Another Google Tool To Take On PayPal?

An anonymous reader writes to mention a ZDNet post about another possible product in the grand Google vision. The product, Google Checkout, may be an attempt to go after PayPal. From the article: "Since we know Google is behind its registration, what is Google Checkout going to be? I think it will be a shopping cart system to help websites accept payment for their items online. The money site owners make will be deposited into a holding account at Google -- just like AdSense works. Isn't this starting to sound a lot like PayPal? Who knows, they could even offer a Google branded Mastercard "debit card" like PayPal's ATM/Debit Card -- after all, the domain googlemastercard.com is registered to Google too."

Comments

You midunderstand

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Checkout is Google's new dating service. They let you check-out other singles in your area.

Re:You midunderstand

[cos(x)]

Google also have registered googlesex.com. Maybe the dating service will receive a geek-friendly cybersex upgrade one day where you don't need to leave your chair to check-out your date?

Re:You midunderstand

[jdray]

Have you ever wondered if Google just registers domains, then waits for the Googlewatching community to post punditry on what it might be, then decide what to do with it? Stranger things have happened.

Re:You midunderstand

[ABoerma]

You mean like http://www.google.com/romance/

Re:You midunderstand

[zippthorne]

Uh oh. Dilbert's been talking about this very thing recently. scary.

This could only be a good thing

[strider44]

Perhaps they can make a paypal that actually doesn't suck. After all Google isn't supposed to be evil.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[killjoe]

I don't see how it could suck more or be more evil then paypal. If MS ends up buying paypal/ebay as it's rumored then all the more so reason to use Google.

As a corporation I trust google much more then I trust ebay/paypal or MS or even Visa for that matter.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[chrisxkelley]

Have you actually had any bad experiences with paypal? I have read through these Paypal Sucks websites and find some of the stories to be quite far-fetched. I have been using Paypal for years, and never had any problems. A representative from paypal actually called my house phone about ten minutes after I had sold a laptop to a buyer with a fraudulent credit card, informing me of the situation and telling m enot to ship the item. I was very impressed. They know their stuff, and they honestly dont suck. Now if M$ buys them up i'm not going to be so sure, because they are the last people I would want to have access to my bank account / credit card info.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[ericdano]

True enough about Microsoft. But are there more stories like that about Paypal? I know Ebay was, for a while, really HARD to reach when you had problems.....

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Cromac]

So is Google, at least as much as PayPal is.

Google Accepts Porn Ads but Refuses Those for Guns

And from Googles AdSense policy page:
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies
Site may not include:
Sales or promotion of certain weapons, such as firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Rix]

Paypal treats anyone outside the US like dirt, so it'd be great to have an alternative.

Think about what they'd have done if you *had* shipped that laptop. Would they have taken responsibility for their mistake? I doubt it. It's easy not to suck if you only look at the best case scenarios.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Google will refuse to list firearm related advertisements, FYI.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Ruff_ilb]

Meh, porn is pretty much essential to the internet, or is at least a large part of it, wheras guns aren't.

It's in the policy page, he said that he has read and accepted the policies... at that point, it's his problem.

I don't see how this is a bad thing, necessarily.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[chrisxkelley]

Would they have taken responsibility for their mistake? Yes - they offer up to $1000 of fraud protection for ebay sales, which is about how much I sold it for.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Your personal experience counts as a testimonial. If the collected stories from disgruntled users only amounts to an insignificant number then that too is useless. However, if there is a sufficient number of complaints then some reason exists to question the quality of service. What is entirely certain is that your testimony alone is meaningless.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Porn doesn't kill!!.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Guns usually require some user intervention dont they?
Snuff porn and kiddie porn do fuck people up.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[asiansweetheart]

I too had bad experiences with PayPal. They froze my account when I logged in from Thailand (I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that) and their customer service people were nasty. I had to use a backdoor to some insider troubleshooter to get it fixed (lucky I found that guy). But I think they suck less since eBay bought them. At least they opened up more countries so now I can login from Thailand without my account getting frozen. I haven't had to call customer service so I don't know if that is any better.

Still I would like an alternative with a low fee structure like PayPal. So if Goog did that I would try it.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[contrapunctus]

Have you actually had any bad experiences with paypal?
If you opt to accept credit cards (let's say for an ebay auction), Paypal will always charge you a percentage on all future trnasactions even if credit cards aren't the source of the payments.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Google may not be perfect (and perhaps even evil in some cases) but I don't think this is a good example of it. I would bet that the real reason they don't allow ads for weapons is simply that state laws vary quite a bit and they don't want to end up in the middle if a dealer advertising with them fails to follow all state and federal regulations. Granted some websites with porn probably break laws but it's probably safer for Google because of common carrier provisions and the fact that it's up to the websites to have age restriction in place by federal law. I'm not aware of any laws that would keep Google out of any lawsuit in the case that a gun dealer broke the law and they were found by ads run by Google.

As for the complaints of the guy in the article, he seems to forget that minors can't buy weapons in most states legally any more than they can buy porn legally. (Hell in the state I live in you have to be 16 just to buy paint balls for paint guns.)

Also it's not really censorship, ads are commercial speech, and as the article you linked to points out itself there are millions of hits on Google if you search for guns or ammunition. It's not like Google's blocking all sites that talk about guns/ammunition/hunting/right to bear arms/etc. They've just decided they don't want to allow people to run ads selling weapons through AdWords.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jbrader]

There are plenty of ways to suck that aren't evil.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[techno-vampire]

It's easy not to suck if you only look at the best case scenarios.

Very true. It's also hard not to suck if you only look at the worst cases, as that site listed above clearly does.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[killjoe]

Isn't it illegal to transport guns across state lines?

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never seen a 3 year old that has the hand strength to rack a slide or pull a revolver trigger. Much less load a gun.

Piss off troll, you speak from zero experience.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be great if google's service would let you use it without keeping your credit card or bank accnt. info on file - but this would also be fairly un-google.

    Successful evil dictators of the future will frequently use the catch phrase, "I'm not evil!"

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that I've ever seen. Anyways such a law would only hinder the law abiding.
No criminal would obey, pointless law.

I've had a rifle shipped for repair out of state and back via UPS before without issue.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jrockway]

> I work for Google in the ecommerce section. So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies.

Look at this guy's journal. He apparently posts posts exactly like the above just to get "loser slashbots" to reply.

If it's the "loser slashbots" who reply to him... what is he?

Re:This could only be a good thing

[KombuchaGuy]

While this may seem somewhat 'evil' to an American the opposite stance would be outright appaling to most Europeans. Google are an international company and should act as such.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[mpcooke3]

Well, google does serve adverts to people living outside the US.

When you walk down a steet in a european city some people you pass by may have nipples. When you walk down a street in the US some people may have guns.

Guess which i feel more comfortable with.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I've never seen a 3 year old that has the hand strength to rack a slide or pull a revolver trigger. Much less load a gun.

