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32 Comments
- WeeklyGeek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21There's something creepy about Google having my credit card information, all of my emails, my search history, my calendar events, my website statistics and more.
besides that, this seems like a pretty cool tool for consumers that already have google accounts. I don't see this directly competing with Paypal in some areas though, as Google Checkout seems to be focused on merchants, and Paypal is more person to person money transfer. - Bogtha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10> There's something creepy about Google having my credit card information, all of my emails, my search history, my calendar events, my website statistics and more.
Your ISP has even more information than that. Do you hold them to the same standard? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Just think of Google as your wife.
- atdigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Competition is good. I'm glad that Paypal has now some strong competition. Also Google will be kept in check by Paypal.
- phpirate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If their intention with your personal information was to sell if off, I'm sure they would have done it by now. Googles products require your personal information. They depend on your trust and their reputation for their products to be successful and used.
Yeah, you have every right to second guess them. But eventually you begin to trust them with that information.
They've never had a major breech of security and they're very careful with the information as far as I know. - maxwilson84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2it may lack a few features now ... but Google is known for adding gobs of features throughout the beta process. anyone remember gmail when it was brand new? its become a lot more robust since the early days.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The two 'major' features don't seem that hard to implement at all. Redirection after purchase? Any number of spam sites can do this, it must be pretty basic. Shipping options? Couldn't be that hard to add a few more lines of html/whatever code into the payment scheme.
- Bogtha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why on earth would you rely on Digg comments to get your information instead of simply checking the Google Checkout documentation? There's lots of details about how chargebacks work.
- wrttnwrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree. I don't think one will wipe the other out. Google has a lot to offer marketers. PayPal has more to offer folks who are selling organically, or at least haven't considered how PPC and sales can be linked, analytically speaking.
- jwvelez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems to be down right now.
- greggish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why are they even letting people in countries other than the US sign up? I sent Google the following email question...
"Can a seller accept different currencies from buyers in different
countries? Can the seller set the price in different currencies. Is there
a fee for the currency conversion. If so what is that fee? Thanks."
and this is the answer I got...
"At this time, only merchants with a United States address and bank account
can integrate and process transactions through Google Checkout. You also
must have a United States billing and shipping address to buy with Google
Checkout.
We look forward to making the service more widely available in the near
future."
There are allot of non-US people in this thread that say they were able to sign up for the service and add their credit card. Why would google bother to let them sign up if they won't be able to buy anything?
"You also must have a United States billing and shipping address to buy with Google Checkout." - benliong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Weird, and unfortunate. The thing I love about amazon is that they're good to international buyers. I used to live in the states for 6-7 years (school and then some work), but now I'm in Hong Kong. The only place where I'm sure I can get something from the US is amazon.com and ebay (via paypal).
That being said, I do understand where they're coming from. I was working as field sales engineer in a After-performance product online store, and we are very worried about credit cards that aren't inside the US, or even in remote areas like Hawaii and Alaska. The address verification system generally won't work for international cards, and we would call to ask them to fax their ID / passport as well as front and back of the card to us.
It's hard to be sure about international cards from countries you've never heard of. - fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Precisely why it proceeds to go down at least once a week.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Some questions:
So, if I start a website, accept Google Checkout, and then pay myself with a stolen credit card, who exactly foots the bill? Is Google still the "merchant of record?"
Or, if I'm a legitimate seller, and someone pays me with a stolen credit card and I ship them the goods and later the real owner of the credit card does a chargeback, will I be responsible or will Google?
Also, is eBay going to do a pure play and offer some sort of discount with their own adwords (or whatever it was called) for using PayPal? - WeeklyGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ehh, it's more like an "all my eggs in one basket" situation, rather than a trust situation.
- uttles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Checkout my idea to go with checkout (formerly known as Gbuy)
http://digg.com/software/Why_Google_should_take_Gbuy_and_make_Gmoney - greggish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't blame google for not being ready right off the bat to do international transactions with the new service. What I do fault them for.., and is just stupid and inconsiderate with respect to all their international users... is encouarging non-US users to sign up now and add their credit card info when there is no way they can use the service. I don't know if its incredible incompetence or incredible rudeness?
- wrttnwrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Not through the basic 'buy now' button, but I'm willing to bet the API can handle it. That's my next little test project, hopefully this weekend.
- wrttnwrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think in the end Google Checkout has a slightly different mission. PayPal tries to be the power service for non-developer buyers and sellers. They do a ton of business through eBay (duh).
Google Checkout is designed, right now, to be super-simple for customers, super-simple for merchants, and configurable through their API.
More next week after I try out the API... - wrttnwrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yup, I'm not sure I'd depend 100% on Google Checkout just yet. I've spent too much time in love/hate relationships with the Adwords API to do that.
- forumgirl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Can Checkout handle sales and delivery of digitally downloadable goods (pdfs, mp3s, etc.)? I can't seem to find any info about this, and it would be a REAL Paypal killing feature if it worked.
- neodon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hope I can use Google Checkout at Wal-Mart!
- Solan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I took Google Checkout for a test drive and I have to say, online buying can't be any simpler or easier. I now don't have to remember all the usernames and passwords for all the websites that I shop at. Clean, simple and easy is what Google Checkout is! Now, I would be more happier if it starts competing with Paypal.
- slowreply, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0there's nothing new with what Google is trying to do. Here's a brief history:
The largest software company in the world, Microsoft, has tried it with Passport - failed.
The largest financial institution in the world, Citibank, has tried it with C2it - failed
The largest auction merchant company in the world, eBay has tried it with eBay Payments (eBid) - failed
Only Paypal managed to stay in the game, survive and prosper. So far, that is. And even Paypal's model revolved mostly around auctions on eBay, which after eBay bought it, gave it a closed, protected arena to to evolve in. Paypal is yet to make a dent in consumer to merchant transactions outside of eBay. Recent partnerships with heavyweights like Dell notwithstanding.
It remains to be seen how Google will execute it's latest foray the terrain in which they have no expertise. Their 'dead money' projects like Orkut, Google Base, Froogle immediately come to mind. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is one small step in adding some competition to online payment services. I can't wait until they launch GBuy because eBay's seller fees are out of control.
($1200 last month alone in my seller account) - KimberlyMon, on 06/28/2008, -0/+0When you register there it seems so that hey don't send you to Google? haven't check it mysef
- RedShoulder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@slowreply
You make some good historical points, but 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'. If Google wants to make a serious shot at creating a competing purchasing system I say "good for them". They should have the talent and deep pockets to pull it off.
Competition is a very good thing and PayPal could really use some serious competition to keep them honest and sharp. Besides, there are plenty of 'dead money' projects going on in the software world, yet many have some or great value to their users (a few dozen Linux distros come to mind). - DundeeExpat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe the "US-only" is one of the reasons it's considered Beta... The fact that I can sign up as a non-US citizen seems a strong indication that they'll expand into international markets very soon.
- DundeeExpat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'd say the difference between the failed attempts you mention and Checkout is the link into google's ad system. The value to the merchants is incredible:
- your ad stands out from others, due to the icon
- instead of spending money on transaction processing, you can instead spend that money on advertising ($1 advertising gives $10 in transaction processing) - blackmore74, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0is it possible to implement Google Checkout in a way that avoids sending users to Google?
Has anybody done that? - xentropic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0i trust google more than the government and they can just take any of my information whenever they want and i dont get how a stupid review can talk about how google might hurt in the long from from lack of blah blah blah its beta just like everything else google releases at first.
- Khlept0, on 10/12/2007, -18/+2Woah, google released something new today? *shock* *awe*
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