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Google Checkout Is Live  (View post)

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

Thursday, June 29, 2006
18 years ago26,357 views

Great review. I love that bit at the end. Google is really getting all lanes covered. Already most of us probably spend a lot of our online time on Google Domains (Gmail particularly) but with every new service they add you need to spend less and less time elsewhere.

Picase => Picasa

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

You caught me in the initial 3-minute editing session which happens ever so often after I hit publish :)

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

sidenote: please use something different than WMV, they do not play proper in Firefox if you don't use a little special object/embed tags. I recommend FLV :o)

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I wonder if Google makes a commission from sales? The price stays the same, apparently, but maybe there's some behind the scenes payment for shops using Google Checkout?

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

more sidenote: .mov is the best for me.

or [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Hmm, I wonder why you got a error message. This is the system they have been using with Base and Google Video, right? That's been working fine for months. Are the transactions for other merchants limited to the US?

Btw, Yahoo, MS, AOL, Ebay, Amazon all have these kinds of data already for years – these companies are no more trustworthy than Google, so I think their record can be used to measure Google's success in this area.

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Philipp
point your eyes here please: https://checkout.google.com/seller/why.html
For every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free through Google Checkout. For example, if you spent $1,000 on AdWords last month, this month you can process $10,000 in sales at no cost. The more you spend to promote your business through AdWords, the more you save on transaction processing fees with Google Checkout.

If you exceed your free transaction processing for the month, or you don't advertise with AdWords at all, you'll only be charged 2% plus $.20 per transaction. Learn more

AND here: http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=30724&topic=8665
Fees will be deducted from your Google Checkout balance when you charge your order. If you refund an order, Google will return the variable portion of the transaction fee (2.0%) to you, but will retain the flat portion of the fee ($.20).

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Of course there is. The seller has to pay 2% plus $.20 per transaction to Google. They do get $10 of free transactions for each $1000 you spend on AdWords though.

References:
http://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html
http://checkout.google.com/seller/why.html
http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=30724

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Corsin – you beat me to it! This thread is red hot!!! :-)

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Tony
yours (or mine is wrong)
you say for every 1000$ on Adwords, you get 10$ free transaction, mine says for 1000$ spent on Adwords, you get 10'000$ free transaction... hmm

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I think Google has a lot more than Amazon, at least for me. Google:
- knows my full name (Google Account)
- my browsing history (Google toolbar)
- my search history (Google web search)
- my click history on search results (which they track too)
- knows all about my visitors on many of my sites (AdSense)
- knows all my "private" email conversations (Gmail)
- knows my credit card number, home address (Google Checkout)
- knows what people search for on this blog and my other sites (Google Web Search API)
- etc. ... (?)

Amazon, on the other hand, just has my credit card, my home address, my order history and so on. I'm not saying that's little, but Google has a lot more.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<< yours (or mine is wrong) >>

My bad. I typed it from memory and didn't check my zeroes...

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Philipp – and whoever's signed up outside the US, did you read this in the Terms and Conditions? (Does anyone *ever* read the T&Cs?)

<< In order to use the Service, you must complete all required information elements on the Service registration web pages. You must register a valid credit or debit card issued by a U.S. financial institution as a Payment Instrument to make Payment Transactions and pay fees and other obligations arising from your use of the Service. >>

From: https://checkout.google.com/termsOfService?type=Buyer

I guess it doesn't check this then...?

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Hmmmokay, the ToS says I must be "a resident of the United States" yet they allow me to select "Germany" in the drop-down box when I sign up with Google Checkout? Either they don't know what they want really, or they're trying to play pranks on us...

Bob Jones [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

US only – when I tried to sign up the country wasn't part of a form, it just said United States.

Damn Google. Schmidt is making them more insular. Can't wait until we get denied access to Notebook or gMail or whatever else he wants us to miss out on.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

> Does anyone *ever* read the T&Cs?

Don't think so, you need a lawyer and two days of time to translate a typical ToS... I don't think anyone actually expects you to read it either, just cover-your-ass info. It comes down to whether you have some basic trust in the site not to try rip you off immediately. If it'd be www.warez.to with the same ToS I wouldn't have provided my credit card...

Elias KAI [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Good adressing the power between Amazon,ebay and Google.

I do believe Google has more about us then any of the other actors.

At least, when you are browsing, searching on Google and oops you may end to watch your payment + search History and some additional or newly versions of your last shopping products or services.