Neither have I, but the idea isn't so far fetched.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Ilgaz]

I openly say it: I hate Google and its fanatics (not fans!) but if they offer a REAL financial service as opposed to Paypal and take the security alerts which we report at them by our own good will, I open an account.

Moneybrookers etc exist but they somehow can't be popular in USA so it means you don't see "moneybookers" icon on all .com sites.

I mean a real, documented banking service with real support people, not outsourced. (I better not get into details or political correct guys will call me, a turkish guy, you know what I mean)

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Aladrin]

TFA explains the procedure needed to legally ship guns across state lines. It isn't fun, but it's legal.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

seeing as this is slashdot and you're a slashfag i'd wager nipples (unless they're on a pair of vladinator-esque man boobs)

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Khalid]

Besides, the general consensus is that porn does much less harm than guns, even in countries where it's (supposed) to be strictly regulated like mine ;)

Re:This could only be a good thing

[yog]

Paypal is OK for small transactions, but they constantly annoy me with demands to get "verified" by giving them my bank account number, something I don't wish to do. But I have to click past this demand screen every time I log in. Also, they limit my transaction size for arbitrary reasons. I have a credit card with a ridiculously high credit limit, and I have superb credit, yet they won't let me pay more than two or three hundred dollars because I'm not verified. What's the issue here. I use my credit card all the time for multi-thousands of dollars transactions with other people but Paypal needs my bank account number to do a $500 transaction?

I look forward to Google giving Paypal some healthy competition, especially if Microsoft really does buy EBay, which owns Paypal. Google has a way of implementing very elegant solutions, such as for example their gmail product and their video search. Bring it on, Google!

Re:This could only be a good thing

[yabos]

It's to protect against fraud. They make a 2 cent deposit into your bank account and it shows up with a unique ID on your statement. You put in that number to verify you are who you say you are.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

MEWBZ LAWLAWLAWLAWLololololololololol i said mewbz

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Dare nMc]

Under federal law, you may lawfully transport your guns if you have the lawful right to possess them where you reside, and also in the place where you are transporting the guns to.

to comply with that using a shipping company they will only ship from a licensed gun dealer to another licensed gun dealer. But you as a owner can drive across state borders legaly (except maybe california, other states don't require out of state hunters to have local permits to carry a unloaded firearm that is in some way secured with a lock, ie in the truck.)

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh, porn is pretty much essential to the internet, or is at least a large part of it, wheras guns aren't.

Says you.

Looks like Google's definition of "evil" is "un-PC".

So, Google's policy really is: "Do nothing un-PC".

Re:This could only be a good thing

[idiot900]

One solution to this is to use a savings account at an online bank. ING Direct will allow you to arbitrarily create multiple savings accounts under the same customer ID, with distinct account numbers. So, I have a dedicated PayPal account that has 3 cents in it at the moment. All money received via PayPal is immediately transferred to another account, so if they randomly decide to take money from me they can only get the 3 cents I leave in there.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[assassinator42]

It would be nice if Google had a service where you could send small ammounts of money as well. Say, a quarter or 75 cents or something. I've tried to transfer that much to someone through paypal because they needed just a little bit more to pay for an auction. Of course, they took enough of it so that the recipient didn't receive enough.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[kimvette]

I have.

I don't use it often, so when I need to use it to pay for something (a vendor too fucking cheap to get a merchant account, e.g. Abit's RMA department)), Paypal sits on my money for a week before they will actually let me pay the vendor, and when I get refunded, they sit on the damn money again before I can take my money, and they're collecting interest on it all the while. Paypal is the epitome of evil and I do business via paypal only when I have absolutely no alternative. My alternative where Abit is concerned is to never buy their products again, then I do not have to deal with their crappy RMA process. I buy Asus or Foxconn instead - those companies have their act together and do it right.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[fupeg]

As a corporation I trust google much more then I trust ebay/paypal or MS or even Visa for that matter.

What a typical /. comment. Of course you trust Google more, because you've been told to do just that. And of course you don't trust Microsoft. You should think twice about this though.

Microsoft wants you to buy their software and they try to give you little choice in this. That can be annoying, but at least it's straightforward and obvious.

Google on the other hand doesn't want your money. But they want to know everything about you so they can market to you better and get advertisers' money.

So when you see speculation about a Google service that would be similar to PayPal, you better think twice about the idea here. Sure PayPal makes money, and maybe you think Google just wants a piece of that pie. That would be harmless enough, compettition is always good.

But not so fast! Think about the bigger picture. Right now you have transactions that start with Google, i.e. they start with a consumer clicking on an targeted ad. Now the same transaction can end with Google, by having that consumer pay for the advertised product using a Google payment system. Suddenly Google has knowledge of which ads not only lead to clicks, but lead to purchases. But it gets even better. Because they are able to identify you when you make the purchase, they can tie all the information they have on you to both the click-through and the purchase. Right now they can charge more for selling ad words that are more likely to generate searches, but imagine if they could charge more for advertising to people who are more likely to click-through and make purchases. They're not just selling the words anymore, they're selling you!

Of course the people at Google are very smart. So smart that they're actual plan for how to use this data could be far more sinister than what I've come up with in five minutes. The point is that this service would yield them even more valuable data about internet users and that their business model is all about using data about users to make money off advertising.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Radiant_Zer0]

LOL given my paypal 'adventures', and those of others, compared to my experiences and those others have had with Google, I'd have no problem at all trusting the Googlefolk with my $. In fact, I've wished someone would challenge paypal, I'd use that sort of a service, if they're Google-honest. I would NEVER ever do any business with or through paypal again.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[killjoe]

"Microsoft wants you to buy their software and they try to give you little choice in this. That can be annoying, but at least it's straightforward and obvious."

They also have a fantastic track record of stabbing virtually all of the parners in the back, playing loose and fast with the law, acting in an anti-consumer manner, lying, cheating and stealing. Clearly morals, ethics, and general goodness is not a high priority at MS.

"Suddenly Google has knowledge of which ads not only lead to clicks, but lead to purchases. But it gets even better. Because they are able to identify you when you make the purchase, they can tie all the information they have on you to both the click-through and the purchase. Right now they can charge more for selling ad words that are more likely to generate searches, but imagine if they could charge more for advertising to people who are more likely to click-through and make purchases. They're not just selling the words anymore, they're selling you! "

MS is already selling you on their desktop. Ms knows your name, address and phone number if you registered using your real name. Ms can track you personally using passport and they can force you to use passport to update windows.

"Of course the people at Google are very smart. So smart that they're actual plan for how to use this data could be far more sinister than what I've come up with in five minutes."

The question is will they use it in a sinister manner. We know Ms has a long and storied history of sinister behavior, we know that google so far has not acted in such a sinister manner.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

google is just a 'little less' evil than other corps. Their greed in regards to adsense using spam sites and domain squatters, as well as their quickness to kick legit web publishers while keeping said evil sites, is indicative of their evilness. Google is out to make money, plain and simple. Contributing to Wine doesn't change that fact.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

As I've been trying to convince my girlfriend, some of them are quite nice.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

MS is already selling you on their desktop. Ms knows your name, address and phone number if you registered using your real name. Ms can track you personally using passport and they can force you to use passport to update windows.

