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Google Launches PayPal Rival
Google Checkout Launched
Roy van Rijn informs us that Google's new online payment system is now online. "Under the name Checkout, the venture offers an incorporated manner to search, advertise and pay. If you buy something on Checkout, 2% and $0.20 go to Google. Paypal, the biggest competitor uses 1,9% and $0,30. Analysts compare Google/Paypal to for example Visa/Mastercard living peacefully together, while others predict the end of Paypal."
W3K adds "You can use your Google account to store an unlimited number of credit cards and addresses. The service allows you to track all your orders and shipping in one place," and adds a link to a quick video tour.
So, can it be used as a method of payment for Ebay auctions and other person-to-person transactions?
And...
I don't think PayPal will be going away anytime soon. PayPal's business is driven by Ebay, and PayPal is part of Ebay.
-- Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
Just like GMail meant the end of Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and the myriad of other online mail services. And how Google Maps meant the end of Mapquest andd MS Maps (??). I know that Google has created some welcome competition to many online services, forcing them to improve their offerings, but it hasn't completely killed the competition. Most people I know haven't switched from their current providers. However, I'm sure they would have if Hotmail stuck to 2MB, and Mapquest didn't touch their interface. I'm happy google's here, because it makes everyone else have to try harder. Let's hope the same happens to E-Bay. They haven't changed their interface since their inception.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
OK, I acknoledge that I'm paranoid, but the thing that makes me nervous about google services is that thay use single account for all purposes. This not only allows to keep track of my whole life, but also allows a person, who hijacks my email account, take control over my mail, internet messenger (IM was used for several famous frauds in Russia), and now money directly!
May Peace Prevail On Earth
If by "Google launches PayPal Rival" you mean, "Google launches a service for merchants to process credit cards". Then yes, this is a PayPal rival. This service does not allow you to transfer money from person-to-person, nor does it allow you to pay by check, bank draft, etc.
Personally, you won't find me going near most of the services offered by the likes of Paypal and now Google until organisations that are acting like banks or credit companies are regulated like them as well. My high street bank and credit card have pretty crappy customer service at times, but compared to some of the things Paypal's been accused off, the other guys are saints.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Well, killing an email service is very difficult. Nobody wants to go through the hassle of sending a new e-mail address to everybody they know. So it is expecte that there would be a very slow change on this front.
But changing their mapping service as well as who they pay through, that is a whole other issue. Mapquest and MSN maps have been losing business. In light of the continual growth of the net, that is very telling. I would guess that Google is not going to kill off paypal tomorrow or over the next 10 years. But I would also bet that paypal will lose more than half of their business within five years and continue a downward trend unless they make a major change. Since ebay has taken over paypal, they have abused stores as well as users. Their attitude may start to change back to what it was.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Big difference between paypal vs google and the competing mail services. People have had a choice for years. No one complains about free email its reliable, its there, its ubiquitous. What irritates people with Paypal is the rather random enforcement of buyer and seller protection coupled with their stranglehold on ebay that pretty much makes any other method of payment impossible. After paying listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, extra paypal fees if you want to be able to take credit cards, and dealing with buyers protection which is in my experience used in scam attempts as much as in real disputes, the ebay/paypal racket is hardly a bargain.
After all that, I still use it on occasion because I have no choice, thats the difference.
The difference between 1.9% + 30 cents (ebay) and 2.0% + 20 cents (google) might not strike you as significant, but google now works out to be cheaper for all sales under $100.00
Don't think that the "ebay power sellers" aren't keenly aware of the difference. They know how ebay nickel-and-dimes them to death, and if they can save a few dollars a week AND stick it to ebay, they will.
Example - item at $10.00
eBay: 49 cents, google:40 cents. Difference: 9 cents.
Do 100/week, and over the course of a year you're looking at $468.00 in savings ...
I dig Google, man do I ever but I think I have reached my limit as to how tightly I integrate myself with Google, inc. Google IS a publicly traded company and it's only a matter of time before "Do no evil"(tm) becomes "We do less evil than everyone else" (tm). Why? Because Google is publicly traded and their only real obligation is to their stockholders. No matter of hipster-doofus-coolness culture trumps that. Just look at Apple...
They have transitioned themselved from being cool to being fairly evil (sweatshops for iPod manufacture, closing off the Darwin source)
Besides do you think for one second that eBay will make integrating auctions easy with Google? Of course not....