Bingo for Google checkout.

Elias KAI [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Yep , you are right Philipp about the Terms and conditions.

Most sites have it in small squared window and the select button much bigger.
No one will ever read it until they got into problems. It same principle as for insur ance companies.

I like this one :

" If we are holding funds due to you arising from a Payment Transaction processed through the Service or otherwise, and we are unable to contact you and have no record of your use of the Service for several years, applicable law may require us to report these funds as unclaimed property. "

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

if you spent $100 last month on AdWords, you’d get $1000 worth of transaction processing (which translates into $20) for free. Do the math, and that’s a 20% effective d i scount on your AdWords buy.

This is a closed loop system, of s/w services which is ties down all user data into google!!

Question to the Forum: Are you comfortable having all of that information reside with one player ?? (i.e Google). I asked myself this and I find myself answering – YES.

What about others ???

dpneal [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Yeah I have no probelm with it. I trust them with my data. And I rather let just one company(Google) have it than lots of others.

Ken Kuhl [PersonRank 7]

18 years ago #

I just used 'Checkout' successfully to purchase a DVD from DVD Empire. I also used the coupon code listed on the Google Checkout page to get $10 off on the DVD I purchased. It worked pretty darn smoothly, I must say.

Google already had all my credit card and bank data from previous Google Base purchases and my merchant account, so I didn't have to go through the step of setting up a Checkout account.

At DVD Empire I just clicked on the Google Checkout graphic:
http://home.kenkuhl.com/misc/google-checkout.gif

After that I was taken to a Google Checkout page and Google handled the rest of the transaction. I didn't have to enter any additional information (except the coupon code) and only had to click 2 submit buttons to complete the transaction. Very streamlined.

One thing that was a bit confusing was that there was a box to enter a coupon code on the same page with the Google Checkout graphic and if you entered the coupon code on that page you were taken to a page where you had to create a DVD Empire account. But there is an opportunity to enter the coupon code (for the $10 off) again once Google Checkout has taken over and begun to handle the transaction.

All-in-all it was quite smooth (and the DVD I got was a great bargain with the $10 off and DVD Empire's cheap standard shipping).

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<< Are you comfortable having all of that information reside with one player ?? (i.e Google). >>

Strangely enough, yes, I'm comfortable with it. Would I still be comfortable if it were Microsoft? Probably not. What if it were Yahoo? Maybe.

For some unknown reason, most of us trust Google almost unconditionally. I'm just hoping that they won't abuse that trust anytime soon...

Jake's View [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

What's next? Gbay?

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Hmmmm... looks like they allow anyone to see your shopping cart though.. is that a good idea?? for example.. here is an order from buy.com.

https://checkout.google.com/buy?o=shoppingcart&shoppingcart=323542106522000

technically, couln't you just substitute the ID number on the end and get someone else's shopping cart?? And hopefully google disallows search robots from indexing them.

Peter Huesken [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

If Google Checkout intends to be the 1 place for payment and tracking
of stuff you buy, then it should also consider to add an universal
wish-lists system where you could keep a list of goods, from different
sites, you´d like to buy or get as a present...

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Kirby expensive harddisk :D

Luca [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

very funny the litte swf video (demo tour)

https://checkout.google.com/buyer/player_consumer.swf

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I would say that this maybe paves the way for Google Music to compete with iTunes.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

http://slash.pd.googlepages.com/checkout1.png

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Maybe you can only stuff that is on stock

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<< looks like they allow anyone to see your shopping cart though.. is that a good idea?? >>

I don't think it's really an issue. There's no personally identifiable information on that page.

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

ha!! It figures that I would get an email from paypal at 11:40pm last night.

<Free Shipping & More – Pay with Paypal and Save>
<Summer Savings for Paypal Customers>
<Paypal. Privacy is built in.>

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<<There's no personally identifiable information on that page.>>

that's true.. there's no way of knowing who's cart it is.

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Has anyone looked at the tour?

https://checkout.google.com/buyer/tour.html

At the bottom is the same video as is on the Google Blog post. Except this one is not using the classic Google Video UI. It also features "captions". Maybe these coming to Google Video soon?

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

http://slash.pd.googlepages.com/checkout2.png

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<< And hopefully google disallows search robots from indexing them. >>

Yes, in theory they disallow everything on the http://checkout.google.com domain:

https://checkout.google.com/robots.txt

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

http://slash.pd.googlepages.com/checkout3.png

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Has anyone completed an order sucessuflly YET ??