If you think this is on par with the information that google can gather concerning start to finish transactions done on the web you are a fucking moron.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jaseuk]

Ebay + Paypal + No Limits = Money Launderers Dream.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[killjoe]

Hey moron. Any information Google can collect MS can collect. You know because the browser run inside windows. IE can keep track of every site you visit and every form you fill out. Ooops it already does that. All it has to do is to send it to MS.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[mgblst]

I too have heard many bad stories about paypal, but recently had a good experience where they refunded some of my money because the seller didn't send the right equipment. Went very smoothly. This doesn't mean that they haven't done bad, just not to me. I find them far too convenient for me to not use them, at least in the UK - in Australia it wasn't so bad, since there is no problem in handing over your bank details.

Ebay, on the other hand, really suck. They owe me $34. And there is no way I can get this of off them. bastards!

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jandrese]

Honestly, at least half of paypalsucks.com and similar sites smell like BS to me. Or worse, the product of disgruntled scammers who didn't get their money because Paypal stopped the transaction. If you successfully scam someone and are mere moments away from getting the money and running, only to have your account locked when Paypal noticed what you're doing, how would you react? You're sitting there with money in the account and a suddenly wise mark now starting the process of tracking you down, perhaps even calling the cops. If you run now, you lose everything, if you stay you might be caught. If you put up a horror story on paypalsucks.com in the hopes of embarassing Paypal into releasing your money just long enough for you to get out, then hey, it's worth a shot right?

Now, that's not to say Paypal hasn't had some bad service. I'm sure they still offer bad service even now (although not all of the time), but the fact of the matter is that there has been far less trouble with it than those sites would have you believe.

The biggest problem is that Paypal seems to be a little more vigilant about scams than most credit card companies and they have a high level of distrust of anything out of the ordinary. For instance, some well known sites set up paypal accounts for Katrina relief, but almost all of those were locked and the funds eventually returned because Paypal couln't verify that they were legit. That's the story everyone heard, but the other story is that hundreds of other scam Katrina sites were set up just to sucker people out of their money. Those sites were also shut down. From Paypal's point of view it's nearly impossible to tell the former from the latter, especially since neither is a registered charity.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jandrese]

Yeah, or you could use a Wire Transfer...oh wait, the bank's going to sit on your money there too. I suppose you could use a check...oh wait, the bank sits on your money with checks too. You could send cash, but then most places won't take cash through the mail (it's not a good idea).

Also, you are aware that you can pay for something directly with paypal to avoid having to wait for it to appear in your account right? In fact that's how most merchants set up the system.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[kimvette]

You're wrong. If I wire someone money, they can withdraw it instantly.
If I write a check out to someone, they can go right to my bank and cash it instantly. In fact with recent changes in checking services, banks transfer funds immediately (people can't "float" checks any more, which IMHO is a good thing) so a check in theory clears instantly, or at least the next day.

I have NEVER experienced a week's delay between a deposit and when the bank "allows" me to write a check to make a payment. In fact I don't even experience any delays between a deposit or transfer and the time when I can use my check card to make a payment. Paypal institutes artificial delays just so they can accrue interest in addition to fees.

Paying for something directly with Paypal? That requires me to tie up money with them, maintaining a balance (where I receive no interest for my bother) for a payment service I rarely use. Why the hell would I want to do that? Now, if what you mean by "pay directly" is use my Amex card to pay, say, Abit for an RMA cross-shipment, Abit does not use Paypal's credit card payment feature, so there is the inevitable delay. Fuck paypal.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[jandrese]

I don't know what wire service you use, but any transfer that goes through the Federal Reserve (hint: all bank to bank transfers), is going to be sat on for a day or three by the feds.

Your friend has one of those banks that will let him immediately cash checks, although the bank itself doesn't get the money for several days (the feds again). For some banks this convienence outweighs the risk, especially for longtime and reliable customers. You can't just walk in off the street and cash a check though, not without having the bank take some percentage of it to cover their risk. Electronic checking was supposed to fix that, but it turns out that banks still like to sit on funds.

Again, you don't have to have any money at all in your paypal account to make a payment. You can pay for something and if there isn't sufficent funds in your Paypal account they will automatically draw it from your primary fund source and send it directly to the other guy. The other guy will see the payment right away, even though Paypal is still technically waiting on the wire transfer in the case of bank funds (although credit card payments go through right away).

Re:This could only be a good thing

[LunaticTippy]

I've been leaving money in my paypal account lately. I get 4.5% money market on the balance, and when I use the paypal cc I get 1.5% cash back. It beats my credit union slightly, and I haven't had a problem in 5 years.

I worry a tad about the horror stories that abound, but haven't had a problem personally.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[aliquis]

No, that would be a reason to consider PayPal. Microsoft can only make it better.

Re:This could only be a good thing

[Rix]

The real problem is that they're not regulated. When fraud happens through real banks, they have to eat it, and so should Paypal.

if this happens...

[smartfart]

If Microsoft buys eBay and Paypal, I'm going to cancel my account immediately. If Google comes up with a competing service, that'd be great.

Failing that, what's a decent alternative to Paypal?

Re:if this happens...

[grazzy]

There's no quitting paypal you know. Once a member, you're bitch for life.

Re:if this happens...

[Anonymous Coward]

If Microsoft buys eBay and Paypal, I'm going to cancel my account immediately.

If Microsoft buys Ebay and Paypal, I'm going to stop using Paypal if Google offers an alternative.
No need to cancel ... let them try earning my business back.

I don't think they can -- sellers who continue to only offer Paypal will eventually see their losses.
Good sellers won't leave money on the table and having a choice, they wouldn't have to anyway.

Re:if this happens...

[Cheapy]

What are your reasons for canceling your account if MS takes them over?

Re:if this happens...

[SeaFox]

Gee, would you want your bank account directly accessable by a company with the security and privacy record of Microsoft?

If they acquired PayPal, they would convert it over ot MS servers, just like they did Hotmail.

Re:if this happens...

[ayumi-chan]

It won't happen. Microsoft is too broke right now to do this. Yahoo and Paypal have just announced a... not merger... but a deal. Yahoo is going to promote paypal and vice-versa.

Re:if this happens...

[killjoe]

Would you let a child molester babysit your kids?
Would you let a thief house sit for you?

Re:if this happens...

[OverflowingBitBucket]

If Microsoft buys eBay and Paypal, I'm going to cancel my account immediately.

Good luck, it took around two weeks and a few emails on a zero-balance year-long inactive account for me to cancel mine. They wouldn't close it on my request, of course, and copy-pasted a set of instructions (that didn't work) in reply to each email. They wouldn't close it themselves, though. They basically ignored that part of my request each time. Admittedly I had lost the password, so it is partly my fault. Glad I'm out though.

