Comments on: PayPal vs. Google Checkout and Why You Should Offer Both

By: Jessica Ojeda

Jessica Ojeda — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:58:52 +0000

Thank you for spelling out the pros and cons of both Google Checkout and PayPal. And your advice of offering both is exactly what I intend to do. Could you offer a link or information on how to implement both on a website? Thank you if you can.

By: Derrick

Derrick — Sat, 01 May 2010 07:50:39 +0000

PayPal is a fraud,and they are quickly losing millions of customers.PayPal can limit your account for any stupid reason and leave you in limbo.Their customer service sucks.You have to deal with robot responses until you call them.Even if you call them,it is a waste of time.

PayPal is notorious for freezing anybody’s account for 180 days,and making an interest out of that money,while your business suffers.There are thousands of stories on the internet where people have had their accounts freezed despite going through all the necessary verification steps and providing documents.

If you think PayPal is super,wait until you have your account freezed.Its a struggle to unfreeze your account and it will take more than one phone call.I have experimented with PayPal myself and I have seen a familiar pattern that amounts to fraud.

Google is more professional and as the owners of the worldwide web and top search engine,they can take PayPal out of business at anytime by requiring all Google indexed websites to use Google Checkout as an option for online payments.Its very easy.Lucky enough for PayPal survival,Google is a company that uses its power responsibly,but a time will come when Google will flex its muscle.

PayPal is literally spitting on its customers and I will happily to change to the trusted Google brand.

By: Adam Downey

Adam Downey — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:58:04 +0000

@bjhamltn – A merchant account does not usually charge monthly fees. You would pay a monthly fee to the gateway, Sagepay at £20 for example (the same as using paypal pro if you need the virtual terminal) and then you would pay a percentage or fixed price per transaction, which would be half the price of a Paypal account for smaller volumes at least. My bank Alliance and leicester then only charge a £50 setup fee otherwise for the merchant account!

But as the article states I now think it is good to offer at least either Paypal or Google Checkout aswell (or alone for startups), if not for the reason of Sagepay being down!

I’m going to give Google Checkout a spin due to the slight advantages in listing with their paid/shopping search results.

By: bjhamltn

bjhamltn — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:16:53 +0000

Google check out is not cheaper than Paypal.

The number of registered paypal users is a meaningless measure. Anyone with a credit card is can pay using paypal just as easy as they can with Google.

I am not sure about this but I don’t believe there is any fee if the customer pays using fund from their paypal account. This could drive more people to sign up for a paypal account as way of showing their support to business that they value.

So what if someone has an android which requires a google account. I have a google account through my email and I bet most of paypapl’s users have google accounts yet paypal is still number one and continuing to grow. Besides, the android is not the most popular phone on the market. The android is also open source which benefits all developers including paypal developers.

I have not been able find any other on-line solution that is cheaper than paypal or offer as many useful tools as paypal.

On a slightly different subject

I would like know why anyone would use a merchant account. Merchant accounts charge monthly fees + discount fees + gateway fees and in some cases yearly fee (how can you justify a monthly and a yearly fee).

What are some reasons someone would chose a merchant account over Paypal or even Google Checkout?

By: Richy C.

Richy C. — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:59:24 +0000

I take it you've heard that Google have increased their fees to be the same as Paypal. Baring in mind that you get a discount the higher volumes you put through either system, is there any advantages in continuing to offer bother (as if you just offer one, you'll have higher volume and save transaction fees? (And considering Paypal has larger coverage and is easier to implement, and as my blog post discusses, can actually be cheaper than Google on cross-border fees: perhaps the question is "why bother with Google Checkout at all?")

By: Rino

Rino — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:36:03 +0000

Well, you know that YouTube founders used to be there (ex-early Paypal employees) who know what is Paypal all about. So suppose now they are working with Google developers…, improvement on functionality and customer services should not be a big problem if they REALLY WANT TO DO IT.

By: Samantha Gonzales

Samantha Gonzales — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:10:05 +0000

Wow, Natasha. That’s a very interesting anecdote. I’ve noticed some things about PayPal that have recently made me raise my eyebrow. But bad customer service relations with businesses? They’re really shooting themselves in the foot there. It really does seem like Google doesn’t have to do much to pose a threat to PayPal. In some ways, they simply just have to serve their customers.

By: Natasha

Natasha — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:42:08 +0000

I would add Customer Service to Google Checkout pros. My company – medium-size business decided to use PayPal. We submitted all the necessary legal and other docs in time and after waiting a month we still didn’t get the full account activity mostly due to the indifference and laziness of Pay Pal customer service reps. At the same time Google’s reaction was prompt and customer service was friendly so we decided to forget about PayPal. It seems that PayPal is having some ego problem as they think they are superior than Google Check out as they have more customers and services. I can bet that Google will catch up and won’t even spend addl’ promo $$$ to attract new customers. Go Google!!!!!

By: Samantha Gonzales

Samantha Gonzales — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:51:38 +0000

Sheryl, that is definitely a problem. An interesting one, at that. This is one of those major oversights that just doesn’t make sense to me. How can something designed to work over the Internet forget about…the Internet?

Bob, I realize eBay owns PayPal. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t afraid of a little competition. Google Checkout is cheaper than PayPal. That’s enough to make any competing business nervous. But then take into account the promotions for both ends. At one point, Google was giving consumers very substantial discounts for using their service and actually paying merchants, too (if you count the ads). Also, your last reason was interesting because this is actually one of those cases where I think open source will work. We’re opposites, you see.

By: Bob Firestone

Bob Firestone — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:34:04 +0000

I do agree adding more payment options is usually a good thing. If site visitors like to use google checkout and you can add it with out causing other problems on your site, go for it. That said… I totally disagree with your reasons 3-5.

#3. The analysis is by a source that I would no longer consider reputable and the analysis was lacking. If there is anything that should have been learned in the last 10 years is that reports like these from Wall Street are not designed for accuracy they are to get lucrative banking deals.
#4. eBay not allowing google checkout is not a sign of fear. It is the same logic as why Taco Bell, KFC & Pizza Hut (collectively Yum! Brands) don’t sell coke products. Pepsi owns Yum! and eBay owns paypal.
#5. Android? The few people I know who tried the G1 all returned them and went back to their blackberries. This is one of the cases where I don’t think open source will provide a better end product than an all in one developer. Look at satisfaction surveys Apple & RIM consistently beet win mobile.