[gugi]

Hello,

I am not sure whether posting this is OK, please delete if it's not.
I've seen quite often people adding paypal fees in their prices and I just stumbled on a post that somebody's paypal account was frozen.

I just wanted to bring to the attention of those who might have not heard that google is also offering transaction processing (credit cards+bank accounts).
It's called google merchant account. They currently have a promotion so there are no fees (yes google throws marketing dollars to cover your CC processing fee). Even after the promotion (supposedly till the end of the year) their fees are only 2%.

Their sellers protection policy also seems better than paypal's, meaning less hoops to jump through, although I haven't heard ppl using it.

The bad part - afaik for now it's only for US and Canada.

Of course ebay doesn't allow use of google checkout with their auctions because it is supposedly 'not secure', but I believe it's because they own paypal. Personally I feel my data is safer w/ google than w/ paypal - after all google's business is to hoard raw data and sell processed.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

I have it set up also, and have made payments with it, but have not yet received any payments. Paypal screwed me over and I swore them off. Here is to hoping Google Checkout takes off!

 

[KenW]

Also already signed up. Nice little savings when buying from many vendors. Still the source of funds is a CC and while that works on certain occasions, having "digital cash" that doesn't go through a credit card is preferred.....like when I don't want to use credit to pay for items. Still a nice alternative. Doubt you ever see ebay using it for the very reason you mentioned.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Just to provide further insite on this, Kajul and myself currently have a transaction going through Google Checkout, and it seems to be working excellently.

Google has an option for me to generate an invoice and email it to him. He uses the invoice to make a quick credit card payment. The order then shows up on my google, and when it ships, it gives me the option to fill in all the shipping and tracking details, and send him a complete order invoice. His order page has all the details of the sale, address, ect... and it two days time, Google automatically transfer the money to my bank account. Google didn't charge a single fee. It's been exceptionally painless through and through. I was a little worried how a payment coming from Japan would do, but it appears to have worked no different than a normal payment!

Anyone else considering it, rest assured, it works great. From this day out, I am officially only accepting Google payments. Paypal has been problematic in the past... and I am liking the way this works already

 

[Bob_McBob]

This service seems to be US-only, and the merchant accounts are aimed at well... merchants. I signed up for Google Checkout the day it went public, hoping for a PayPal alternative. All I can do is pay at lots of online stores I'll never order from -- and apparently a few head-fi users masquerading as merchants. If Google could come up with a personal payment service like PayPal, I would drop PayPal in a heartbeat.

 

[saint.panda]

www.moneybooker.com is what I use whenever possible. Lower fees with a maximum fee cap of around $3 and no rip-off exchange rates.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_McBob /img/forum/go_quote.gif This service seems to be US-only, and the merchant accounts are aimed at well... merchants. I signed up for Google Checkout the day it went public, hoping for a PayPal alternative. All I can do is pay at lots of online stores I'll never order from -- and apparently a few head-fi users masquerading as merchants. If Google could come up with a personal payment service like PayPal, I would drop PayPal in a heartbeat.

It is aimed at merchants, but you don't have to use it for such. I am no merchant, but can use it to have a faux-merchant setup. However, as a whole, they payment worked very similar to paypal, I just had to "request" the payment.

As far as being US only... well, at least for sending payments that is not the case, considering the member I am working with is from Tokyo. I don't know if it's US only for receiving money and making payouts though.

 

[uzziah]

google has done right be me so far, i think they've earned some respect

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

For the record, I have now complete finished two transactions with Google. I sold C-Pads to Aki for $95, and 225's to Titan for $150. Both times, Google was fantastically easy to use.

I really hope more people jump on board, its easy as can be to use, and works great.

 

[xenochimera]

escrow?

 

[gugi]

I'm glad it worked for somebody

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

For the record, I have now done quite a few transactions through Google. Almost $1000 worth. Works great!

 

[necropimp]

wow... checking their content policies they are even more :goosestep: than paypal... no firearms i was kinda expecting but not even parts... or even knives?

 

[oicdn]

You can still use eBay and paypal. You just have to do it OUTSIDE eBay. Which is what I do anyways, cause sometimes when clicking the "pay now" after the auction is over through eBay, you may get double charged...f that.

Also, paying through eBay is just a hassle, and I always just list it as "goods" instead of eBay auction anyways, and put the info in message.

Go google!

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by necropimp /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow... checking their content policies they are even more :goosestep: than paypal... no firearms i was kinda expecting but not even parts... or even knives?

That would be super easy to get around. When you fill out the invoice, you type in what ever you want for product information. There is no preset classes or anything like that. Aside from if there becomes a disputable issue, I don't think you will run into any problems.