Re:if this happens...

[EvilEddie]

EPassport

Re:if this happens...

[pedantic bore]

Gee, would you want your bank account directly accessable by a company with the security and privacy record of Microsoft?

Google's record isn't quite as bad as that of Microsoft, but I see your point.

Re:if this happens...

[assassinator42]

What in the world are you talking about? Log in, click profile, click close account, follow the instructions. I just closed one. (Although, I thought I closed it a while ago. I guess not. It's gone now though.)

Re:if this happens...

[jandrese]

Because in a couple of weeks you'll find something you want to buy online and discover that they only take Paypal. :P

There are a few horror stories about people getting their accounts closed, but it always turns out that they forgot their password and/or username and don't have the email account they used anymore. Seriously, from Paypal's POV you could be any Joe Schmoe trying to get someone else's account closed, which is why they made the people provide so much proof (and OMG, they had to Fax it, horrors!).

Seriously, how many more people can complain "I can't send thousands of dollars with just a hotmail account? Paypal Sucks!" before they realize that Paypal is not going to turn themselves into an automated money laundering/fraud service, no matter how convienent it might be for you.

This Just In

[Anonymous Coward]

The janitor at Google bought a new mop. Someone post it to the slashdot frontpage.

Re:This Just In

[Anonymous Coward]

The janitor at Google bought a new mop.

Does it run Linux?

Re:This Just In

[cpatil]

Indeed, that might make a headline if slashdot moderators are not moderated soon ;-)

Re:This Just In

[SeaFox]

Informative? That's rediculous! He didn't tell us if it was one of those old-fashioned ones with all the yarn strands or the ones with the sponge bar with the scrubby edge.

Re:This Just In

[Ohreally_factor]

All you need to know is that it wasn't an evil mop, and that the domain googlemops.com has not yet been registered.

Re:This Just In

[Anonymous Coward]

apparently he is planning to use ajax with it.

Re:This Just In

[froschmann]

The real question is if it is acrylic or cotton. Cotton leaves them little fuzzies on the floor and can rot on you... --the janitor.

Re:This Just In

[Fred_A]

But acrylic takes longer to degrade and is therefore inherently more evil.

Re:This Just In

[consonant]

Hmm..does it run Linux? Is it modded???

Re:This Just In

[grammar fascist]

All you need to know is that it wasn't an evil mop, and that the domain googlemops.com has not yet been registered.

It will be tomorrow, though, now that they've been exposed on Slashdot.

Google Checkout?

[Freaky Spook]

Im sure it can't compete with the One-Click checkout :)

great!

[Anonymous Coward]

this would be great, I know from personal experience that running merchant systems is a major pain the neck. This particularly the case when you are a programmer trying to break into to the world of running your own business. Merchant and credit card systems that exist are really dev friendly and extremely expensive for the most part. The system I current use is propay.com just because it is so simplistic for my small site.

Re:great!

[WeArab]

I agree with you. Also PayPal isn't supporting Middle East yet. I'm sure google will cover such area beside what already paypal covers now. Good luck for Google! Thank you, -Arabian CEO We Arab Network http://www.wearab.net/

Re:great!

[jacksonj04]

Nah, I bet it'll cover the US exclusively for a couple of years in "beta" state. Then it might do Canada, UK and any Euro-based country. Middle East will likely be a fair way in the future. Remember how long PayPal took to reach their current state of internationalisation?

*sigh* more speculation

[strider44]

The problem with the article is that it's basing an awful lot on just a domain name. I could think of many other things it *could* be, like a shopping store, an auction site a la ebay, and more. It could also be a simple ecommerce software site, which I think is the most likely. My biggest counter to the argument for a paypal site is if this Google Checkout is a commercial venture like PayPal, why haven't they snabbed GoogleCheckout.com?

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Ctrl Alt De1337]

If you read the article more closely, you'll see that the author came to the conclusion that the company that owns googlecheckout.com is directly tied to the one that is known to work with Google. In that sense, googlecheckout.com is already owned by Google.

In any event, this may or may not happen. It may not be anything more than Google noticing online rumors about it possibly starting a PayPal-like service and then deciding to buy the domain either to keep its options open or to prevent phishers or squatters from getting it. Or it could be as the parent described. It certainly would fit in with some aspects of Google Base, but people have made many persuasive arguments for what Google should do and then not see the company do it. After all of the furor over GDrive.com a few months ago, there's still not anything up on that page. Maybe, maybe not. I'll believe it when I see it. Google is second only to Apple when it comes to unsubstatiated/bogus romors.

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Rugikiki]

Or something related to Google Print...What do you do when finished at the library, afterall?

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[aweinert]

Actually thats not true:
The domains googlecheckout.net/org/info (.com is owned by someone else at the moment) have all been registered to a company called DNStination, Inc.
It makes no futhur mention of who owns the .com, another person entirely (who regitered through GoDaddy)

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Rix]

Because they'll use checkout.google.com, like sensible people?

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up. This is what they did for GMail, Google Map,...

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[jrockway]

> Because they'll use checkout.google.com, like sensible people?

Just like they use mail.google.com for their mail service? Oh wait, they use gmail.com for that.

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[tehshen]

I'm not sure if this has to do with anything, but I get GMail from http: //mail.google.com/mail. gmail.com also works, though.

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Khalid]

Google have already stated officially that they were going to issue a PayPal clone, it's only a matter of time.

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[damiam]

Gmail.com is just a redirect to mail.google.com/mail, and it's an exception. Look at the rest of their services: there's no googleimages.com, googlemaps.com, googleanswers.com, etc. It's always just *.google.com (except for Froogle, for some reason).

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[Rix]

http://gmail.google.com

Re:*sigh* more speculation

[jrockway]

Yeah, you're right. I'm an idiot.

I thought it was gmail.google.com that you were redirected to, but obviously not!

Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Google's money spinning machine has just one huge flaw. You geeks know that. By design nobody can tell which of those clicks on ads are from real people and which ones are from dogs (and monkeys and bots).

They are not fighting PayPal. They want to charge customers not for delivering clicks but for delivering customers. If the clickers on the ads actually use their checkout service to buy then who cares if the clicker is a dog or a bot. It is a dog who has cash to spend.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[abb3w]

If the clickers on the ads actually use their checkout service to buy then who cares if the clicker is a dog or a bot. It is a dog who has cash to spend.

...or at least, has his owner's credit card....

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[fizzfaldt]

If the clickers on the ads actually use their checkout service to buy then

This could turn out to be very interesting.
This could definately help out with click fraud if they charge by the purchase/customer instead of click,
or have some form of tiered system where purchases/customers are charged a certain amount, and clicks another.

If they get in between the credit card processors/banks and the online stores then we get another benefit.
Google could not actually pass the credit card information to the store, limiting the number of databases that
have your personal information.
We could also have user profiles making checkout much easier (compare to having a user account for every single online store you ever use.)
I imagine this would also help combat credit card fraud, when online stores have access to some kind of reliability score for a user.
The reverse would be true: Not giving credit information to the store (helps) prevents them from scamming you.

