The debut of Google Checkout

June 29, 2006 – 11:34 am

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The moment that PayPal has been dreading has arrived: Google debuts Google Checkout. Analysts were allegedly unsure if whether the system was designed to compete with Ebay’s PayPal:

The new offering, referred to in news and analyst reports as GBuy or Google Wallet, promises online sellers an easy way to add a checkout to their sites and can be used in addition to other options such as PayPal or a merchant’s own pay system.

I’d have to say, based on the description it certainly is. One of the main features of Google Checkout is that the information is stored on Google’s servers, so that you don’t have to give it out to each vendor, which should encourage more people to shop online, because of increased security. I’d say that’s an almost exact description of PayPal.

Key pricing of the plan for vendors:

2 percent of the value of each sale plus 20 cents per transaction
The program is of course tied in with their Google Adwords plan and the current special will reward webmasters with $10 in processing fees break for every $1 they spend on Adwords

This program appears aimed right at the heart of Google’s success: the webmasters like me who do daily processing of payments online, and are involved with Google’s advertising plans. It most likely will be worth adding the option to your website. At the least, people who don’t use PayPal for whatever reason will have another option.

The product is also similar to Microsoft Passport in some ways, but isn’t a clone of either. I’m definitely interested in checking it out and will have more to report soon.

Do you plan on using Google Checkout?

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