Why Ads Manager and T1: ChatGPT Ads Feed show different product counts

T1: ChatGPT Ads Feed's Home counts the products ChatGPT Ads accepted in your last sync. Ads Manager can show more, because it keeps products for up to 14 days after they leave your feed. It can also show fewer approved, because ChatGPT Ads reviews every accepted product against its ad policies, and the app can't see that review.

What each number counts

The counts answer different questions. They only match when nothing left your feed in the last 14 days and every product passed ChatGPT Ads' policy review.

Each Shopify variant is one product in ChatGPT Ads, so the app and the upload history count variants.

How a sync works

Every sync sends your whole catalog. A product leaves ChatGPT Ads when a sync leaves it out; nothing deletes it.

1. Each sync is a full snapshot. The app sends one file with every product you want in ChatGPT Ads. It replaces the file from the previous sync.
2. ChatGPT Ads accepts or rejects each row. Rejected rows (missing or invalid data) show in the app's Feed issues. Accepted rows count as Accepted on the app's Home.
3. Excluded products are left out of the next file. That covers products you exclude, products outside your selection, and products that now have errors. The app stops counting them as accepted once ChatGPT Ads has processed that sync.
4. ChatGPT Ads keeps the last version for up to 14 days. A product missing from a new file isn't removed at once, so a late or missing file can't make your catalog vanish. Until it expires, Ads Manager still counts it and it may still be shown.
5. After that, it expires. The Ads Manager count drops on its own. Nothing to do on your side.
6. Including it again brings it straight back. If you include the product before or after it expires, the next sync sends it and it's accepted again.

Accepted is not approved

An accepted product can still be kept out of ads. After accepting a row, ChatGPT Ads reviews each product against its ad policies. Ads Manager → Campaigns → Products shows the result as Approved or Not approved.

The upload result only says whether each row was valid. It says nothing about the policy review, and ChatGPT Ads doesn't share the review through its API. So the app counts a Not approved product as accepted, and only Ads Manager shows the review.

Products in restricted categories (alcohol, tobacco and vapes, weapons, adult items) usually fail the review. The app flags them before sending with the warning May not be approved for ads in Feed issues. They're still sent unless you exclude them.

Worked examples

More in Ads Manager: excluded products kept for 14 days

Ads Manager showed 374 because it still held 339 products excluded earlier that day, on top of the latest sync. On Oct 23 a store excluded products in steps and synced after each change (times as Ads Manager shows them):

At 16:07 the counts added up like this:

• 35 of the 42 products just sent. The other 7 weren't counted because ChatGPT Ads leaves out products it can't use for ads right now, such as the 4 that were out of stock.
• 339 products sent by the earlier uploads and excluded since. ChatGPT Ads keeps them until they expire, by Nov 6 at the latest.
• 374 in total, while the app showed 42 accepted: everything the store sends now, and nothing it excluded.

Fewer approved: products that fail the policy review

On Oct 24 a store selling vape products and e-liquids synced 387 products. The upload finished with all 387 rows accepted and none rejected, so the app shows 387 accepted.

In Ads Manager → Campaigns → Products, many of the same products were Not approved for breaking ad policies. The feed list counted 130 products. The products that weren't approved stay in the feed but won't show in ads.

What to do

Extra products usually need nothing: they drop out of Ads Manager within 14 days. Products that aren't approved stay that way until you change them.

• Check what you're sending with Accepted by ChatGPT Ads on the app's Home, or with the latest row of Ads Manager's upload history.
• Check what can show in ads in Ads Manager → Campaigns → Products. The app's Home links there.
• Product not approved? Check it against OpenAI's ad policies. If its category is restricted, exclude it in T1: ChatGPT Ads Feed → Products so your counts match what can show. If you think it's allowed, fix its title, description or images and sync again.
• Need a product to stop showing sooner? Excluding it takes up to 14 days to reach ads. Until then, pause the campaign or ad group that promotes it in Ads Manager, or narrow the ad group's product filter so the product no longer matches.
• Changed your mind? Include the product again in T1: ChatGPT Ads Feed; it goes out with the next sync.
• Still higher after 14 days? If Ads Manager counts more than your latest sync for longer than 14 days, contact T1: ChatGPT Ads Feed support with your feed name.

Sources

• File upload overview: product retention and removal (OpenAI): a product missing from a processed snapshot is kept for up to 14 days.
• Product Feeds (OpenAI): the feed list's product count is the current count of ingested products eligible for ads, and a completed upload doesn't mean every product can serve, since reviews still apply.
• Ad policies (OpenAI): what ChatGPT Ads reviews each product against.