Manage business identity

You can use the business identity attributes in the Merchant Center to tell customers about the identity of your business. For more information, see Add business identity attributes to Merchant Center .

This guide explains how you can retrieve and update your business identity using the following:

Retrieve the business identity

To retrieves the business identity of your account, use the getBusinessIdentity method.

Here's a sample request:

  https://merchantapi.googleapis.com/accounts/v1/accounts/ {ACCOUNT_ID} 
/businessIdentity 
 

Here's a sample response from a successful call:

  { 
  
 "name" 
 : 
  
 "accounts/ {ACCOUNT_ID} 
/businessIdentity" 
 , 
  
 "blackOwned" 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 "identityDeclaration" 
 : 
  
 "SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS" 
  
 } 
 } 
 

Here's a sample you can use to get the business identity for a given account using the client libraries:

Java

  // Copyright 2024 Google LLC 
 // 
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 // You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 // 
 //     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 // 
 // Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 // distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 // WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 // limitations under the License. 
 package 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.accounts.businessidentities.v1 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.gax.core.FixedCredentialsProvider 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentity 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityName 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.GetBusinessIdentityRequest 
 ; 
 import 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.utils.Authenticator 
 ; 
 import 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.utils.Config 
 ; 
 /** This class demonstrates how to get the business identity of a Merchant Center account. */ 
 public 
  
 class 
 GetBusinessIdentitySample 
  
 { 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 getBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 Config 
  
 config 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 // Obtains OAuth token based on the user's configuration. 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
  
 credential 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Authenticator 
 (). 
 authenticate 
 (); 
  
 // Creates service settings using the credentials retrieved above. 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
  
 businessIdentityServiceSettings 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setCredentialsProvider 
 ( 
 FixedCredentialsProvider 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 credential 
 )) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 // Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify the BusinessIdentity. 
  
 String 
  
 name 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityName 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setAccount 
 ( 
 config 
 . 
 getAccountId 
 (). 
 toString 
 ()) 
  
 . 
 build 
 () 
  
 . 
 toString 
 (); 
  
 // Calls the API and catches and prints any network failures/errors. 
  
 try 
  
 ( 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
  
 businessIdentityServiceClient 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 businessIdentityServiceSettings 
 )) 
  
 { 
  
 // The name has the format: accounts/{account}/businessIdentity 
  
 GetBusinessIdentityRequest 
  
 request 
  
 = 
  
 GetBusinessIdentityRequest 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 (). 
 setName 
 ( 
 name 
 ). 
 build 
 (); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Sending get BusinessIdentity request:" 
 ); 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 businessIdentityServiceClient 
 . 
 getBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 request 
 ); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Retrieved BusinessIdentity below" 
 ); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 response 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 Exception 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 e 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 main 
 ( 
 String 
 [] 
  
 args 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 Config 
  
 config 
  
 = 
  
 Config 
 . 
 load 
 (); 
  
 getBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 config 
 ); 
  
 } 
 } 
  
 

