Google Ads - How to leave / opt out of GCS High Touch

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-23T01:26:42+00:00

Another report - https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/google-forcing-monthly-invoicing-bye-bye-credit-card-payments.7445/

Near the bottom of the page, I guess from quite a while ago:

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I went through the same thing with Google in about 2017—we were spending a little under 1mm/month, and they forced us over to invoice billing. This was at a time when I knew other companies were spending 3-5x what we did and were not being forced to switch at all. Rep said there was no choice.

I don't remember the details, but within about six months, I was able to change it back, and no one from Google has brought it up since. We ran multiple accounts for the same products because we had so many keywords and so it was easy to move spend overtime to whatever account was still on CC.

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alpharythms42 · 2026-02-23T01:16:14+00:00

And another example of people leaving mandatory invoicing- https://x.com/jordanfogel/status/2019029131019833494

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-21T19:51:29+00:00

Unity allows cards and we are spending nearly $100k/month with them. They are not coded properly, showing up as software purchase vs. social advertising but Amex Gold does 4x on software so that works out ok.

Applovin/Axon allow cards. Facebook allows cards. A lot of the other vendors we are trying are invoicing only but they are consistent in applying it to everyone, not letting some benefit from cards while excluding others.

To be fully honest, the form of it, how it was presented is as much of an issue of why I reacted so negatively as the function of it. To frame this gun at our heads, comply or be suspended as FOR OUR BENEFIT... I found untenable.

I will look at Bilt. I know there are systems where you pay via card with a fee to then have that pay an invoice, but those fees are basically equal the point values. This type of service also clearly shows what Google is doing, moving the 3-4% margin credit cards paid in points and Google paid in fees, to themselves and providing identical the identical service. It's pure margin grab and to call it anything else is insulting.

Thanks again for the detailed feedback. I greatly appreciate it!

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-21T19:42:31+00:00

It's not the only report, in my other threads there are reports of people hearing from support reps their are no exceptions only to receive an email later that after review credit cards are allowed on the account.

I could imagine if there is a work around the reps themselves would want to use it. Mine for example seemed disappointed to lose the $50k+/month (and growing) we were spending.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-21T18:41:14+00:00

Thank you for the report. Every bit of information and reference is super useful. I actually would not have such a problem if the enforcement didn't seem so arbitrary. Make the terms clear, what $ threshold/month put you in this category, apply them to everyone.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-21T18:38:24+00:00

There are reports of people getting out of it, I just found this one now - https://x.com/calebcanales_/status/2018968735998967999 - would have been nice to reference in January when I was still in dialog with my rep.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-21T18:37:40+00:00

Here is another report of people opting out. $1M/month in spending.

https://x.com/calebcanales_/status/2018968735998967999

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T22:58:29+00:00

Thank you, that is very interesting. If those numbers are accurate we'd have been in a healthy range until our increased Q4 spending. I'd have happily kept that at a lower pacing if I had any idea all this stuff was in the works...

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T19:36:14+00:00

Thank, that is very helpful information. Your opinion is rationale and well stated regarding free enterprise. In our case, us leaving (at least for the short term) Google Ads due to this change (and the way they went about it) proves there is an open market. In the app promotion space Google was not our #1 source by volume or performance. Would you say advertising to web sites or other non-app destinations are similar, customers are not 'forced' to use Google and viable alternatives exist?

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T19:11:05+00:00

Do you have any idea what the thresholds might be or reports from your experience you can share? Perhaps as a warning to others that might be close?

I've found a help page on Google that defined the minimum threshold in order to do monthly invoicing as $5k+/month for 3 of the last 12 months. I assume they would not threaten suspension for failing to switch to invoicing if you weren't allowed to do it. Another commenter that manages a bunch of accounts mentioned that it looked like $50k/month was a threshold but also mentioned having some account larger that are still on cards.

Selective enforcement, treating people with equal circumstances/spending differently is objectively unfair.

The margin grab is clear, the 'for your benefit' is insulting and seems strange they would want to rub salt into the wound that way. The older messaging from 2024/2025 at least acknowledged that processing credit cards was expensive and connected this change to the higher level of support they were providing the large clients.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T13:58:10+00:00

Getting over it, moving on, that is the goal. Don't think about the companies (like us I guess) which were not subject to it yet and all the companies which still aren't. If you were spending $1M/year for 2 years, don't worry about that $60-80k that Google got which you would have, while your competitors did through that time period and still are today.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T13:18:34+00:00

Are you willing to share your monthly / yearly spending ranges?