Paypal does suck but all of these services do and odds are Google's will too.
Recently stuff offered to USA and Canada only has started bothering people as they see it as a way of "We don't give a f to you" attitude.
For example I know it is not only Apple to blame but iTunes Greece store existing and there is no iTunes Turkey store while countries has similar markets (wonder where enemy brothers term come from?) makes you think like "Oh well, Apple doesn't give a heck to our country" and get eMusic.com subscription.
Same goes for Rhapsody of Real Networks.; You see story on Slashdot, immediately click the URL with a list of rare stuff you have in your mind, you see "Available to USA only". It is like you go to a store and a bodyguard pushes you out because where you live.
I hope I could explain the background of "Why not available to my country?!" types of postings a bit.
btw, I know it is RIAA to blame for those "music" stores.
Everybody had a problem with Hotmail before GMail came around. But they thought it was the only service available, and they needed the account anyway to use MSN (I know you can sign up for MSN with another email address, but it's really hard to find that site). Hotmail still has terrible spam filtration (blacklisting everyone except your contacts is not spam filtration), and thankfully, they've gone up from their original 2MB of storage. People used Hotmail because it was there, but I don't think that many people liked it. They were all looking for a change, but It's hard to switch email addresses.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
That is 100% correct. I run a small web store and we use PayPal to process orders. We are paying 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. I would love to switch to google, but I see one issue. With PayPal people can place orders on my site, pay with a credit card, and not have a PayPal account. PayPal just processes the card. When google will let my customers pay without having a google account I will switch.
Since ebay has taken over paypal, they have abused stores as well as users. Their attitude may start to change back to what it was.
I'm confused why people ever really use PayPal in the first place. Oh yes because it's "easy." I wouldn't mind Google, MS, or heck even SGI to go into this. My thing is that they should start off as declaring themselves as doing banking and being properly regulated. I want PayPal to die a swift death just because of that. PayPal is doing banking and should be regulated as such. I honestly think that MS, Google, or some other IT company should produce a set of software that makes it as easy as using PayPal for your existing bank to do business over the internet. The big PayPal killer will be when my 4+ local city banks can do business with each other and your local banks as easily as PayPal transactions happen.
You, like some other posters, seem to think that PayPal's prices are fixed in stone forever.
Don't put words in my mouth - I never said that. Here's the reality ...
Then there's the whole regulatory issue - ebay has had to make deals with regulators in almost 20 states ... google will just go out and BUY a bank. Then they'll issue their own credit cards, etc.
When's the last time you called a credit card processor to resolve a disputed charge? You deal with the card issuer. This is no different from any other card processor agreement. Get a grip.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
The US, sadly, has one of the most backwards banking systems I have ever had the misfortune to do business with. Most US banks seem to regard sending money by telegraph as a horrible new-fangled concept, while banks in the EU and Japan have been allowing customers to do it for free for well over a decade. I have two UK bank accounts and one US account. The amount of stuff the US bank seems to think they can get away with charging me for is staggering; they even charge for doing a balance enquiry at a cash machine!
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Paypal isnt so much the most popular service because it's "easy"
Many other services are just as easy to use as Paypal. No the biggest reasons are:
- Its "the brand" so far as online payments go. Most people use paypal, so other people get brought in my default.
- Its trusted. For online payments, this is a HUGE deal.
- Its cheap. Really, look at what people have to pay for online banking. If you want to setup an e-commerce website, alot of payment gateways charge a monthly fee, then take a huge percentage of your revinue. Plus, payout rates ( how fast you get your cash )are much higher with Paypal then most gateways.
- It acts as a credit card proxy, so if you have a MC or Visa, you can pay with Paypal without the fear of giving out your credit card number.
- Its in bed with eBay. Alot of peoples first need for a payment service is because they bought something on eBay. Once they have an eBay account, if they buy something else online, why sign up for a different service when the one you use already works?
So, there are many reasons beyond "it's easy" that Paypal is popular.
Sure, you're dull right up until the moment you're not. And then you're defenseless. There is an old saying in Chess - the threat is better than the execution. Meaning that as long as your opponent has the power to do something, you have to expend your efforts in worrying about it and preventing it rather than doing what you'd like to do. If all of your "secrets" are laid bare at the whim of someone in power then you are oppressed - even if nothing actually happens to you. And everybody has secrets, especially when they can be skillfully twisted to present a certain picture.