The CSS Partner: frequently asked questions

A Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is a company authorised to submit your product listings into the Google Shopping auction on your behalf. When your ads run through an authorised CSS instead of directly through Google, your full bid enters the auction instead of losing Google's margin of up to 20%. That is up to 25% more bid power. The ads themselves look identical to shoppers. The CSS Partner is one such authorised CSS, operated by Gezar in Aarhus, Denmark.

Your bids, not your product prices. Your customers see the same prices, the same images and the same products. The only thing that changes is how much of each bid reaches the auction: all of it, instead of what is left after Google's margin of up to 20%. That is up to 25% more bid power. Depending on your bid strategy, it shows up as lower click prices, more clicks or better positions.

Not because Google chose to offer it. On 27 June 2017 the European Commission fined Google 2.42 billion EUR (case AT.39740) for giving its own Shopping service an unfair advantage over rival comparison services. The remedy required Google to open the Shopping auction to authorised CSS providers on equal terms. When your bid enters through an authorised CSS, Google does not take the margin it takes on the direct track. That margin, up to 20%, is where the extra bid power comes from.

It is settled EU law, not a loophole. Running through an authorised CSS is exactly the mechanism the EU required Google to provide under case AT.39740. It has been in force since 2017, was upheld by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2024, and is in active operation across Europe. The only surprising part is that most shops have never heard of it, partly because Google does not actively promote third-party CSS to merchants.

No. Same placement, same products, same images, same titles, same prices. The only visible change is a small grey line beneath each ad that shows your CSS provider instead of Google. Most shoppers never notice it.

No. CSS selection is a routing decision in the auction, not a quality signal, so your placements and ranking are unaffected. Your Google Ads account, campaign structure, bids, budgets, targeting and history all stay exactly where they are. There is no relearning phase, because the switch happens at the Merchant Center level, below your campaigns.

No on both. We connect at the Merchant Center level only, which determines which CSS your Shopping ads run through. We do not see or touch your Google Ads account, your bids, your budgets or your campaign settings. You are not changing who manages your ads either, so you can use a CSS while managing your own ads, while working with any agency, or alongside any other tool.

No. Running through an authorised CSS happens inside Google's own CSS programme. There is nothing irregular about it from Google's perspective.

From 11.66 € per shop per month on the annual plan with the Founders code (30% off the yearly price). On monthly billing it is 20 € per shop, or 16 € per shop from five. That covers every live CSS country on one subscription. No setup fee, no per-country fee, no percentage-of-spend fees, no overage charges, no contract. All prices are shown ex VAT; local VAT applies according to your country.

Spend and countries do not change the price: from 11.66 € per shop per month on the annual plan covers any Shopping spend level and every live CSS country, with no percentage-of-spend fees and no per-country add-ons. If one shop sells in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark at once, it still pays one price, not one per country. The number of shops does change it: there is one subscription per shop (per Merchant Center account), and from five shops every shop gets a lower rate. More shops than our table covers: contact us for a price. Get in touch before signing up if you want us to confirm the configuration for your specific setup.

No. You pay when you sign up, and you then have 60 days to get your money back, no questions asked. You can cancel at any time, with no notice period beyond the current billing period. If you want to go through your own figures first, talk to us before you sign up.

Yes, and it costs less. A year is billed as ten months, so two months are free. The founder code LAUNCH30 takes a further 30% off the yearly price for as long as you stay, locked at every renewal. It applies to the yearly plan only.

Most shops are live within 24 hours, though Google runs the switch itself and allows up to two weeks. Your campaigns keep running throughout, with no downtime and no pause.

No. Your Shopping campaigns run continuously throughout the switch. The change happens at the infrastructure layer below your campaigns, so the algorithm has nothing to relearn.

Yes, you can switch back any time, and no, you lose nothing. There is no contract and no lock-in. You disconnect the CSS in your Merchant Center and your Shopping ads return to the direct Google track at the standard cost-per-click. The same one-step process works in reverse. Your account, campaigns and history stay yours throughout, because they never moved in the first place.

No problem. You do not need to involve your agency in the switch, since the CSS connection sits at the Merchant Center level, separate from whoever manages your campaigns. Your agency may want to be aware so they can watch the CPC change in your account data.

Yes. We are an authorised CSS operating under Google's CSS programme, and our status is active and verified. You can confirm it yourself: search Google Shopping in one of our active markets and you will see By Gezar in the grey provider line beneath our merchants' ads.

You can go live today in every European country where Google CSS is available, all on one 20 €/month subscription. Google is also expanding Shopping into further EMEA markets, but on 5 September 2026 Google delayed that expansion with no replacement date, so we do not publish a launch timeline. Check the page for your specific country for its current status, and register your interest so we can connect you the moment it goes live.

The advantage is permanent for as long as Google operates Shopping in Europe. The equal-access rule is established EU law, upheld in 2024, and the programme exists by EU regulatory order, so Google cannot unilaterally remove it. Programme terms can evolve, but the structural requirement to offer CSS access on equal terms has been upheld through legal challenge and is in active operation across Europe. Your extra bid power is simply how Shopping ads work through an authorised CSS, not a limited-time offer.