:

The account is migrated to CSS while still remaining a standalone account. In this case, the MCA CSS administrators do not gain access to the account.

You can only supervise such an account in the CSS Center panel. It will not be on the list of sub-accounts in the MCA CSS account panel.

This solution is useful when, for example, a merchant wants to be connected to your CSS, but does not want to grant access to his GMC, because he manages it on his own or has it managed by some other team.

SUMMARY:

The advantage of this method (Automatic migration) is that the GMC account is automatically transferred to the CSS, with all ongoing campaigns and their entire history. There is no interruption of activities in the GMC account. The only limitation in using this method is when the account administrator does not want to disconnect from the current CSS (Google or any other).

Method 2. Manually creating a sub-account in MCA CSS

When your client is already using his/her own GMC account it is not recommeneded to create a new GMC account. This option is useful mostly when you start to work with a new client (that doesn't have a GMC account yet), so that instead of creating a new GMC under Google Shopping and doing a switch then, you can easily create new one directly under your CSS.

You create a new sub-account in MCA CSS yourself, you have to upload the product feed and wait for its verification.

Only then you will be able to create new campaigns for the products by duplicating the existing ones.

You are doing this by clicking blue "plus" button.

If you want to use existing campaign then you need to use desktop version of the Google Ads editor since web interface doesn’t let you switch the merchant ID.

Go to editor and duplicate currently existing campaigns
Switch the merchant ID of the duplicated campaigns to the merchant ID of newly
created sub-account in GMC

Mind that if this process is used, Google’s algorithm has to learn again as the campaigns are new to its engine (even though they are duplicated), therefore it might take couple of days to ramp up.

However, this is the only way out when you don't want to disconnect the account from another CSS, or when you want to use more than one CSS at the same time.