Google Checkout vs. PayPal

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December 20th, 2007 by Nick

Since last summer Google has introduced a new checkout, which originally has been available in the US, but was launched in the UK on 13/04/07.

Google claims that it was designed to improve user experience and that thousands of retailers and millions of shoppers had been using the service since its US launch.

Google Checkout allows online shoppers to enter their payment details once, and then use their Google login to pay at all participating sites. They also have an option to hide their card details and e-mail address from online retailers and view their transaction history through one page.

Online retailers can benefit from Google checkout as well as its available for both AdWords and non AdWords users. Set-up itself costs nothing and there are no ongoing monthly charges – even transactions are free until 2008.

For those who are using AdWords there are benefits as well as Google is offering to process £10 of a retailer's sales for free for every £1 the retailer spends on AdWords.

Web traders will also find it easy to integrate into an existing shopping-cart system, and “Buy Now” buttons can be added to any page with a little HTML editing. Invoices can be submitted via email with payments processed in a single transaction for the full amount, or split into several smaller transactions – something that is not easily achieved when using rival services.

Conclusions:
Since Google Checkout launched last month, many tongues wagged that it would slaughter PayPal.
Yet these digital payment services are different beasts that cater to different needs. Both provide a secure way to shop, with policies that refund your money in case of fraud.

Last year eBay, which owns PayPal, banned its users from selling goods using Google Checkout as many claimed, simply to protect

PayPal.
PayPal's fine print is more complicated than Google Checkout's, but PayPal offers a wider variety of services for shoppers and businesses to exchange funds. Only PayPal lets shoppers transfer money to or from bank accounts in addition to credit and debit cards, and PayPal is the only way to go if you're shopping around the world.
The Google Checkout shopping cart icon will likely be popping up more frequently within text ads while PayPal's user base is 100 million strong, while Google Checkout is just getting off its feet.

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