Google Checkout Payment Service. What's your opinion on it

[dfasdy]

"Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout."

Just launched on 28th June, I think Google Checkout ecommerce payment service is going to be the next big thing at least for small business owners. If they had learned from Paypal Class Action Lawsuit well, they'll be the darling of hundreds of thousands of small merchants. And with the current "Positive Energy Flow" is with them, all good signs are pointing to them. But who knows the future.

As mentioned in the news, seasoned fraudsters will be testing how good Google payment system's defense is. So let's see how well Google Checkout payment service manage, maintain and balance the safety of individual account holders, the interest of merchants while shielding itself from fraudsters.

What's you opinion on this.

Hmmm, maybe it's a good time to register for GoogleCheckoutSucks.com now.

Cheers.

[timmathews.com]

I think it is a brilliant move for Google. I will be using it and I will probably retire my pp account, or at least discontinue using it for the most part as much as possible.
Google is here to stay folks, and if we could just get the damn adwords landing pages out of all the results, I would be happy about it!
Tim

[A. Smith]

Where does one get more info on this? Is it out for anyone, or just a few select?
TIA!

Agnes Smith, President
Keys Home Furnishings, Inc.
Custom draperies and more!
(305) 745-1700
http://www.keyshomefurnishings.com
Professional Upholstery & Soft Furnishings Group
Administrator: http://www.carrscorner.com

[TrafficProducer]

Only for the USA!

[David Pearson]

Yep ... disappointment plus ... only for the USA ... although more is promised, but no time scale.

[A. Smith]

Sorry you guys not in the US :(. I'm in the US, so anyone has a link or something?

[creditwrench]

I've been with Paypal since it's early days with the old X.com from whence they came. X.com closed it's doors in Jan 2000 and paypal spun off to become what it is today. I've been really happy with them except for a couple of minor glitches which we got around as they arose but I suspect that if I had ever used Paypal and Ebay together the story might have been very different.

I've always been fearful of leaving much money in paypal and try to drain it down as quickly as possible.

In all these years I have never had to use a credit card or debit card to fund any purchase I have ever made using paypal. Never put a crying dime in the account and I've spent a huge chunk of money out of the account every month so I got nothing to complain about.

Be that as it may, I'd sure like to know a lot more about the new google wallet. They just dinged my paypal account for a small amount of money so that's when I took notice of it. Although I am happy with paypal I still need an alternative paypal like account and I strongly suspect that GW will end up being a whole lot bigger than PP is now or ever hopes to be. That's just the nature of the beast.

I would not want to abandon PP for GW because of how they have fumbled the ball with PYRA Labs. Back when it first happened everybody saw it as the dawn of a new day for blogger but that hasn't happened. They bought it and then left it to it's own devices when they could have easily turned it into the internet's holy grail by doing what many other 3rd party developers have done to enhance blogger. Instead they left it to everybody else to improve.

To my way of seeing it, that's just about the story of Google's life. They come in, create a huge stir and then move on to create yet another huge stir.

They were the cat's meow of search engines at first and to a point still are but the flash is gone and as far as I am concerned are now just about "over the hill". Will it be the same with "The Wallet"? Only time will tell. PP just might be here long after The Wallet has come and gone.

Personally, I don't want to gamble on it either way. The stakes are potentially just too high to do that so while I will be getting my own wallet I'm not going to abandon PP either. The controlling factor in whether I do get GW or not is whether they will provide me with either a debit card or a credit card and I couldn't care less which it is so long as it is one or the other.

I'll just let my customers have the option of paying either way.

[dan_bradshaw]

https://checkout.google.com/

[TrafficProducer]

Paypal. Google may have a long way to go to match or evan catch up with PayPal.

PayPal Support Club (http://www.paypal.ukshoppers.com/index.html). Review and helpful links, coding examples, warnings, other shopping cart links, etc. PayPal is a on-link banking system that allows website owners to integrate shopping cart technology into their site. Find out more, includes links to helpful site about PayPal shopping cart technology.

Online Payment, Shopping Carts, etc (http://www.acomputerportal.com/online_payment_shopping_carts.html)

[zbatia]

Folks, if you used PayPal for processing your sales, you might know that many companies are reluctant to pay through PP. Therefore, something like Google Wallet (that hopefully does not require registering) is very attractive. Also, the lower interest on each transaction is attractive, as well. I personally already started the sign-on process, and I want to incorporate GW into our web site. I'll let you know who it's going if you are interested. Contact me directly by e-mail in 2 weeks.