I wouldn't mind having being able to search/store online receipts in a repository either, although I can see how some might given the privacy concerns.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[CompotatoJ]

There is one problem with only getting money once a customer makes a transaction through the website. How is Google supposed to know if the transaction is ever made? The website could just hide the fact that the transaction was made and not have to pay for advertising costs.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[fizzfaldt]

I imagine they could act as a credit card processor.
i.e. when you want to checkout, you use a google checkout page.
I am reminded of the yahoo store checkout pages.

Of course some vendors would want their own checkout, and this introduces a new form of fraud
as you stated. Where only Google loses in this case. (Compared to click fraud where both
Google (in reputation and refunds) and the customer loses.)

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Ohreally_factor]

You're implying that a dog could commit fraud, which is impossible. Cats, on the other hand . . . .

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Nikker]

The one reason I think Google is where they are to day is because they are able to see one point in all the chaos that we call the internet. There is a real want behind evrey search. What we have to be willing to accept is that possibly what you call "dogs" is something we may in a way desire. It may keep us watching or keep our eyes open.

As evreything evolves it comes down to intensions. Does the guy on the corner really want you to believe it is a real Rollex watch or will he tell you its a Rolodex watch?

Either way as most geeks know, its called a database we can easily blackball anyone we want really.

PS. No little old ladys were harmed or robbed in the making of this post....

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Er, isn't the grandparent talking about scripts? Bots that repeatedly hit ads with random keywords in order to trick Google into paying the owner of the web page displaying the ads money? Whether or not I subconsciously desire what's advertised in the ads my bot randomly "clicks" on won't matter because I won't see the ad - it's redirected straight to /dev/null.

And of course there are ways to make such click fraud harder by trying to detect whether or not ad-clickers are bots. But this is in no way a trivial task, especially knowing that people willing to commit such fraud may well have access to a botnet, allowing them to hit the ads only a few times from each IP and still make a sizeable amount of money.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

unless the dog happens to be none other than santos l. halper.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[CompotatoJ]

I can see how this would work if the ad went directly to a Google managed website where the checkout process was being done directly with Google. This way there would be no possible way for someone do commit fraud.

Re:Keeping the dogs out of the internet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the great grandparent is talking about bots and botnets etc. Or an army of friends and relatives and under employed people around the world hired to click on these things (there are many, many here in India where I am now). Hey, I hear that Google's AdSense pays $10/- for a 1000 clicks for my blog on Rolex watches. I need breakfast money. Got to get my army to click on those ads.

Somebody call ZDNet...

[mattmacf]

...and tell this blogger that googlewildspeculation.com is still available.

Re:Somebody call ZDNet...

[Anonymous Coward]

not anymore... ;)

Re:Somebody call ZDNet...

[Grey Ninja]

I just sat here for 5 minutes thinking about that actually, after I read what you said. I sat here and thought that was a terrible idea for the first 2.4 minutes. Then I started to think about how awesome that would be, if it were real.

I mean, just imagine it. Google has a site that's based entirely upon wild speculation. Anyone can post any sort of speculation, be it meaningful or not. And the speculation could be searched entirely. If by some chance the speculation came true, then Google news could automatically search through the speculations for the relevant information. And then they could have ranking links below the story. Saying something like "This story was predicted by ____ web sites", with a link to the Google Wild Speculation search. And they could have rankings of all people who write speculation for the Google Wild Speculation site. So in that way, you could find out if perhaps you were psychic, or were really good at predicting the future. Pyschics on TV would be out of jobs when it was found out that they had a 0.0001% speculation rate on Google Wild Speculation.

Meanwhile, Google would find all the real psychics, and would hire them up. Then Google would have psychics to control our minds.

Yeah, that would be awesome. I should go code that right now.

Google acting like... Google.

[aquowf]

You must remember, this is google we are talking about. World domination isn't world domination unless you own a pay-pal like service.

Re:Google acting like... Google.

[iwsnet]

Google has introduced a ton of new features lately but how many have gotten anywhere. GMail has been about 2 years and still not fully open to everyone. They have Google Base and Google Videos. The only read groundbreaking service I've seen besides their search engine is the Maps feature. That is pretty cool.

Most of the other features aren't much to write about.

Re:Google acting like... Google.

[Propaganda13]

If someone wants Gmail and doesn't have it, they're not trying that hard. I have invites just laying around and I'm sure any other Gmail user does too.

There is no real competition to PayPal

[Anonymous Coward]

Right now, there is no real competition to PayPal. By competition, I mean an alternative service that charges the same level of percentage per sale.

There are a lot of PayPal type players out there, with much more evolved services, but they all charge 5-12% on every deal, which is too brutal. If google could match paypal's percentages and offer a nicer service, PayPal would suffer greatly.

Re:There is no real competition to PayPal

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree.
5-12% is too much.
That's more than many resellers earn from the products they sell.

Re:There is no real competition to PayPal

[hostnew]

Google has a lot of business client in Adsence/adwords and great credit cards turnover. i think that they can make best offer on the market. Im waiting for google money system :)

Re:There is no real competition to PayPal

[Anonymous Coward]

In the UK:- http://www.nochex.com/ (They charged slightly less than paypal the last time I looked).

A big list of upcoming services

[NanoServ]

Google registered a domain, so therefore they must be planning a service around it? Wow. Let's take a look at some other domains Google has registered...

Gbrowser.com - I wonder how that's doing.
Googleblows.com - Hm.. so much to speculate on.
Googledoodle.com - A drawing platform, maybe?
Googleporn.com - It's about time!

Here's my favorite: Googlemotherf**ker.com.

Google regularly buys domain names just so others won't. The fact that they bought googlecheckout.net might just mean they don't want someone else masquerading as a Google checkout service.

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[aevan]

Googleporn.com - It's about time!

I thought we already had Google Images??

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[Anonymous Coward]

Googleporn.com - It's about time!

That would be booble.com.

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[Traxton1]

Which works on your cell phone by the way.

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget googlepedia.com

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[ayumi-chan]

It's not just because they registered a domain. Google has announced it plans to create a checkout service to compete with Paypal. This is why Yahoo and Paypal just made a deal on May 25th to back each other.

Re:A big list of upcoming services

[bill_mcgonigle]

Here's my favorite: Googlemotherf**ker.com.

Ah, I see they're going to get the Samuel L. Jackson localization done finally.

No Thanks.

[John_Booty]

I love Google for the most part, and use a great deal of their free products - search (duh), Google Desktop Search, Froogle, Google Maps, Google Notebook, etc.

However, I do not trust them with my money. I had the same experience with Google Adsense that many people have had - account frozen and terminated with no explanation and no possibility for appeal right before my first check was due. I never saw a penny.

