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· About Google Checkout
Google Checkout is similar to PayPal, in that it is an online payment system. When it was launched in September 2007, many people thought that it would not only compete with PayPal but make PayPal obsolete. As time has gone on, what's clear is that PayPal is just as popular as ever, but Google Checkout is growing too.
Shoppers can buy from merchants using Google Checkout with a single log-in. Shoppers identify merchants that accept Google Checkout by looking for the icon on AdWords advertisements (sponsored links) or Product Results, where a link invites shoppers to "See [insert keyword] results available through Google Checkout," or on a participating merchant's site.
When shoppers want to use Google Checkout, they create a single user name and log in right from the merchant's site. They provide typical contact details, payment preferences, and shipping address. Once an account has been set up, Google Checkout holds shoppers' credit or debit card information across all of the the participating sites. When they're ready to make a purchase, their stored info is accessed and their purchase is quick and secure, although Google does take a portion of the sale -- 2% + $0.20 per transaction. (While Google offers a lot of their powerful services for free, this is not one of them!)
The credit card numbers of shoppers is concealed, and the service provides reimbursement for unauthorized purchases as a protection against fraud. Shoppers may choose to keep their email addresses confidential or turnoff unwanted email from the stores where they shop. Purchases may be made with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
For customers who are interested in or already using Google Checkout, seeing the icon in a sponsored result is an extra incentive to click through, knowing that their order will be secure and easy. But there's an added bonus for AdWords Advertisers: For every $1 merchants spend on AdWords, they can process $10 in sales through Google Checkout at no charge. Your benefits begin the following month. For instance, if your July AdWords spending is $1000, you can process $10,000 in sales through Google Checkout with no transaction fees in August. The fee rate of 2 percent of sales total translates to a savings of $200.
On January 10, 2008, Google announced Google Checkout Trends, which compiles search data for comparison, much like their popular tool Google Trends. Checkout Trends first anonymizes the sales data of all Google Checkout merchants and charts it for comparison by different search terms. This would be useful if, for instance, you wanted to see if yoga products or pilates products sell more. (For the record, it's yoga!)
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