[A. Smith]

zbatia, could you post your impressions here? I'm interested too, and I'm sure many others are also.

Thank you Dan :).

[zbatia]

Please give me some time to configure and test it. I was appoved already but did not set the web system, yet.

[copmom]

You say some folks are reluctant to use PayPal, which is true. I've been using their "merchant account" which means customers give me their credit card info. and then I process it through PayPal. They never know the difference. Prior to this I was unable to take credit cards! It's a lot cheaper ($20 per month), than having to pay 'gateway' fees, don't have a shopping cart, and it's solved MY problems. Since customers can be leery using PayPal, wouldn't they be just as leery using Google Checkout? Anything new is subject to making customers suspicious as to security, etc., especially with all the credit fraud going on! Just my opinion!
In Friendship ~
Lauri A. Johnson, Owner & Co-Founder
IdentiFind Iron On Labels
mailto: labels@identifind.com Web Site: http://www.IdentiFind.com

[zbatia]

Copmom wrote:
>Since customers can be leery using PayPal, wouldn't they be just as leery using Google Checkout?

I want to see how transparent to customers the payments through GW are. If the entire payment process is hidden as it is hidden for a regular merchant account then the GW has an edge over PayPal.
Also, the option to take the credit card numbers and process them manually through PayPal doesn't appeal to me (manual work + not every customer is willing to give you their credit card number).

[mattyw]

PayPal has had Website Payments Pro, I think since last year. For a $20.00 per month fee, and I think the first three months it's free, you can take telephone orders as well as use a gateway.

When you use the gateway, people have no idea that they're going through PayPal.

I found a gateway that is free for 45 transactions and 25 items (or maybe it's the other way around), and $6.95 per month for unlimited merchandise and usage.

So for the princely sum of $26.95 per month, I have a full shopping cart, and my customers have no idea that they're actually dealing through PayPal!

Thanks,
M. A. Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

[copmom]

PayPal has had Website Payments Pro, I think since last year. For a $20.00 per month fee, and I think the first three months it's free, you can take telephone orders as well as use a gateway.

When you use the gateway, people have no idea that they're going through PayPal.

I found a gateway that is free for 45 transactions and 25 items (or maybe it's the other way around), and $6.95 per month for unlimited merchandise and usage.

So for the princely sum of $26.95 per month, I have a full shopping cart, and my customers have no idea that they're actually dealing through PayPal!

Thanks,
M. A. Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

That's exactly what I'm using .. for the $20 per month. And yes, it now enables me to take orders over the phone (which I do quite often) and take their credit card info. It covers Visa, MC, Amex, and Discover.
What's the $6.95 one you mention?
In Friendship ~
Lauri A. Johnson
IdentiFind Iron On Labels
Web Site: http://www.IdentiFind.com

[mattyw]

I'm sorry--the $6.95 is for the gateway that is used by your customers, so that they have no idea that they're using PayPal in the first place.

I found EMartCart, which is actually free for a limited amount of merchandise and transactions, but if you pay $6.95 per month, it's unlimited. It works well and has good customer service. I've had it for over a year now and been pleased.

Thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

[copmom]

I'm sorry--the $6.95 is for the gateway that is used by your customers, so that they have no idea that they're using PayPal in the first place.

I found EMartCart, which is actually free for a limited amount of merchandise and transactions, but if you pay $6.95 per month, it's unlimited. It works well and has good customer service. I've had it for over a year now and been pleased.

Thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

Does that EMartCart tie in with the PayPal Merchant Account? That would save them having to either call, email or fax me their CC info. I'm afraid I've just never gotten my site set up with a shopping cart, (since there's so many variables on quantities, personalized info., etc.), just have an "order form" they submit which comes to me as an email. Don't know if that would work with my website? DUH!
In friendship ~ Lauri
http://www.IdentiFind.com

[mattyw]

Yes indeed it does--and that was the problem I was having when I was looking for a gateway. A lot of them tied in with PayPal, but not many tied in with Website Payments Pro, and the ones I found were either expensive or difficult to set up or both.

You don't have to set up a shopping cart at all to use them(although they have one if you want); they have the same form that PayPal does, pointing to them instead, so all you have to do is substitute one form for another. They also have a utility that will take a web page and convert it automatically to their form, and then you can save it to file to look at and test it later.