The intergration with merchants seems to be so "mangled"..!!

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I'm going through the process of signing up to be a merchant. So far soo good.

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<< Oops!
An error occurred while processing your request.>>

doesn't work to sign up to sell either.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Members of the forum : Could you screen scrap and place the images here ??

I think it would be prudent to share screens as we walk thru the process. Just a a requst. thanks in advance.

justin flavin [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

https://checkout.google.com/seller/why.html

transaction costs for sellers who dont want to spend money on Adwords:

"If you exceed your free transaction processing for the month, or you don't advertise with AdWords at all, you'll only be charged 2% plus $.20 per transaction."

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

SideBar : "Yahoo! merchants can also easily verify ownership of their stores – so they can create a Google Sitemaps account and benefit from the additional reports and tools that show them Google's view of their site."

http://ystoreblog.com/blog/2006/06/new-feature-sitemap-for-your-store/

Whats with that ??

Ilya Baklanov [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

Hi!

I get the same error as /pd.

I see a number of possible reasons for that:
1) Something's wrong with GCheckout

2) GCheckout doesn't accept Russian cards (I have a Russian Citibank card which I added without any problems and they even mentioned 5$ bonus or smth like this, but maybe they don't want to bill it)

3) My debit card is not available for use in the Internet (it's the same Citi card which is authorized for use only in shops (not online) and ATM's).

Ramibotros [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

about the wmv matter, check out WINK http://www.debugmode.com/wink/ ..
creates tiny swf files very easily.

C B [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

I was the developer who did the Google Checkout API integration for daydeal.com. They have received numerous orders since launch early this morning. They are also offering a $10 coupon on your first order over $20. Feel free to kick the tires...

http://www.daydeal.com/

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Ok.. /pd.. lets see if i can post a screenshot. :)

http://kirb.com/images/buynowbutton.png

Michael Adberg [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

We have Google Checkout running at this point also – check it out:

http://www.weaknees.com/

Considering the payment flow, I'm not sure how you were able to enter your credit card to Google, then you got back to the DVD Empire site to finish the order. Sounds like something there is a bit screwed up.

Anyway, ours is working!

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

http://kirb.com/images/googlecheckoutinbox.png

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Why does the order need to be reviewed by google ?

Kirby any ideas from the merchants perspective ?? I am asking this from a buyers view point!!

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Peter
> Are you comfortable having all of that information
> reside with one player ?? (i.e Google).

The question is not only do you trust Google with your data... but also do you trust the gov't that governs Google, as the gov't may poll Google Inc for user data through such programs as Patriot Act...

But basically, once you live with the fact that nothing is private, not even at Google (any day a Google engineer could read along my emails, not that I think they don't have internal security levels – I bet they have, and a lot – but that's the possibility), you don't worry as much and end up having a lot of benefits, like free software.

Jake
> What's next? Gbay?

Isn't that Google Base + Google Checkout?

Tony
> For some unknown reason, most of us trust
> Google almost unconditionally. I'm just
> hoping that they won't abuse that trust
> anytime soon...

I recently read this on Valleywag...
"Credibility is like a virgin."

Kirby
> Hmmmm... looks like they allow anyone
> to see your shopping cart though.. is that
> a good idea??

I can see the item, but no personal information on the buyer (I am only seeing my own Checkout account)... so at least in that regard it seems harmless. Unless the product is somehow customized to reveal a name...
Ah, I see Tony already said this :)

Tony
> Yes, in theory they disallow everything on
> the checkout.google.com domain:

But the question is if these URLs can still end up in Google search transmitted via the Google Toolbar. I don't know if the Google Toolbar respects the robots.txt?

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<<Kirby any ideas from the merchants perspective ?? I am asking this from a buyers view point!!>>

i don't know yet. The sign up process gave errors. I never got through successfully, but it added the My Sales link anyway in my Google Checkout account, and said I was approved. I might see if i can set up an item, and sell it for a $0.01. See if we can do some testing.

Corsin Camichel [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

[moved so Corsin's questions get more answers :) -Philipp]

While browsing the Google Checkout tour, a thought came to me:
Will that be the next big (read HUGE) money making maschine for Google? Will it be accepted by other sellers – and please, make it easy to integrate! And will there be a same interface like PayPal? So every site can integrate it (I hope so). And how about a little prepaid account – again, like PayPal. That has the plus, you can serve people without credit cards.