Realistically, I'm sure that Checkout will be handled by a different internal group within Google. I don't know if they'll have the same "we'll take your money with no explanation" attitude as the Adsense group. But you can count me right the heck out.

Also, for the record... while PayPal horror stories also abound, I've had no problem with them even after several thousand transactions. I'm quite happy with them. If Google Checkout is a PayPal competitor, I know which side I'm on. Until convinced otherwise.

Re:No Thanks.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The problems with adsense are just as anecdotal as those with PayPal. I haven't had any issues with either, but it just pays to pay attention. Google has gotten a little on the big side, so it pays to be as wary as with buying into a product of any company of that size, like Microsoft or AT&T.

Re:No Thanks.

[.com b4 .storm]

account frozen and terminated with no explanation and no possibility for appeal

And that's worse than what PayPal does to many people... how? PayPal has done much worse, with actual money for sales and services. Real money that is in their account, not just the couple of bucks they supposedly "earned" through advertising.

Re:No Thanks.

[DigiShaman]

Call it flamebait, but i've had enough of Googles shit in regards to hypocrisy. I refuse to let this (potential) "Enron" be my pseudo banker.

Damn, that rant felt good.

Re:No Thanks.

[Zaphod2016]

Preach!

These Google fanbois need to hear it.

Re:No Thanks.

[Matt_Joyce]

You love Google, how sad is that?

It's a company, which has some neat products, it's enjoying a good market position.

Love, no I don't think so.

Re:No Thanks.

[John_Booty]

I agree that the problems are anecdotal. My experiences are just one more data point and should of course be taken with the appropriately grain of salt.

PayPal does, at least, have some semblence of an appeals process. Although it's said to be quite lacking to say the least, at least it exists. They also tend to give some kind of reason as to what the problem was when payments are canceled and/or accounts are frozen.

Google seems shadier. Now, as you say, this is anecdotal. But Adsense account freezes almost always seem to take place right before the first check is due to be cut. In my case I had AdSense ads up for 2-3 months and generated quite a chunk of change for Google before they conveniently pulled the plug right before cutting me a check. I wound up with nothing. I'm not sure if they detected "suspicious" clicks on my Adsense ads or what, but they nullified all my earnings. Surely the vast majority of those earnings weren't suspicious.

Re:No Thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's nothing. I love pizza. How sad is that?

Mmmm, pizza.

Re:No Thanks.

[Seahawk]

Just a though:

If you were to make a system that detected false clicks in an advertising system, how would you implement it:

1. Run an analysis on EVERY click that comes in, with huge costs associated
2. Have some code that analysed clicks every week, even though money was only sent every month
3. Have som code that analyzed clicks just before you were about to send money

I'm not saying Google are saints(But I'm inclined to believe they are pretty good guys), but option 3 definately looks the most sensible to me :)

Re:No Thanks.

[wfberg]

No complaints process might work out better for you than a crappy one. If they don't have a complaints process, you can take them to small claims court immediately, since you've exhausted all your options of dispute resolution within the service's framework.

Re:No Thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gmail horror stories:

It's been 6 days straight and I've been locked out of my gmail account.

Horray to google????

Re:No Thanks.

[TorAvalon]

Of course it's still in Beta, what would you expect.

Prison guard to new inmate

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, you got a choice... do you want Bill the Slayer or Sergey the Terrible as your cell mate?

Of course they can

[Anonymous Coward]

Google will have Zero-Click Checkout. They know what you want to buy even before you do.

Re:Of course they can

[The Clockwork Troll]

Well that explains all the insider selling. Obviously they've been beta testing this feature for Google Finance.

I know what it is

[kahrytan]

Garett Rogers has it all wrong.

Google maybe setting up a new and improved Froogle with Store Fronts similar to Yahoo Shopping.

"Google Checkout" could be used for stores in froogle to accept payments.

Re:I know what it is

[wildman6801]

That sounds more praticle than anything; we all know how much some of us would like that opposed to having to enter our information on a 1000 sites! Hope it is more secured than PayPal! :)

Re:I know what it is

[Ohreally_factor]

No man, that's not it. Good thinking, sounds reasonable, but the inside scoop says that Google Checkout will be an online Assisted Suicide service for the terminally ill.

Response to Microsoft's impending eBay buyout?

[Mr_eX9]

Perhaps this is Google's response to the recent news regarding Microsoft's interest in acquiring eBay, which owns PayPal.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new google channel that directly competes with eBay's online marketplace in the near future.

GoogleWiki

[QuantumG]

Why don't we see that already?

Re:GoogleWiki

[dotoole]

What do you think the internet is?

A Whole New Meaning

[Alethes]

Adds a whole new meaning to "I'm Feeling Lucky" now, doesn't it?

Re:A Whole New Meaning

[binkzz]

You call yours Lucky?

Re:A Whole New Meaning

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up, this is funny!

Re:A Whole New Meaning

[Kaki Nix Sain]

Actually, I think that is the old meaning.

Re:A Whole New Meaning

[trajik2600]

That should have been modded +6!

Re:A Whole New Meaning

[70Bang]

Or, as a guy in college said when a girl walked by, "I wouldn't kick that girl out of bed for eating crackers....would I, 'Crackers'?" (patting his crotch at the appropriate time.

Making such a mistake so early in his college career (first week of school) and earning the nickname of Crackers. When addressed as such, the ladies wanted to know the derivation and he always had to tap dance around it.

As a reasonably small (1'900 students), midwestern, non-denominational Christian university, there were a lot of sensitive ears and everyone knew everyone else. Should he have responded honestly to the wrong person, he might have found his social life a bit empty for some time.

(But it was still fun to watch him deal with the name across a couple of years)

Stop speculating.

[Godman]

What's with all the speculation about what google is going to do next? So they own a few domains... they've had gbrowser.com for like a year now... it means squat.

If you were a company with lots of money in the bank, wouldn't you register domain names for 10 bucks a pop that have your name in them, to prevent squatters and to keep your options open? I'm sure google has hundreds of domains, and not all of them will turn out to be new google ideas at all...

Re:Stop speculating.

[ashot]

hundreds is a very low estimate I think..

Re:Stop speculating.

[CosmeticLobotamy]

The Google guys must laugh their asses off about this stuff. Either that, or it's a kind of public brainstorming. "Okay, nobody came up with anything especially cool for gbrowser, let's register googlebeans and see if anybody comes up with a product we can sell."

Re:Stop speculating.

[Ohreally_factor]

googlebeans? You think people are going to come up with better ideas than they did for googleflooz?

Google Romance

[StammesOpfer]

Thought they already had that Google Romance

With millions of users...

[WoTG]

I've visited paypalsucks.com in the past... sure, you'll find a few unhappy PayPal users. What you won't see are the millions (probably 10's of millions) of people who are happy with PayPal -- including me.

There are complaints about various Google products too. It's just that most people ignore them since Google will "do no evil". IMHO, keep your eyes on click fraud being a bigger issue in the near future. Besides, it's in the best interest of traditional advertising providers to make it a big deal since it'll make traditional ads appear safer.

