The latest product from Google, Google Checkout (informally referred as GBuy) is out! Google Checkout aims to simplify online shopping experience by eliminating the need of memorising countless login details for online payment gateway.
Availability
Google Checkout seems to have quite a number participating business judging from their ‘sample’ list at the Checkout website. Registration is free and and the business account is charged 2.0% + USD0.20 fee per transaction, much lower than Paypal
Google Checkout incentive
Google also offers a very attractive incentive to sellers that use Adwords service, if you’re an AdWords advertiser, you can earn free transaction processing through Google Checkout.
For every $1 you spend on AdWords each month, you can process $10 in sales the following month through Google Checkout for free. For example, if your AdWords spend in August is $300, you can process up to $3000 in sales for free through Google Checkout in September.
Types of Account
Google Checkout buyer account is available to all users around the world, where you can register at the Checkout website, all you need to do is just key in your Debit/Credit Card details in the account, and you’ll be ready to shop online with Google Checkout.
The Google Checkout seller account however is limited to US users only.Google has yet to announce the availability of Google Checkout sellers account to other countries.
It’s still remain to be seen how Google Checkout could impact the landscape of e-commerce around the world.
My Thoughts
Having Google Checkout holding all your credit card info is nice, however one question arises since Google Checkout uses the same Google account id as other Google service that you use (i.e GMail, Google-talk Analytics, Froogle, Base, Sitemaps,…), I hate to see the consequences if (in theory) somebody manage to get hold on your Google password and start spending on the internet at your expense.
[tags]google, google checkout, paypal, e-commerce, ecommerce, webshop[/tags]