I am really impressed in the effort Google puts in this new product and I hope for a big success (not only because the stock could need a little lift off ;-)) but for the future of Google.

Any more thoughts?

Ramibotros [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

U.S. only ? http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=246

Luca [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Welcome to Gbuy...

A good Feature will be ; Import /Export from PayPal Account ..

I have some "online" money earned with mturk.com .. why i cant transfer to my google account without passing trought my credit card?

David [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Google constantly asuprises me with all of its great new products. I love how easy everything is to use and how it all integrates into one account. There is going to a be a point though at which we have given way too much personal information to Google. They have all of my emails stored, my personal information in their Checkout system with my Credit Card on record, my calendar, etc. Once again the question comes up, "How much we can trust Google?"

Tadeusz Szewczyk [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Google knows more than Amazon? I wonder what Googlezon will know about you ;-)!

Or Microintelciscogooglezonsoft. Or the Department of Homeworld Security. Soon enough.

http://www.agenturblog.de/2006-06/google-checkout/#more-659
says btw. that Europe and Asia will follow.

Liam [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I got the same error. As far as I can see its US only for both buyers and sellers. Google, though do not make this clear and happily take your credit card details no matter where you are located. Its pretty annoying that even in the official Google blog post, its not mentioned that this is currently NOT available to all Google users.

Aaron Myers [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

It's weird how it says "GBuy" everywhere, from the javascript code to how the people have coded their sites. Starbucks uses a gbuycart.php file, and GNC said this in one purchase I was testing.

http://static.flickr.com/54/177722132_252340255b.jpg

gary price [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I just went to try it out via a purchase from Starbucks.

What I'm confused by is after I logged-in with my Google account (no problems, quick) my account already had my credit card # in the system. Do you think this came from a purchase from the Google Store I made well over over a year ago? I will share and store my address, etc. but rarely have a merchant store my credit card #. Even, in this case if I did, shouldn't I be asked once a year or so to either remove it or change it?

Don't also forget that this release from Google is yet another missle in the Google/MS war.

See: MS Passport takes on credit cards (2002)
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-942344.html

But we know what happened.
MS Passport reveals credit card details
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/developer/0,39020387,2134426,00.htm

Analyst: MS Passport Flaws Hurt Single-ID Services
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/2230781

Of course, ran into other issues (that Google will not have) by requiring Passport sign-up to use several XP services.
http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/passport.html

jilm [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

So have already anybody IN the USA completed any buy? And have you anybody seen a Checkout icon anywhere in Google search results?

Aaron Myers [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

I haven't seen any of these Checkout icons anywhere in a Google search – but someone did say they completed a purchase.

http://blogoscoped.com/forum/42115.html#id42151

OREO [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Wow.. I've never seen such a crazy video like this from Google before.

https://checkout.google.com/buyer/tour.html#video

What do you think?

TJ [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Interestingly google mentions the following in their blog:

"And after you've placed your order, Google Checkout provides a purchase history where you can track your orders and shipping information in one place."

A very convenient feature that is probably in keeping with their "Organizing the worlds (read 'your') information." I do realize that this is a sales pitch and you never know what is going on behind the scenes.

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I setup a test Google Checkout Page with one product for $0.01. Anyone volunteer to try it out?? I tried buying from myself, but google says. Buying from yourself is not allowed in the system. :)
http://kirb.com/shop.htm

Fred Van Messen [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I thought Google's core focus was search? That's what Eric Schmidt said a few weeks ago.

"Unlike rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, Google is focused on core search and thus will be the main infrastructure provider for Web services and information going forward, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Wednesday."

http://news.com.com/Schmidt+Google+will+trump+rivals+with+its+focus+on+search/2100-1032_3-6070774.html

Bob Jones [PersonRank 2]

18 years ago #

Well, they're not trying to be PayPal – the real idea is we need to be able to quickly get money from advertisers, if we can do some merchant sales aswell then why not? They launched the product for themselves but expanded it enough so they can make money elsewhere.

The Google Pressrelease says they are working to make it international. It would be great if the 2 stores I shop most at online (Play.com & PlayUSA.com) would use it, I am fed up of constantly updating card data for both – it gets timely.

Michel Rijnders [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

When I tried to get into Google Checkout this morning I saw a new lay-out for the Accounts page. On the page there was the possibility to 'use' the service SSD. Only it was redirected to google.com.