PHP

 < ?php 
 /** 
 * Copyright 2025 Google LLC 
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 * 
 *     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 * limitations under the License. 
 */ 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../../vendor/autoload.php'; 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../Authentication/Authentication.php'; 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../Authentication/Config.php'; 
 use Google\ApiCore\ApiException; 
 use Google\Shopping\Merchant\Accounts\V1\Client\BusinessIdentityServiceClient; 
 use Google\Shopping\Merchant\Accounts\V1\GetBusinessIdentityRequest; 
 /** 
 * This class demonstrates how to get the business identity of a Merchant Center account. 
 */ 
 class GetBusinessIdentitySample 
 { 
 /** 
 * Retrieves the business identity for the given Merchant Center account. 
 * 
 * @param array $config The configuration data containing the account ID. 
 * @return void 
 */ 
 public static function getBusinessIdentity($config) 
 { 
 // Gets the OAuth credentials to make the request. 
 $credentials = Authentication::useServiceAccountOrTokenFile(); 
 // Creates options config containing credentials for the client to use. 
 $options = ['credentials' => $credentials]; 
 // Creates a client. 
 $businessIdentityServiceClient = new BusinessIdentityServiceClient($options); 
 // Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify the BusinessIdentity. 
 // The name has the format: accounts/{account}/businessIdentity 
 $name = "accounts/" . $config['accountId'] . "/businessIdentity"; 
 // Calls the API and catches and prints any network failures/errors. 
 try { 
 $request = (new GetBusinessIdentityRequest()) 
 ->setName($name); 
 print "Sending get BusinessIdentity request:\n"; 
 $response = $businessIdentityServiceClient->getBusinessIdentity($request); 
 print "Retrieved BusinessIdentity below\n"; 
 print_r($response); 
 } catch (ApiException $e) { 
 print $e->getMessage(); 
 } 
 } 
 /** 
 * Helper to execute the sample. 
 * 
 * @return void 
 */ 
 public function callSample(): void 
 { 
 $config = Config::generateConfig(); 
 self::getBusinessIdentity($config); 
 } 
 } 
 // Run the script 
 $sample = new GetBusinessIdentitySample(); 
 $sample->callSample(); 
  
 

Python

  # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- 
 # Copyright 2025 Google LLC 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 """A module to get BusinessIdentity.""" 
 from 
  
 examples.authentication 
  
 import 
 configuration 
 from 
  
 examples.authentication 
  
 import 
 generate_user_credentials 
 from 
  
 google.shopping.merchant_accounts_v1 
  
 import 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 from 
  
 google.shopping.merchant_accounts_v1 
  
 import 
 GetBusinessIdentityRequest 
 _ACCOUNT 
 = 
 configuration 
 . 
 Configuration 
 () 
 . 
 read_merchant_info 
 () 
 def 
  
 get_business_identity 
 (): 
  
 """Gets the business identity of a Merchant Center account.""" 
 # Gets OAuth Credentials. 
 credentials 
 = 
 generate_user_credentials 
 . 
 main 
 () 
 # Creates a client. 
 client 
 = 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 ( 
 credentials 
 = 
 credentials 
 ) 
 # Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify the BusinessIdentity. 
 name 
 = 
 "accounts/" 
 + 
 _ACCOUNT 
 + 
 "/businessIdentity" 
 # Creates the request. 
 request 
 = 
 GetBusinessIdentityRequest 
 ( 
 name 
 = 
 name 
 ) 
 # Makes the request and catches and prints any error messages. 
 try 
 : 
 response 
 = 
 client 
 . 
 get_business_identity 
 ( 
 request 
 = 
 request 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 "Retrieved BusinessIdentity below" 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 response 
 ) 
 except 
 RuntimeError 
 as 
 e 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 e 
 ) 
 if 
 __name__ 
 == 
 "__main__" 
 : 
 get_business_identity 
 () 
  
 

Update your business identity

To update the business identity of your account, use the updateBusinessIdentity method.

Here's a sample request:

  PATCH https://merchantapi.googleapis.com/accounts/v1/accounts/ {ACCOUNT_ID} 
/businessIdentity?updateMask=latinoOwned%2CveteranOwned 
 { 
 "latinoOwned": { 
 "identityDeclaration": "SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS" 
 }, 
 "veteranOwned": { 
 "identityDeclaration": "DOES_NOT_SELF_IDENTIFY_AS" 
 } 
 } 
 

Here's a sample response from a successful call:

  { 
  
 "name" 
 : 
  
 "accounts/ {ACCOUNT_ID} 
/businessIdentity" 
 , 
  
 "blackOwned" 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 "identityDeclaration" 
 : 
  
 "SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS" 
  
 }, 
  
 "veteranOwned" 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 "identityDeclaration" 
 : 
  
 "DOES_NOT_SELF_IDENTIFY_AS" 
  
 }, 
  
 "latinoOwned" 
 : 
  
 { 
  
 "identityDeclaration" 
 : 
  
 "SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS" 
  
