Google to Test PayPal Rival

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Google is set to introduce a test version of its GBuy online-payment service as early as this week, presaging a shake-up in the online-payments market now dominated by eBay's PayPal, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'Here is how the service will work: Consumers who search for items like "shoes" or "strollers" on Google's search site will see text ads with a symbol or icon designating advertisers that accept GBuy payments. Shoppers normally would have clicked on an ad and been linked to that merchant's Web site. Now, while they will still be linked to the merchant's site, they will go through a different checkout process integrated with Google if they choose GBuy for their transaction. Details of the service could still change before Google's official GBuy announcement.'"

Comments

I like google as much as the next /.er,

[tpjunkie]

but seriously, don't you think they've begun to seriously overextend themselves, as well as take on a sort of microsoft-borg-ish nature, assimilating anything and everything it encounters?

Re:I like google as much as the next /.er,

[lowrydr310]

Sadly you're right. It seems that for almost everything I search for, all but one or two links on the first page of results are linkspam pages/sites.

Re:I like google as much as the next /.er,

[donutello]

but I want to know if you think that means that Google will go evil, but then see the light and turn themselves around? That's IBM.

IBM is only not-evil to the extent that their business doesn't conflict with your zealotry.

Re:I like google as much as the next /.er,

[Deliveranc3]

The spam sites wouldn't be a problem if you could detect them simply by looking at the results.

What you get are sites that return their own search results + ads.

These sites are hella weak!

Again??

[tygerstripes]

I for one welcome my...

Jeez, is there anything these guys won't get there fingers in? Don't get me wrong, I like what they've done so far, but is it possible for a company to expand beyond a certain critical mass and still stick to the operating principle "Don't Be Evil"?

I just hope the Geegees aren't going to turn nasty and suddenly warrant a big anti-monopoly order or somesuch. I just couldn't take the smug look on Bill's face...

Re:Again??

[Atzanteol]

I don't think you really know what 'evil' and 'monopoly' mean. Near as I can tell you seem to think they both mean 'large coporation'...

Re:Again??

[linvir]

The problem is that as Google grows and grows off the back of low-key ads and simplicity, the rest of the industry isn't taking the hint. So Google is pretty much alone in filling this gap in each area of the web.

Don't worry though. If they really start to take over, the bean counters will catch on, and companies might actually start to compete with Google on their terms. I think this might have already happened at Yahoo, but even then most of of that page is taken up by an irrelevant photo.

Re:I wonder if they will be less shady than PayPal

[WilliamSChips]

GBuy *will* be less evil. It's hard to be more evil than PayPal, and we're talking about a company who believes in not evil.

Re:I wonder if they will be less shady than PayPal

[Duncan3]

Considering the insane rates they charge for ads, I'm sure their fees will be just as "evil" as PayPals. And that's all merchants _should_ really care about.

Oh, and the fact that if you DON'T pay Google, you'll get zero visitors. Becasue of course, ads and fake sites are the first 3 pages.

All hail our search Mafia overlords.

Backend Security Software...

[__aaclcg7560]

The only nice thing to say about Google is that the backend security software should be "beta". Unlike a lot of real financial service providers who backend sercurity is "non-sxistent" (i.e., unencrypted backup hard drives lost in transit).

Just great... Now Google will track purchases.

[fahrbot-bot]

Google already tracks our searching and email, now they'll track our spending habits and how much we pay for various items. Paranoid? Maybe, but how long will it be until we find that Google is maintaining a database of this sort of thing?

On the earth, all your lives belong to Google...

So how will it rival Paypal?

[tlhIngan]

Considering that eBay more or less has Paypal integrated into it? And where I suspect a large majority of Paypal transactions take place is to satisfy eBay transactions? While I've done a few non-eBay-related Paypal transactions, they are very few. I've used more online stores that took my credit card directly than Paypal (and a few of those stores offered Paypal - I paid Visa).

GBuy sounds like it'll be a rival for Amazon zShops and other style system, except less centralized.

Re:I wonder if they will be less shady than PayPal

[Onan]

As far as I know, the ad prices are determined entirely by what advertisers bid for them, rather than being rates that Google sets.

Even if you do accept the ad prices as being "evil", it's still not something over which Google has any control, so it seems problematic to use that as an predictor of future evilness.

Re:I wonder if they will be less shady than PayPal

[Dannon]

The "evil-ness" of PayPal is mostly in terms of eBay and PayPal turning a blind eye to the fraud others have committed using their web site. On the one hand, they say that they're just "establishing a marketplace", and what goes on in that marketplace is up to the merchants and customers.

On the other hand, let's say I set up a flea market on my land. I need to lay down at least some basic rules, both to protect the customers and the merchants, and above all my own reputation. Even if the owner isn't doing any fraud himself, who wants to visit a flea market that's ridden with pickpockets?

The major factor that switched me over to online bill-pay from checks-and-stamps was learning that my bill-pay service would agree to go to bat for me in case of any issues. Just having someone agree in a contract to stand in my corner is a powerful incentive to trust.

Right now, you've got to jump through way too many hoops with eBay to convince them that a fraud has actually happened before they'll even consider opening up an investigation. If GBuy takes a more customer-oriented approach, I see two results:
1) Success for GBuy, as the demand for a safe online marketplace shifts their way
2) Fiscal pressure for eBay to actually deal with the issue, or lose their customer base. In its own way, I'd say this is probably better pressure than any lawsuit threats, or outcries from consumer protection experts.

If they're more concerned with covering their own butts than covering their customers, it'll be just the same old same old. If, on the other hand, they put time and energy into protecting their customers, they'll find themselves pretty well protected.