The nicest thing is that you can sign up for free and test it out before making a decision.

Why don't you go to my website and take a look for yourself?

thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

[copmom]

Why don't you go to my website and take a look for yourself?

thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com[/quote]

That is neat! You sure do have a LOT of items and options! I piddled with it on your site and like the way it works. Now to just figure out HOW to adapt it to my items, as well as our "order form" (which took a LOT of work to make)! I wonder if this would eliminate our order form altogether? It would save the customers from having to email, call, or fax me with their CC info! Did you check out our site?
OH must make a "plug".. if your customers need personalization on some of their items.. that's what we do! LOL
In friendship ~ Lauri
http://www.IdentiFind.com

[copmom]

That is neat! You sure do have a LOT of items and options! I piddled with it on your site and like the way it works. Now to just figure out HOW to adapt it to my items, as well as our "order form" (which took a LOT of work to make)! I wonder if this would eliminate our order form altogether? It would save the customers from having to email, call, or fax me with their CC info! Did you check out our site?
OH must make a "plug".. if your customers need personalization on some of their items.. that's what we do! LOL
In friendship ~ Lauri
http://www.IdentiFind.com[/quote]

Addendum to what I put earlier.. the ONLY fly in the ointment to this whole thing is you're selling items that a customer selects and the quantity, etc. In our case, the items they order have to be personalized and I can't see how that would fit it to a one click situation! Ewwwwwwww!
In friendship ~ Lauri

[mattyw]

Please take a look at http://www.thinkwedding.com/wrappers-wine.htm and click the order button on any of the styles and see if that's what you're looking for.

If so, it was written for me by a wonderful man who actually does them for free, and I can readily modify it. Originally, he wrote it for PayPal (the original PayPal one is at www.thinkwedding.com/candles_unity-personalized.htm--I never got around to changing it over), and he was able to readily convert it over to EMartCart because they're so much alike, and it sounds exactly what you're looking for.

[mattyw]

I took a look at your site, and it seems to me that you might think about creating an order form for each item, the way I have it. I think it would be simpler for the customer to handle, and as they buy each product, it will return them to the site. I can also fix it so that when they fill in the ID it will go to the page, instead of a separate page, and they can then hit the back button if they change their minds. Personally, I like the separate page, because if they accidentally close it, they aren't complete off the site.

Try to "buy" several different styles of wine labels, and see if it's a little less complicated than for the customer to remember everything they want, then go to one order form.

EMartCart will then list all the items as they buy them, complete with personalization on each one.

Thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

[copmom]

Please take a look at http://www.thinkwedding.com/wrappers-wine.htm and click the order button on any of the styles and see if that's what you're looking for.

If so, it was written for me by a wonderful man who actually does them for free, and I can readily modify it. Originally, he wrote it for PayPal (the original PayPal one is at www.thinkwedding.com/candles_unity-personalized.htm--I never got around to changing it over), and he was able to readily convert it over to EMartCart because they're so much alike, and it sounds exactly what you're looking for.

YES it does seem to be what I can use! Your candle URL link didn't work by the way. Let me do some thinking on this, as it might take some major revamping on my site. I need to do some fixing up on it anyhow, it's getting stale! Maybe we'd better start just emailing each other directly in the future instead of taking up all the bandwidth on this site? Just a thought.. didn't want to bore others with all of this!
In friendship ~ Lauri
http://www.IdentiFind.com

[mattyw]

The candle link didn't work because the system included too much on the line, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Without the website name, the page is Candles_unity-personalized.htm, then put www.thinkwedding.com/ in front of it. That is the only form that still uses exclusively PayPal, because I never changed it over. I'll be happy to privately email; it's webmaster@thinkwedding.com.

Thanks,
Marilyn Woodman
www.thinkwedding.com

[JustinH]

Me personally, i'm going to have both payment methods in place, GC and PP.

Why turn away business to the guy with 1500 dollars in his paypal account?

If google can make their checkout appear seamless on my website, then I will like it alot.

Plus the fees are very attractive.

The only thing paypal has going for it is that i have a mastercard debit card that pays 1.9 percent back when i use it.

[ultimatehandyman]

I have just reluctantly signed up for paypal, but I don't like the way they do business!

As I am based in the UK, I guess I will have to wait for Google to expand their services over here.