Google on Thursday unveiled its much anticipated online macro payment processing system designed to offer shoppers with a Google account a quick way to pay for things. Google checkout made for the United States only. Even merchants from the United States selling products or services internationally will be unable to switch because buyers must also be American this could make gaining market share a lot more difficult. To be fair though, Google must be working on the complexities that need to be addressed before a service like this can be rolled out internationally.
Watch a quick video tour of Google Checkout: a faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online.
“Web sites and merchants can integrate Google Checkout into their sites as an alternative payment processing method to existing checkout and credit card processing systems” said Salar Kamangar, vice president of product management at Google.
Consumers with a Google account can type their credit card and billing information into Google Checkout once and then pay for purchases thereafter with practically one click on any Web site that features the system, Kamangar said. As things now stand, he said, “If I buy five things from five different merchants I have to fill out five different forms. This process can take three, four, five minutes” for each form. Google Checkout is meant to change that.
Once they’ve purchased something through Google Checkout, consumers can track their orders through the system, which will be live starting Thursday at Checkout.google.com.
Merchants using the system will be charged a processing fee of 20 cents per transaction, plus 2 percent of the relevant purchase price. Users of the Citibank Checkout option will receive $5 or 1,000 points for signing up. Customers who pay for search-related keyword ads through Google AdWords will be able to process, free of charge, transactions that add up to 10 times the dollar amount of their AdWords spending, Kamangar said. Beyond that, they pay the 20 cents plus 2.2 percent. Kamangar said the regular transaction fees are less than those charged by credit card companies, which can be about 1 percent higher.
Conclusion
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Before you start, you’ll need
- The federal tax ID number (or a credit card and an authorized Social Security number) for your business.
- A text-only version of your return, cancellation, and shipping policies.
- A shopping cart on your business website to accept online orders (unless you’re integrating via Buy Now buttons).
