google checkout

[oNyx]

http://checkout.google.com/

USA only so far (Europe and Asia at some point in the future).

2% + 0.20 US dollar (paypal: 1.9% + 0.30 US dollar).

Say its $20... then it would be 20-0.40-0.20=19.40 (paypal: 20-0.38-0.30=19.32... point of intersection at $100 [$2.20 fees]). There is also some rebate if the sell happend thanks to adwords.

[zoombapup]

Hmm, for every $1 you spend on adwords, you get $10 payments free.. sounds like a pretty good deal doesnt it? I guess it depends on the value of the purchases and your adwords spend.

It also ties you into google.. dunno if thats a good thing or not.

[Donavon Keithley]

(paypal: 1.9% + 0.30 US dollar).
That's the top-tier rate -- if you do > $100k / month in volume. The standard rate is 2.9% + 0.30. (http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside)

So for low-volume merchants, Google's about 1/3 cheaper before any AdWords credits.

Pretty interesting...

[Dan MacDonald]

Some google vids...

Google Checkout Video Tour:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4428105074432041548


Selling with Google Checkout – An Overview:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4961155419919112832

[Jack Norton]

Wow... looks like the other vendors are in big trouble... even if maybe google doesn't provide a delivery method (download or serial key).

[GnadeGames]

Wow... looks like the other vendors are in big trouble... even if maybe google doesn't provide a delivery method (download or serial key).

Yeah how stupid is google to not offer a serial key or download method? I can't believe that

[DFG]

Yeah how stupid is google to not offer a serial key or download method? I can't believe that

Well this is the first rollout of the product and I'm sure software developers are not their #1 audience ;) If it goes well, I'm sure in time they will expand the features.

[Chris Evans]

Sounds promising.

However I'm not sure I want Google as my payment processor. Google has a black box approach to customer service if you're not a mega corporation. They do not provide customer service numbers and usually you're lucky to get a response via e-mail within 48 hours. And even then you have to hope you don't get a canned response after all of that.

I've run both Adwords and Adsense. While I'm very happy with the actual applications, the customer service has been sub-standard at best. At worst, atrocious.

So therefore I'm willing to give the smaller vendors a slightly bigger cut of my sales if they give me quality personal attention. Plimus for example always gives me a personal response (not canned) within just a couple of hours of me e-mailing them. They also have made customizations and done several other things for my account that I know Google would never do unless I was a Fortune 500 company.

Something to keep in mind when deciding on a payment processor.

[mahlzeit]

However I'm not sure I want Google as my payment processor.
Maybe not as your primary one, but it's nice to support it for customers who want to pay through Google. I've not bought products that I was ready to buy because there wasn't a Paypal option and I didn't want to use my credit card. If Google Checkout becomes popular enough, then not having it as an option may lose you some sales.

[DFG]

The positive is that it is a very recognizable brand and most of your average people trust Google.

[Bachus]

The video says they give reimbursements for chargebacks. That's another huge bonus.

I'm definitely going to look into adding this as a secondary payment method.

[oNyx]

>That's the top-tier rate[...]

Ops... my bad. (Well, I was tired and wanted to get the news out quickly etc. Excuse my sloppy research.) Either way its cheaper than paypal.

And well, yea I also think that there are many people who trust google (rightly so... so far they havent done anything bad). It could turn out to be a very nice secondary payment method.

Mahlzeit is also right. I didnt buy many things, because there wasnt a paypal option. Right now its the only option I have. If you dont support paypal many people simply wont be able to buy anything from you.

[Red Marble Games]

Another BIG downside -- though I only skimmed through the docs and so maybe misunderstood -- is that it seems Google doesn't do any calculation of taxes, leaving it up to you to tell Google Checkout how much you want to charge (and, presumably, to take care of remitting it to the authorities). Yikes. This is something that the existing processors, or at least eSellerate and Plimus, take care of for me, and I would never ever do it myself. Maybe this isn't a big factor for most indies, who will just rely on the government never to discover that taxes haven't been properly remitted, but it strikes me as a big omission from Google's offering.

Mark

[mahlzeit]

it seems Google doesn't do any calculation of taxes
Neither does Paypal or any of the other "internet banks". It makes sense, because they do not do any order fulfillment, they just send money around. Maybe payment processors (who are actually resellers) will add Google Checkout to their payment options, so you won't have to add it manually.

[Red Marble Games]

Right, I realize Google isn't alone in failing to deal with calculation or remittance of taxes. That's one of the major reasons I use Plimus, eSellerate, etc. instead of just PayPal. My comment before was meant to say that as long as Google is providing a service level closer to PayPal than to Plimus, Google Checkout isn't a great offering for indies who lack the administrative support to do taxes on their own. Hope you're right that the payment processors will add Google Checkout as a payment option.

Mark

[arcadetown]

Hmm, for every $1 you spend on adwords, you get $10 payments free.. sounds like a pretty good deal doesnt it?
Yeah that's the thing that caught my eye. Would basically just about make all our processing free with them. Or it's like getting a 30% discount on adwords.
That's the top-tier rate -- if you do > $100k / month in volume. The standard rate is 2.9% + 0.30. (http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside)
Still a little more expensive than if just used a direct merchant account. Typically seen can get around 2.5 - 3% + 25 - 30 cents per transaction using a direct merchant account. But not having the deal with the direct merchant account hassles does sound nice.

[Chris Evans]

I knew a guy at my last job who loved that game, played it every day. He got a pirate copy, despite being a game developer, for which I gave him a right earfull. He claimed that he'd never heard of the payment company, so didnt want to trust his credit card to them.
XBox live cuts out the piracy.

Quoting Cliffski from this thread:
http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=7689

Maybe this is the type of thing Google Checkout can help out with as well? Everybody knows Google, so maybe some won't get squeamish about buying your game if they're unfamiliar with "Plimus", "RegNow", or whatever because they can just use their Google Checkout account.

Hmm... so yeah DFG good point.

[arcadetown]

Has anyone seen a single site using google checkout yet? I'd like to step through something so could see how well (or not) it works just for the heck of it.

[Kaos]

great, another place to lose my login for!

[BlueWaldo]

Has anyone seen a single site using google checkout yet? I'd like to step through something so could see how well (or not) it works just for the heck of it.

I read in some news story that Buy.com was using it. I haven't check for myself.