Slashdot Mirror
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.'"
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?
After hearing stories about people having their funds frozen with no legal means to get it back, I decided I didn't want anything to do with PayPal. I didn't miss eBay one bit, but I used to buy parts on web boards, and everyone there used PayPal.
I hope GBuy will be less evil, and that it will catch on so I can buy used PC and car parts from forum members again.
Blar.
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...
Meta will eat itself
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.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
I run a web store on the side, and if GBuy can come up with the same type of merchant rates that PayPal can, I'm completely sold. I've never been screwed by PayPal (yet), but I've heard the horror stories.
As some of you know, this is perfect for what they are just testing: commissions advertising (aka affiliate stuff).
This would nicely prevent frauds, as the payments will go thru google, a advertiser cannor report 0 sales even if sales was made. This would remove one cheating possibility, where as AdSense currently is plagued with click fraud, there won't be such a problem with this type of advertising.
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
As it stands now, the service seems more of a communal shopping cart than an actual payment system. That might be all well and good for certain sites, but the beauty of PayPal is its flexibility; for all intents and purposes, PayPal is a quick n' easy substitute for an online point-of-sale system. You can pretty much customize it for your individual needs. You don't need to use PayPal's shopping cart, you can use a different one (or even develop your own).
I can see this fitting in well with their AdWords/AdSense system, but beyond that I don't see this as significant competition for PayPal.
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
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.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Thanks, I'll be here all week, try the veal!
Unpretentious Sydney reviews by unqualified Sydney reviewers
If Gbuy would support micropayments, that would be groundbreaking! I have plenty of stuff to sell in the $1 range, but no economical way to do it!
The other big question would be whether Ebay will allow people to pay with Gbuy!
I have been WAITING eagerly for a real competitor to paypal. the amount of guff you have to put up with from the paypal corp is just too much! and the ONLY reason they get away with it is because there is no competition.
;(
my last horror story re: paypal was when I bought an online ebay item and there was no option to have shipping done (from this vendor) with insurance. the item was mailed 'media mail' which is UNCONFIRMED. the PO considers it confirmed delivery but the postman HIMSELF signs the delivery receipt! what good is that?? so my mailmain supposedly delivered it and signed for it himself. of course I never got the pkg.
I emailed the seller and no reply. he had 'confirmation' from the PO and so ignored me. I filed a case with the PO but they didn't really care (obviously). I tried calling paypal (emailing them, first) and they kept saying 'it was delivered so your claim is rejected'.
problem was: there was NO HUMAN looking at this so-called delivery receipt. the date was wrong (it was the wrong DECADE, too - what a blunder in their database!) and there was no signature online to prove it really did get delivered. it was a losing battle to explain this to them. they didn't care. they are on the side of the 'power sellers' and they know where their money is earned
if they think they can accept delivery confirmations that say "1900" as the year and then close my case, well, I hope they get some cosmic justice for all the scams and abuse from their customers. I hope google eats them alive.
the more powerful google gets, the more I do worry; but paypal needs to have some humble pie fed to them. its about time.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Google could snatch the market from paypal if they offered this service in the same manner they offer all their other services and goodies: for free. They'd benefit from this in the same way, good branding and promotion of their search engine which would ultimately trickle down into advertising profits. Also, Wall Street regards eBay and friends as a threat to Google, so hurting companies like paypal could increase shareholder wealth, possibly enough to offset the cost of handing this service out for free.
Don't try to accept or send payment for *anything* firearm related with paypal. Quick way to get your account frozen with no recourse...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Will they enter Poland? Or other countries where Paypal does half-assed attempts to do enter, but doesn't really dare?
I mean, currently there's no way I could sell stuff from Poland to other countries. The item mailing fee is okay. But any payments from outside, no matter how small, are associated with money transfer fee like $40-60. Or $200 if you pay when you get the item. Nobody's gonna buy $10 item and pat $60 for sending the $10 to me. They could send it in envelope... almost assuring some bastard in the polish mail service stealing it. Or they could send me some gift I don't need instead.
Paypal is present in Poland, of course. But it works one-way. I can pay through Paypal, but I can't receive money. I really hope Google kicks in and I finally can sell stuff outside Poland.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
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).
On the earth, all your lives belong to Google...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
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.
Google are to release 'GOxygen' to rival breathing.
I remember when Google just did a great search engine.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Why is it so impossible to have paypal or other online bill pay regulated. I mean is it that hard to make paypal a real bank so they are held accountable.
/ 75161
PayPal doesn't WANT to be a bank, and unless they apply to become one, they won't be held to the same standards as one. They WANT to be an "online payment processing service", which exempts them from FDIC (in the current unlikely chance they fold, you lose any money stored there rather than getting up to $100k back like a bank) and from lots of rules and oversight that they don't want to do, because this way they can go on shafting those who use the service. As long as they're the only game in town, you get to play by their rules.
There's a reason I no longer take PayPal on Ebay: see http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2006/3/6/8326
Never look down your nose at others. Someday, someone is bound to see your boogers.
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.
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.
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
The article does discuss pricing and Google's strategy here. Pretty smart if you ask me...
"Google plans to charge merchants a 2.2% commission on a sale, plus 30 cents per transaction using its payment service...That is higher than Pay-Pal's lowest published rate of a 1.9% commission plus 30 cents per transaction.
"Google's rate doesn't include the discount pricing that the company will give to merchants participating in its AdWords advertising program...Merchants who spend money on Google's ad program could get the cost of payment processing through Google dropped to nothing...
"To attract consumers, Google plans to offer an unspecified rebate to people who complete online purchases using GBuy."
you can't use paypal to buy porn either. (it's part of their user agreement, there's an article online somewhere that claims, that this was a compromise with the govt. If paypal couldn't be used for 'morally offensive purposes' then the govt. wouldn't come down on paypal acting similar to a bank, but not following all the laws banks have to follow )
and last year, during the Xbox360 shortage, and people were postings 360 scams on ebay, left and right. Paypal was freezing first, asking questions later, for people selling 360s. Unfortunatly, the general public probably approves of this, judging by the number of people who paid $600 for an Xbox that never arrived, and were demanding more oversight from ebay.
------ Work is so much easier when you don't