Re:With millions of users...

[rainman_bc]

Thing is, eBay tried to first crush Paypal with the ubiquitous bidpay. Recall the dismal failure that was.

eBay and PayPal are interesting markets; they succeeded with first past the post, and maintain a virtual monopoly because of the chicken / egg situation.

eBay: largest market to sell your stuff to. As a seller, that's where I want to go. As a buyer, I am most likely to find what I want on eBay, so that's where I go too. It's paradoxical now, and hard to break.

Paypal: Sure, as a seller, I can accept paypal or bidpay or google money transfer or whatever. Thing is, most all buyers out there have a paypal account, and I know with my paypal account I can buy almost anything on eBay. Again, paradoxical in nature.

Like all good business plans, copycats are ready to come out of the woodwork to compete. But in this case, how could they have possibly succeeded?

History says that if Google wants to succeed at beating paypal, they need to offer more than just a copycat service; a copycat service will almost certainly fail.

Re:With millions of users...

[Anonymous Coward]

eBay and PayPal are interesting markets; they succeeded with first past the post, and maintain a virtual monopoly because of the chicken / egg situation.

Chicken/Egg? Try "network effect" (where the choice of others impacts how you choose).

Nothing "paradoxical" about it.

My guess..

[johnnyk427]

My guess is that its a service to allow, among other things, detecting which click throughs on Ad-Sense actually result in sales (by performing those sales directly) and basing the advertising charge on that as commision, which would at the very least solve the problem of fradulent click-throughs.

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

tagged: googleregistersalotofdomains
Don't read too much into it...

Lack of integration with ebay will kill it

[Radi-0-head]

I think Google would have an extraordinarily difficult time becoming the "de-facto" standard for online payments through ebay, considering PayPal is deeply entrenched within the ebay framework. I'd have to imagine the market for other person-to-person micropayments outside of online auctions isn't very large.

Re:Lack of integration with ebay will kill it

[Chandon Seldon]

Many online stores accept paypal. If google does things correctly, they could offer much lower rates than even credit card companies for direct account deductions - i.e. it's not just paypal that they could target but Visa and Mastercard.

Re:Lack of integration with ebay will kill it

[suv4x4]

. I'd have to imagine the market for other person-to-person micropayments outside of online auctions isn't very large.

Yup, no micropayments outside eBay, no other countries than USA, no other language than English.

Re:Lack of integration with ebay will kill it

[whizzard]

I'd have to imagine the market for other person-to-person micropayments outside of online auctions isn't very large.

And that's why Google will unveil gbay next!

Re:Lack of integration with ebay will kill it

[ClamIAm]

Lots of smaller sites that sell stuff use paypal (think indie bands, etc). Lots of not-selling-stuff-sites accept Paypal donations.

here we go again ......

[Gorshkov]

Is it just me, or - with the exception of the fact that it mentioned neither belltower nor grassy knoll - did that whole article read like Yet Another Conspiracy Theory?

One of the first adopters?

[diablo-d3]

Of course, I bet http://www.makepatrickrich.com/ will be using it way before most websites will

You knew it was coming..

[Riden]

Using your internet connection to find a hot date through Google.com; $50/m Trying to impress her by dining at the fanciest restaurant in town; $350 Telling the waiter to "Stick it on your Google"... Priceless!

oh yeah and just to prove that...

[ayumi-chan]

here is the link: MSN: EBay-Yahoo! combine, economy boost stocks
sorry... its an msn site, but it's true...

Google's tool chain groweth

[Neo-Rio-101]

Recently Google put out a version of Picasa for Linux, and a version of Google Earth for Linux is not too far away. They've also released something like 200 patches to the WINE project recently.

It seems that Google is slowly developing all these apps which can port easily, and are tied to Google's network.

(speculation)
I initially thought that Google will develop it's own OS and with it's existing clout with Dell, try and push that onto consumer PC boxes, dislodging windows. That may be one option. OTOH, who thinks that Google is beating out MS simply because they are more trusted? Perhaps Google cannot get away with a full end to end Google OS for the same reason that Microsoft cannot "do a Google" without falling into the same trap. In a way you could say that Google needs Microsoft, but Microsoft doesn't need Google.
(end of speculation)

Re:Google's tool chain groweth

[ClamIAm]

I don't think that Google will ever try and push something like GoogleOS. They are primarily an advertising- and service-based company, operating through your local web browser. All their downloadable stuff isn't really related to their core business. If, however, something like Google Earth really took off, they might start selling "premium" accounts for it or something.

I dunno, it just seems like programs and OSes are more of a "product", whereas Google is really more heavy on services.

Re:Google's tool chain groweth

[Arimus]

Pure speculation but why not a core os which handles the basics of resource management and then via a set of services which can be extended provides 'features' such as on demand clustering using google's networks - for each use of the clustering service charge a small fee.

Or for home/basic users a simple os which provides access to a basic but fully functional gui which then uses web based apps to provide anything more complex than a basic browser... have some offline syncing software and readers (I tend to find I need to read stuff more offline than actually do any extensive editing of documents etc).

Re:Google's tool chain groweth

[babbling]

I don't think that Google will ever try and push something like GoogleOS. They are primarily an advertising- and service-based company, operating through your local web browser.

They might be forced to, though. What are Google going to do when Microsoft starts trying to compete with them by making Windows use MSN search as the default search engine and making it difficult to change the default to Google?

Microsoft want to compete with Google and Google's response of developing software for Windows only and playing friendly with Microsoft isn't going to cut it in the long-term.

googleregistersalotofdomains

[Anonymous Coward]

Now how did that happen? Does someone keep a list of tags that we should all converge to? Some tags have streched the notion that enough people thought of it independently to make it reach critical mass -- e.g., the first appearance of "slownewsday" -- but "googleregistersalotofdomains" is simply too obscure to be true...

This would happen if the tag system takes the top n-ranking tags, rather than all the tags that meet some popularity threshold, so when a story is brand new you can get such noise from a 1-person contribution. But that doesn't seem to be the case, since no stories fill up with noisy tags immediately, and some take hours to get more than 1 or 2 tags.

More likely, no, is that somone has rigged a perl script to vote for "googleregistersalotofdomains" over and over again, no?

Re:googleregistersalotofdomains

[NemosomeN]

My theory is that because this comment was so high up there, it influenced tagging. That was my intent at least ;-). I can personally debunk (With no proof whatsoever) the perl script theory. At least not from the OP (me). I was shocked to see the tag there, actually, haha. I didn't think it would ever get tagged enough to make it to the top.

If you don't believe that I'm the OP, don't bother replying. Nobody cares.

isn't there something like this besides PayPal

[krunk4ever]

If I had to say, it sounds a lot more like Yahoo! Stores than PayPal:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant/

probably maybe less fees.

