Google Checkout: First Impressions
This past weekend I had the opportunity to take Google Checkout for a test drive. If you’re not familiar with Google Checkout, it’s an online payment system that lets you track your purchases from a wide variety of merchants all in one place. Google Checkout is tied to your Gmail account — you do have one, don’t you? In order to use the service, you just shop as you normally would, and then choose Google Checkout when it comes time to pay. Since you pre-load your payment info into the Google interface when you set up your account, all you have to do is login and confirm your payment.
One nice feature of the service is that they allow you to keep your e-mail address confidential — i.e., rather than giving your address to the merchant, Google will forward messages from the merchant, and you can shut off unwanted e-mails. Another nice feature is that they’re currently offering $10 off $30 at a number of merchants (including Timberland.com, where I bought some new hiking boots using a 50% off coupon which was stackable with the Google discount), and $20 off $50 at some merchants (including Buy.com; thanks Cap) just for trying Google Checkout.
Google Checkout might also be worth checking out (no pun intended) if you receive payments online… Their fees are $0.20/transaction + 2%, which is considerably better than PayPal’s $0.30 + 2.9% fee, especially for larger transactions. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that you have to send an invoice in order to get money — you can’t just give someone an e-mail address and expect to get your cash.
Another big difference between Google Checkout and PayPal is that Google Checkout only serves as a conduit for payments, such that money goes straight into your bank account rather than landing in a standalone account (as is the case with PayPal). Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on your perspective. It’s not all that surprising, though… Google is know for their lightweight, uber-efficient interfaces.
Overall, I liked the user experience, and I also like the fact that I can log back in over at Google and see all of my purchaes in one place.
Disclaimer: Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
Modified on November 26th, 2006 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Online
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» Google Currency Converter» Has PayPal Met its Match?
» Free Holiday Wi-Fi From Google Chrome
» Google Currency Converter, Revisited
» Google Stock Quotes
» Investing in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats
» Credit Card Surcharges or Checkout Fees
» Google as a Mutual Fund?
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
4 Responses to “Google Checkout: First Impressions”
Leave a Reply
Top Cards by Category
Earn 100 Reward Dollars after you make $1,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
Earn 25K Membership Rewards(R) points after you spend $2,000 during your first three months of Card membership.
Consumer friendly credit card with a great low rate of 7.25% and save on interest charges. No balance transfer fees and no annual fee.
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
Consumer friendly credit card with a great low rate of 7.25% and save on interest charges. No balance transfer fees and no annual fee.
Limited Time Offer: Get 25,000 Membership Rewards(R) points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months of Card membership. Enroll and select a qualifying airline to receive up to $200 annually in statement credits for incidental fees, such as checked bags and in-flight refreshments, charged by the airline.
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
- How to Become a Millionaire
- How to Get Out of Debt
- The Best Dollars I've Ever Spent
- How Our Estate Plan is Structured
- How We Paid Our Mortgage In Less than 10 Years
- Money Making Ideas
- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest?
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Termite Control: Sentricon vs. Termidor
- How Much Should You Pay a Babysitter?
- Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Will Mac OS X Lion Kill Quicken 2007?
- Federal Income Tax Rates Went Down but Your Federal Tax Withholding Increased. Here's Why...
How to save money on insurance
- More money, more happiness: Do you think money can buy happiness?
- Overdraft fees soared to $32 billion in 2012
- How do you combat prom inflation?
- How should you choose a bank? Look in the mirror.
- The cost of clean water
- College debt 101
- Is it possible to live debt free?
- How to prepare for a home appraisal
- Home prices are up: good news or bad?
- A bit of foolishness
November 28th, 2006 at 9:39 am
No link to Google Checkout? How will I ever find the site?
November 28th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I like the feature of keeping your email address private and the lower fees. Unfortunately I do all my online selling via eBay, which obviously doesn’t allow the use of Google checkout.
I know PayPal provides API’s for integrating its service into your application, I assume Google Checkout does as well?
November 28th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
One more score for Google. I really like those guys. I have been a longtime Yahoo fan, but it’s things like this that make the switch tempting… Hopefully the lower fees will also put some pressure on PayPal to lower their fees. Use it or not, I see that as an overall benefit for the consumers.
December 30th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
I recently tried using Google checkout and had problems.
They have some software bug/bugs that create problems when updating a credit card.
Over a 5 day period and many emails exchanged
they were unable to process my credit card although I had no problems at several other sites.
The inability to have any phone contact exacerbates any problems