What is this upcoming new service? Google Shops?

I made a crappy screenshot of the new accounts page and the SSD-url:
http://www.michelrijnders.nl/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=200

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Michel, have a look at these posts for more on SSD:
http://ruscoe.net/blog/2006/06/google-rs2-ssd-and-mobile-download.asp
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-06-10-n33.html

There are also a couple of references to SSD in this thread:
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/41494.html

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I placed an order from one of my other accounts and it went through very smooth.

Couple things I like from the merchant point of view.
1. Notice the ability to put a tracking number in easily.
2. Notice the order history. (as seen by buyer)
3. Also notice that it doesn't charge the customer automatically. You hit the charge button. That's very cool. And I don't see the card number anywhere. That's a bonus. It's private.

But I'm puzzled as to why Google reviews the order. It still says reviewing. What's involved with reviewing the order?? Does Larry look at each order before they are processed??

http://kirb.com/images/googleorder.png

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

also notice the net revenue. :(must be the story of my life. :)

Michel Rijnders [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Thanks Tony! It seems they gonna launch it soon, so then we will know ;-)

Gary Price [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Figured out why my credit card # was already in the Google Checkout system,
I purchased a video from Google Video in January and must have left my payment info stored. Issue solved. However, after I removed my credit card #
I was unable to use Google Checkout. In other words, it appears you need to have a credit card number stored with Google.

I ALSO NOTICED that, at least with Starbucks, you can still use PayPal to make a purchase. Clicking the regular checkout button takes you to PayPal. The Google Checkout link is below.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

> I thought Google's core focus was search?

Not really for the last couple of years... or at least, not their only focus. Their different teams focus on a lot of things simultaneously...

Fred Van Messen [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I hear you P.L.

>>> I thought Google's core focus was search?

I was just quoting back what Eric Schmidt said a few weeks ago at press day.

"This competition is healthy for end users." But "none of the other competitors is emphasizing" search.

Ironic, at least today, that he mentioned Google's strong partnership with eBay.
As you know, eBay owns PayPal.

A few weeks later E.S. said, "Google as a business is in the targeted advertising business.”

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

===>> "What's involved with reviewing the order?? "

yeah why the heck is google reviewing the order and is the benifit other then just plain old nosey ?? After all both buyer and seller information is available via electronic footprints (i.e history) correct.. so its an automated serivce there.. that info can still be mined for business intelligence

So this googles way of ensuring that a transaction is "legit" ?? This means I cant "pimp" myself as a commodity – hypthetically ?? just asking :)-

Chris [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Besides being from Google, what are the functional advantages over PayPal?

jilm [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Chris: For who? For costumers there are not many advantages. Maybe it´s even symplier.

For merchants there are huge advantages, at least it semms to me that way. So Google wants to catch as many merchants as they can and believe, that costumers will follow.

jilm [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

See that: http://googlecheckout.com/

So they didn´t get it.

iZeitgeist [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I let Google track my Internet usage, give me ads based off the text in my e-mails. Now I'm letting them track my online purchases as well as keep my credit card information on file. I can't think of anything more private than my credit card information besides my sexual history. And unlike the others, they have access to all of this information together, allowing them to build a file on me on the fly. A wise man will tell you not to put all your eggs in the same bag....

Many of us are letting Google have this information, but we won't be giving any of it out to other companies or websites. We have let Google become an exception. I guess we trust Google, but we tend to forget that they're just another profit-maximizing company... unlike the others I hope.

But for some reason, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt even though I know I shouldn't.

One important thing is if a person hijacks my email account, they can take control over my email, search habits, IM, and now MY money directly! Take my wife while you're at it!!

The other thing is that Google should put in place a live customer service (chat or voice) because now we are dealing with money and people can't afford to have any kind of problems with that.

Beside all that I can see why this will grow and bring another revenue stream besides advertising:

1. Google can directly target products to users
2. Sellers can save money by combining payments processing and advertising fees (this is HUGE).
3. Users can buy products fast, easy and safe.

This move is bringing the power of Google to the sellers to find buyers.

Google is removing anything else that can stand between a buyer and a seller and being the ONLY middle man.

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

<<But I'm puzzled as to why Google reviews the order. It still says reviewing. What's involved with reviewing the order?>>

Still reviewing.... wow!! that's slooooooooowwwwwwwww....