Google's Variety

[TheGreatHegemon]

Google's greatest strenght (outside from the obvious powerful seach engine) is that it is offering so many internet servies (or is developing them). Paypal equivalent service would be just another way for Google to expand - logically at that. Imagine the revenue if you first gain money for the ad - and then the money from the person who clicked the ad's purchase of the item!

Re:Does anyone else have a sense that...

[Jafafa Hots]

"Does anyone else have a sense that the next 5 years are going to be really interesting?"

The next five years are always interesting.

Adsense integration

[incuso]

I hope there will be an integration with adsense, and that you can move funds from adsense to checkout. Unfortunately, this small step is missing for other sevices i.e. google store...

Re:You misunderstand

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this an anonymous check out or do we have to commit too?

It's called Google Purchase

[Anonymous Coward]

Google are currently doing internal testing on a new service called "Google Purchase". Details are still closely guarded, though I assume it's aimed at competing with eBay and Paypal.

Actually...

[X86Daddy]

... the speculation is wayyyyy off. This is Google's premiere new service to search for, comment on, and provide tutorials for creative suicide methods.

Googlezon, ASSEMBLE!

[Neo-Rio-101]

Form search and services, form tools and backbone, and I'll form the network!

GOOGLEZON, ASSEMBLE!

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2004/11/29/summ ary_of_the_world_googlezon.htm

Odd Coinicidence? I think not!

[Ohreally_factor]

googlebookrepository, googlegrassyknoll, and googlemanlicher-carcano.com don't seem to be registered. What are the odds that all three wouldn't be registered?

You're implying that an unhappy "small minority"

[blueZ3]

is complaining. While that's true of the entire universe of PayPal users, you'll find that people who have had a problem that they're tried to get help resolving almost universally think PayPal sucks.

The cool thing about being PayPal (currently under investigation by several State DAs) is that there's no way they can lose. If you're a seller and the buyer says you didn't ship the item, PayPal keeps the money (and the buyer is out product). If you're the buyer and you don't get a product you ordered, Paypal keeps the money and you're out your purchase. Frankly, having been on both sides of this, I can say that PayPal does, indeed, suck

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

Pootang.

Suicide...

[ItsIllak]

Clearly a new site to allow people to leave suicide notes to their friends and family...

See the Fish!

Re:You misunderstand

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I heard that Google Checkout was supposed to be their assisted-suicide service.

Who are you?

[dwalsh]

"... It is a dog who has cash to spend."

Why are you posting anonymously, BadAnalogyGuy?

Re:Who are you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Too lazy to create an account. And too lazy to remember logins and passwords. Hence the anonymous posts.

The dog reference was a nod to a cartoon from the early days of the Net in the New Yorker. Something that is still very relevant today (and hopefully will be relevant through the life of the Net).

-- BadAnalogyGuy

They pay someone to do it

[Psycosys]

It seems their domain prodiver is MarkMonitor who seems to specialize in buying domain names to protect brand image which seems to explain this aspect or their behaviour.

Checkout could also = online diag tools

[Anonymous Coward]

Checkout seems close enough to checkup, i.e. something like an online SiSoft Sandra thing, although I have no idea why Google would do that.

I'm waiting for GoogleClocks where you get a screen full of clocks showing the current time of assorted places. Watch them tick!

For extra excitement, you will be able to set the clock fonts (ooooh!) and set some of the clocks forward or backward a few minutes so no two clocks have the same time! Awesome!

I liked Google better...

[dpbsmith]

...when they were doing things that other companies weren't doing, than when they were "taking on" other companies.

Re:You misunderstand

[E IS mC(Square)]

That would be Google Passout.

Nice

[kanzels]

Is it all that trustworthy? I mean PayPal or Google or whoever else? In my country goverment is guaranteeing and protecting your money only in banks, other non-bank companies can easily bankrupt and nobody will return your money.

maybe not..

[not_an_otter]

I love Google... I must use a dozen Google services. But do I want Google to have an archive of all my email, my searching habits, AND my real name and credit card number? I think not.

Why cancel my account?

[smartfart]

1. It's Microsoft, and I own a Linux company, duh.
2. Passport.
3. They'll tamper with it and steal/sell/whatever my data.
4. [insert another answer here]

I hope that...

[Regnard]

This service will be available in the Philippines. It would really make a killing with all the IT freelancers.

They missed the best name!

[Anonymous Coward]

They missed the best possible name for this service:
gmoney!

Google Hates Our Troops

[Anonymous Coward]

It's kind of sad. They change their homepage logo for all sorts of holidays and occasions. Just last week they paid tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. But Memorial Day doesn't seem to rate anything at all.

Update: A reader sends this along:

        It's worse than you think. Google doesn't always do logos for the same days every year, but they've never changed their logo for Memorial Day.

        http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

Replace both...

[phorm]

Unless they become the replacement for both ebay and paypal.

Ebay's become a cesspool anyhow, with severely overrated shipping costs ($50 shipping with a $1 item still shows the item as $1 in the listings), people selling "how buy get a cheap X" crap, and much more. The days of low-bid bargains seem to have gone past, and the present reality is that you have to do a lot of searching just to find the real item.

Get a job, faggot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up you shameless piece of shit spammer.

Saverpass Merchant Services

[boomtrek]

I'm attempting to build Saverpass for B2B and B2C users, its an alternative to PayPal, and I have an XML interface to accept credit cards. Buy, deposit, transfer and take commission (as a third party) on transactions, all through XML Web Services API in SOAP. All the info is on the main page... please email me directly feedback@boomtrek.com if you'd like to partner up.

Google's way ahead of you

[Old Man Kensey]

Google Earth Premium exists and the features for it are included in the free Google Earth client. Remember, "Google Earth" and the Google Maps Satellite view are direct results of Google's acquisition of Keyhole, and the Google Earth client similarly is a lineal descendant of the Keyhole client software. Keyhole was already selling subscriptions -- all Google's really done is make the basic subscription free, and tie the software in to other services like Google web search. There are even still references to Keyhole in the Google Earth client software and online help.

fine by me

[rkulla]

google tends to do a good job when they create products and I'm not a big fan of how paypal is so I hope they do it

Meeting of knuckles (was Re:Google Romance)

[RockDoctor]

Thought they already had that Google Romance
Sounds like the left hand at Google doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Most people have to lay on their arm for 5 minutes to make the nerves go numb, but Google, they can get that "just like real" sensation straight away.

Was the author buying a slice of Pi?

[blastard]

It would seem that Garett may be a bit of a math nut.
"Welcome to Google Checkout, that will be $3.14" is the title of the article.

This isn't new speculation

[parsnip11]

Rumors of a Google replacement for paypal have been around for a long time now.

...and for the record Paypal thinks the learning curve associated w/ dealing with all the fraud issues will give it a huge compettive advantage over Google and they may have a good point. I think we can all agree that Google hasnt exactly handled all the click fraud complaints in an ideal manner which doesnt bode well for all the problems that will inevitably spring up w/ online payment.

Obvious New Google service name...

[Anonymous Coward]

So the crowd wants to know, is it caled gaypal?