 } 
 } 
 

Here's a sample you can use to update the business identity for a given account using the client libraries:

Java

  // Copyright 2024 Google LLC 
 // 
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 // You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 // 
 //     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 // 
 // Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 // distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 // WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 // limitations under the License. 
 package 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.accounts.businessidentities.v1 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.gax.core.FixedCredentialsProvider 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.protobuf.FieldMask 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentity 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityName 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.shopping.merchant.accounts.v1.UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest 
 ; 
 import 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.utils.Authenticator 
 ; 
 import 
  
 shopping.merchant.samples.utils.Config 
 ; 
 /** This class demonstrates how to update a business identity. */ 
 public 
  
 class 
 UpdateBusinessIdentitySample 
  
 { 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 updateBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 Config 
  
 config 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
  
 credential 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Authenticator 
 (). 
 authenticate 
 (); 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
  
 businessIdentityServiceSettings 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceSettings 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setCredentialsProvider 
 ( 
 FixedCredentialsProvider 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 credential 
 )) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 // Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify BusinessIdentity. 
  
 String 
  
 name 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityName 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setAccount 
 ( 
 config 
 . 
 getAccountId 
 (). 
 toString 
 ()) 
  
 . 
 build 
 () 
  
 . 
 toString 
 (); 
  
 // Create a BusinessIdentity with the updated fields. 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
  
 businessIdentity 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setName 
 ( 
 name 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setSmallBusiness 
 ( 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
 . 
 IdentityAttribute 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setIdentityDeclaration 
 ( 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
 . 
 IdentityAttribute 
 . 
 IdentityDeclaration 
 . 
 SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 ()) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 FieldMask 
  
 fieldMask 
  
 = 
  
 FieldMask 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 (). 
 addPaths 
 ( 
 "small_business" 
 ). 
 build 
 (); 
  
 try 
  
 ( 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
  
 businessIdentityServiceClient 
  
 = 
  
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 businessIdentityServiceSettings 
 )) 
  
 { 
  
 UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest 
  
 request 
  
 = 
  
 UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 businessIdentity 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setUpdateMask 
 ( 
 fieldMask 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Sending Update BusinessIdentity request" 
 ); 
  
 BusinessIdentity 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 businessIdentityServiceClient 
 . 
 updateBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 request 
 ); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Updated BusinessIdentity below" 
 ); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 response 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 Exception 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 e 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 main 
 ( 
 String 
 [] 
  
 args 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 Config 
  
 config 
  
 = 
  
 Config 
 . 
 load 
 (); 
  
 updateBusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 config 
 ); 
  
 } 
 } 
  
 