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

yeah, thats the wacky thing.. Online transcation per day will unfold into the thousands, maybe millions .. so how they heck are they ever going to manaully review such orders ?? If this is automated , then what odes this this mean ??

Nowhere does google clarify this process!!

I am disappointed of this would be some sort of maual process.. I for one would not want some human intravention seeing whatever I buy

Hashim [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

[moved from "Paypal counters Google Checkout?"]

about an hour ago I received an email form Paypal advertising their services and vendor disc.ounts.

What do you guys think? Random coincidence or strategic counter to Google Checkout?

Andrew Hitchcock [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I've made two purchases so far (in order to take advantage of the $10 off coupons). I must say, the process was very smooth and faster than ordering at Amazon.com where they already have my account information stored. The checkout page is very sleek and unobtrusive. I also like how you can use a coupon without reloading the page.

I bet there are some at Microsoft who are very pissed because I imagine this will succeed where Passport failed.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Weird thing on Amazon.com – whenever I order with 1-click, there's an "error" message and I'm prompted to provide my credit card data again. Just clicking "continue" works though.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

An update from Garett:

<<About 5 hours after signing up for Google Checkout, I noticed a message from Mastercard on the machine stating my card was blocked because of suspicious activity. How could that be?>>

Answer here...
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=249

Matt Kwon [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

As Google attempts to boost its already lofty profits and become an even more prominent player in e-commerce, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company risks alienating one of its biggest advertisers _ online auctioneer eBay Inc., which runs the Internet's leading payment service, PayPal.

Although Google doesn't view its service as a PayPal competitor, there is no question it poses a long-term threat to eBay, said Internet market analyst Greg Sterling.

"Any time Google does something like this, it has the potential of turning into a big deal," Sterling said.

At least two merchants, Starbucks Corp. and Buy.com, that have signed up for Google's new service also accept PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.3 billion in 2002.

http://ibtimes.com/articles/20060629/google-paypal.htm

iZeitgeist [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Couple things I want to stress here:

1. Google did NOT implement Adsense accounts to be linked to the Google Purchases. I think they should add that. Now that they've got a payment system of their own, they should allow to keep a balance of all money related matters into this one Google Purchases account.

I guess they don't want us to be paying them Adwords with their own Adsense money!!!!

2. If a person hijacks my email account, they can take control over my email, search habits, IM, and now my MONEY! Take my wife while you're at it! I think there is a great risk involved with having this much information into ONE account.

3. Google must put in place a live customer service (chat or voice) like any other company who handles your money. People can't afford to have problems with their CC/order/etc... and receive automated emails for that matter!!

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

[moved from "Five Reasons Why You Won't Use Google Checkout (and 5 Reasons You Will)"]

<< Five Reasons You Won't Use Google Checkout

   1. You make your living on eBay, and eBay may not allow you to use Google Checkout. Or, eBay may offer new competitive di,scounts if you continue to use PayPal. Even better, you think the eBay/Yahoo partnership will eventually launch a competing product that will mimic the search/advertising tie-in.>>
http://googlewatch.eweek.com/blogs/google_watch/archive/2006/06/29/11150.aspx

--------
reasons i will use it:
1. No spam
<<Control commercial spam.
You can keep your email address confidential, and easily turn off unwanted emails from stores where you use Google Checkout.>>

2. Google is much safer! :P

3. Dont know why, but i rather use Googles services than MS's or Paypal's or eBay's.

---
one reason i wont use it:
its for US residents only.. :(
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/index.php?p=246

Ken Kuhl [PersonRank 7]

18 years ago #

I'd like to echo Andrew's comments above.

The checkout page is very good. It lacks distracting clutter and simply shows data pertinent to the purchase.

The e-mail receipt I received (shown below) was also very concise.

btw, I just received confirmation from DVD Empire that my first purchase (from them) using Google Checkout has shipped. And they sent along another $10 off coupon! I used the Google $10 coupon on the first purchase.

http://home.kenkuhl.com/misc/google-checkout-receipt.gif

Ken Kuhl [PersonRank 7]

18 years ago #

And this is interesting....

While I was writing the above I received another "item shipped" notice, but this time from Google Checkout.

That is, I received an e-mail from DVD Empire telling me my order had shipped and then 12 minutes later I received an e-mail from Google Checkout (that looked a lot like the one I posted above) also telling me my order had shipped.

So not just the payment data, but the order tracking data is shared between Google and the merchants, too. Pretty cool.

