Google Checkout Is Here

You'll soon start seeing these little buggers all over the Web if Google Checkout (a.k.a. GPay) is anywhere near as popular as it promises to be. While not as sophisticated or robust as eBay's PayPal service, Google's got one big advantage for the average small-time seller: price. That's because Google charges a mere 2% of the total, plus $0.20 per transaction. That's significantly less than PayPal, who charge 2.9% and $0.30 for totals less than $3,000 per month. And that doesn't take into account that, according to Google Checkout's FAQ, "for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free."

Is this going to be a PayPal killer? I seriously doubt it. PayPal has some very robust trust and safety mechanisms in place, they are ahead of the game internationally and they have terrific brand recognition. However, despite Google's assertions to the contrary, you can bet Google Checkout is looking to muscle in on PayPal's market share. In fact, they already are in PayPal's merchant account space and, unless eBay explicity prohibits it, I don't see why they wouldn't start becoming an accepted payment method on eBay. It will be interesting to see where things stand 6 months from now.