PHP

 < ?php 
 /** 
 * Copyright 2025 Google LLC 
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 * 
 *     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 * limitations under the License. 
 */ 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../../vendor/autoload.php'; 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../Authentication/Authentication.php'; 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../Authentication/Config.php'; 
 use Google\ApiCore\ApiException; 
 use Google\Protobuf\FieldMask; 
 use Google\Shopping\Merchant\Accounts\V1\BusinessIdentity; 
 use Google\Shopping\Merchant\Accounts\V1\Client\BusinessIdentityServiceClient; 
 use Google\Shopping\Merchant\Accounts\V1\UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest; 
 /** 
 * This class demonstrates how to update a business identity. 
 */ 
 class UpdateBusinessIdentitySample 
 { 
 /** 
 * Updates the business identity for the given Merchant Center account. 
 * 
 * @param array $config The configuration data containing the account ID. 
 * @return void 
 */ 
 public static function updateBusinessIdentity($config) 
 { 
 // Gets the OAuth credentials to make the request. 
 $credentials = Authentication::useServiceAccountOrTokenFile(); 
 // Creates options config containing credentials for the client to use. 
 $options = ['credentials' => $credentials]; 
 // Creates a client. 
 $businessIdentityServiceClient = new BusinessIdentityServiceClient($options); 
 // Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify the BusinessIdentity. 
 // The name has the format: accounts/{account}/businessIdentity 
 $name = "accounts/" . $config['accountId'] . "/businessIdentity"; 
 // Create a BusinessIdentity with the updated fields. 
 $businessIdentity = (new BusinessIdentity()) 
 ->setName($name) 
 ->setSmallBusiness( 
 (new BusinessIdentity\IdentityAttribute()) 
 ->setIdentityDeclaration( 
 BusinessIdentity\IdentityAttribute\IdentityDeclaration::SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS 
 ) 
 ); 
 $fieldMask = (new FieldMask()) 
 ->setPaths(['small_business']); 
 try { 
 $request = (new UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest()) 
 ->setBusinessIdentity($businessIdentity) 
 ->setUpdateMask($fieldMask); 
 print "Sending Update BusinessIdentity request\n"; 
 $response = $businessIdentityServiceClient->updateBusinessIdentity($request); 
 print "Updated BusinessIdentity below\n"; 
 print_r($response); 
 } catch (ApiException $e) { 
 print $e->getMessage(); 
 } 
 } 
 /** 
 * Helper to execute the sample. 
 * 
 * @return void 
 */ 
 public function callSample(): void 
 { 
 $config = Config::generateConfig(); 
 self::updateBusinessIdentity($config); 
 } 
 } 
 // Run the script 
 $sample = new UpdateBusinessIdentitySample(); 
 $sample->callSample(); 
  
 

Python

  # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- 
 # Copyright 2025 Google LLC 
 # 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 # 
 #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
 # 
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
 # limitations under the License. 
 """A module to update BusinessIdentity.""" 
 from 
  
 examples.authentication 
  
 import 
 configuration 
 from 
  
 examples.authentication 
  
 import 
 generate_user_credentials 
 from 
  
 google.protobuf 
  
 import 
 field_mask_pb2 
 from 
  
 google.shopping.merchant_accounts_v1 
  
 import 
 BusinessIdentity 
 from 
  
 google.shopping.merchant_accounts_v1 
  
 import 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 from 
  
 google.shopping.merchant_accounts_v1 
  
 import 
 UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest 
 _ACCOUNT 
 = 
 configuration 
 . 
 Configuration 
 () 
 . 
 read_merchant_info 
 () 
 def 
  
 update_business_identity 
 (): 
  
 """Updates a business identity of a Merchant Center account.""" 
 credentials 
 = 
 generate_user_credentials 
 . 
 main 
 () 
 client 
 = 
 BusinessIdentityServiceClient 
 ( 
 credentials 
 = 
 credentials 
 ) 
 # Creates BusinessIdentity name to identify BusinessIdentity. 
 name 
 = 
 "accounts/" 
 + 
 _ACCOUNT 
 + 
 "/businessIdentity" 
 # Create a BusinessIdentity with the updated fields. 
 business_identity 
 = 
 BusinessIdentity 
 ( 
 name 
 = 
 name 
 , 
 small_business 
 = 
 BusinessIdentity 
 . 
 IdentityAttribute 
 ( 
 identity_declaration 
 = 
 BusinessIdentity 
 . 
 IdentityAttribute 
 . 
 IdentityDeclaration 
 . 
 SELF_IDENTIFIES_AS 
 , 
 ), 
 ) 
 field_mask 
 = 
 field_mask_pb2 
 . 
 FieldMask 
 ( 
 paths 
 = 
 [ 
 "small_business" 
 ]) 
 request 
 = 
 UpdateBusinessIdentityRequest 
 ( 
 business_identity 
 = 
 business_identity 
 , 
 update_mask 
 = 
 field_mask 
 ) 
 try 
 : 
 response 
 = 
 client 
 . 
 update_business_identity 
 ( 
 request 
 = 
 request 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 "Updated BusinessIdentity below" 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 response 
 ) 
 except 
 RuntimeError 
 as 
 e 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 e 
 ) 
 if 
 __name__ 
 == 
 "__main__" 
 : 
 update_business_identity 
 () 
  
 
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