Robert Roberts [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Many merchants won't like the terms of service (if they read them) as it appears at first glance that Google wants to control the relationship between customer and merchant.

59ideas [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Still waiting to try this outside of the US of A. Until then PayPal is still pal.

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Robert: Yes that is the case. Even in the advert video they made they mention that Google will provide you will a fake address so that excessive mailing to customers can be limited.

Can you use GCheckouts at Amazon? And do you think you will ever be able to?

david sanger [PersonRank 7]

17 years ago #

I just used checkout to set up four invoices for payment from clients – quick and easy to do in Movable Type using their prebuilt buttons. Two payments came right through, $150 each, no delay or waiting for review.

IZeitgeist said "1. Google did NOT implement Adsense accounts to be linked to the Google Purchases. I think they should add that."

The difference is Google Checkout doesn't maintain a balance. Its get transferrd to my bank within two days.

Also I did get the full proper name and address of my customers.

david sanger [PersonRank 7]

17 years ago #

$300 showed up in bank account this morning like clockwork, no problem.

It'd be nice to be able to generate simple one-item buttons with out going through the entire API integration scheme, or using the online buybutton form.

Martin Obert [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

Hello all,

it looks to me that nobody and I mean NOBODY cares for security at all in this thread.
Think about the following.
Till now, nobody cared about your google account at all. Now, as the google websites and specifically the checkout page is VERY simple with an easy to manipulate URL (You should never have something like "checkout.google.com" as many user do not see a different between something like "chekout.google.www.com"). E.g. PayPal is just paypal.com! Now think about the fact that a "store" is selling a real bargain, a camera for 60% off the regular price. You click on the Google Checkout button and you go to something like "chekout.google.www.com" and enter your google account information.....and it's gone. You just get an error message and so you just wait and do this later. In the meantime the owner of that "store" can change your password AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT IT, as the password change goes to your gmail account which is included in the hijack. That user now can shop for quite a while as it will be hard for you to proof that you are the owner of that account (You of course have the proper documents to show it is your account, but who cares?).

This is just one thing why you should never use Google Checkout. Besides it has many other flaws. I had a different shipping amount in the buy.com website than at google Checkout. Also I didn't get a Tracking Number as you usually do when loggin on to buy.com. At the end of the Checkout process I was just sitting there on a page not telling me much.

I think, that for a company like Google, this will become a nightmare as their good name will go downhill because hackers from all over the world will try to hijack your accounts.

Think about it. You would loose EVERYTHING! If somebody hijacks my buy.com account, or even PayPal the hijacker does not have my whole "business" or "life" plus my buying power. Pretty scary, isn't it!

Please don't get me wrong. I am a big Google fan. I use gmail, adwords and even Google Checkout, but other that you do not have to enter your CC Data all the time there is NO benefit at all to this system. It will not increase online sales as the majority of customers still have the security concern in mind and that exists with Google Checkout even more.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Why isn't it secure? How can the store owner change the user's password?

Jake's View [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I think he's talking about possible phishing scams.

david sanger [PersonRank 7]

17 years ago #

Martin – what you say makes no sense. You can just as easy imitate a Paypal site by faking all the screens with copies of Paypal content. Google is no differerent. The only way they can get your password is to trick you into entering it, and that the same with any site in the world.

So far it has worked real smoothly for me as a seller.

On another topic, reviews of sales, I did have a couple of sales last night held up for a few hours before clearing.

Martin Obert [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

Hello David,

of course you are right, BUT the fact that you use the Google account for so many different things, you have not just 1 page, like PayPal, no, you have about 10 – 15 pages they can trick you. Also, I actually never really checked the URL of GMail or my Ad-Words account and if Hackers just try to get your username and PW by copying those pages it is very easy to get the Information.
The URL's of the Google services are not just like www.paypal.com, they are always subdomains or directories of the main Google domain which makes it even harder for NON technical people to verify if the URL is correct.
Also, this service might just shift sales because the majority of users don't want to shop online because of exactly these security concerns. No extra or more sales are generated.
The next thing is in case you click on the Google Checkout Button and you do not have a Google account, you can create an account by entering ALL information into one form. Many things can go wrong when entering ALL into one form and the data is going back and forth INCLUDING your CC data (Creating an account including payment options is always at least a 2 step process). Who would want that?
I hope I am wrong, but at the end the user will decide and than we will see.
Thanks

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