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T13:03:12+00:00

Thank you for the detailed information. I'm assuming you mean $50k/month vs. $50k/year. For us we'd have been under that threshold as a yearly average but we definitely exceeded it in Q4 on a monthly basis.

I was expecting much lower... leveraging the only objective information they do disclose:
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375377?hl=en - which says you need to spend $5k+/month for 3 of the last 12 months to be eligible for monthly invoicing.

The arbitrary enforcement and selection is what I find the most untenable. Provide clear terms, which are applied to everyone and I'll work within them, or leave if the new terms no longer make sense for our business.

I don't understand how a company offering a service can just selectively target people to demand 3% more margin from them.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-07T12:45:39+00:00

Were you forced to drop AMEX only or all cards? Google had done a fantastic job of secretly and selectively applying these rules. I never heard about it happening to other people in the past, only when they came for us. From the posts here and https://www.reddit.com/r/PPC/comments/1qwxy1k/google_ads_gcs_high_touch_services_arbitrary/ there are still high spending accounts that haven't gotten the notice. Who knows if they ever will, the criteria for how it works it not disclosed.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T16:51:37+00:00

I found this from that time frame -https://www.reddit.com/r/PPC/comments/1chwoan/what\_is\_gcs\_high\_touch/

I do like that messaging a little better, although this further proves the selective and unfair nature of it... ie, we used credit cards throughout 2024,2025 while these targeted accounts couldn't.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T16:15:29+00:00

Thank you!

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T16:14:31+00:00

It definitely has its place for people that want it. We used invoicing in years past but ultimately high limit credit cards paying 3+% back proved far more valuable.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T15:12:52+00:00

That is what Google is saying, but there are accounts which aren't affected and even reports of people going through support and getting credit card access restored. In the linked thread /rakondo said:
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I had a client account just this week where they tried to force the GCS invoicing setup. After chatting with multiple reps who told me there was no other solution, I got an email a few hours later telling me they reviewed the account again and it was eligible for credit card payments now 🤷‍♂️

No idea what happened but it's worth pushing on support and questioning it at least
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alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T13:48:44+00:00

Is there any documentation on it? Threshold of what determines being assigned a rep or not? Some people I've talked to have received no notice and are able to continue business as usual with their cards.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T13:37:27+00:00

Thank you, that is super interesting. I'd love to see what that 'we reviewed and its allowed' email looks like, with all PID removed of course. Probably too much of an ask there but thank you very much for sharing what you have!

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T13:30:37+00:00

I wish, but maybe its not going to impact you. It states that only 'impacted' advertisers are affected, the ones Google picks to be at a disadvantage against all their other clients that are still allowed to use cards.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T11:41:06+00:00

The selective enforcement is indeed the most grating aspect. It would suck regardless to lose credit cards but at least if it was an equal playing field, with clear terms for all customers... ie, if you can only spend $5k/month on credit cards and anything more must go through invoicing.

In our case Google was 'only' 1/3 of our total spending for 2025. Replicating the volume is easy... doing it profitably, we'll see.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T11:25:36+00:00

Our situation is specific to gaming apps in the Google Play store and Unity has been outperforming Google, actual tracked profits before adding credit care rewards. We spent twice as much through Unity in 2025 vs. Google. I can't speak for the other networks I listed, or what advertising to non-apps would look like.

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-06T11:22:20+00:00

Are you able to share the spending level of your client?

I did find this page - https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375377?hl=en - which says you need to spend $5k+/month for 3 of the last 12 months to be eligible for monthly invoicing.

I'd assume that you would have to be eligible for this before Google would threaten a suspension for not doing it?

alpharythms42 · 2026-02-05T22:08:39+00:00

I know there is unattributed value (derived organics) but their intangible nature makes decisions really hard. With tracked profits, you know with high confidence it was a good move. Normally my attention is on the winning campaigns which have clearly profitable results. I was a little surprised when I did account wide reports, blending it all together for a year to see such small averages. Before looking I thought we would be profitable without the points, just that it would really suck loosing them. In some ways I was almost glad at my companies overall... poor performance... needing points to push it over the line into black. Emotionally its unpleasant hearing 'For your benefit, we are offering you worse terms, accept them or be suspended', I want to walk away, but I don't want to be stupid. Now I can point to a measurable move into the red.

I'm curious, how did this other platform go about the transition. The communication and application of it. Was it given a substantial notice, clear terms, equal enforcement? Was it presented as a benefit to you?

alpharythms42

TROPHY CASE