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Google Checkout Announces Rate Hike & Ends the Free Lunch for AdWords Users

posted on March 11, 2009


Not sure if this is a sign of Google Checkout’s success or struggle, but rates are increasing effective May 5th.

  • If your monthly sales are less than $3,000 you’ll now pay 2.9% + $0.30
  • $3,000 – $9,999.99 you’ll pay 2.5% + $0.30
  • $10,000 – $99,999.99 you’ll pay 2.2% + $0.30
  • $100,000 or more you’ll pay 1.9% + $0.30

It gets worse! Any transactions with buyers outside your home country will incur an additional 1% fee.

Worser still! You AdWords spending will no longer help you get free Google Checkout processing–welcome to our world!

The new rates are virtually identical to those offered by PayPal, but PayPal offers many extra features for the fee.

I cut way back on using Google Checkout once the free processing finished–you can bet I’ll hardly touch it going forward. How about you?

Google tries to put a positive spin on it here.


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  • http://nickbostic.com Nick Bostic

    I was using Google Checkout because it was easier to create multiple accounts (and accounting over separate ventures easier) and it automatically sent it to my bank account, but had PayPal for name recognition and subscriptions. Now that the fees are the same, there’s no real huge benefit to Google Checkout and like you said, PayPal has quite a few more features, so I’ll be using that exclusively for now.

    Nick Bostic’s last blog post..Walls of Seperation

  • http://blog.rac.me.uk Richy C.
  • http://botipton.com Bo Tipton

    I was using Google Checkout because I am not a big fan of PayPal and some of their methods. Because of name recognition and security that is all some people will use. Unless Google does something to overcome that I am not sure how long it will be around and since I don’t like betting for now I will go back to PayPal and wait to see what happens to Google Checkout.

    Thanks
    Bo Tipton
    The Ornery Marketer

    Bo Tipton’s last blog post..Can I Make Money In The Next Thirty Days

  • James Wilton

    Perhaps Google is trying to kill Checkout by attrition? They certainly haven’t been investing resources into it.

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  • Phil

    I had been considering utilising either Paypal or Google Checkout on a number of sites as an alternative payment provider. I was initially planning to go with the Google option, but with prices now practically the same, Paypal with its name recognition is the most likely option. I would imagine anyone else in a similar position would go down the same route. I cant see how Google can take any market share when there is now no incentive for us as retailers to use it over Paypal?

  • http://www.ensigntech.com James Lee Vann

    I just recently started using Google Checkout, and have recommended it to a few other people, but with this rate hike, I don’t think I will be anymore. I’ll be returning to PayPal.

  • http://www.perfectmoney.com PM Opinion

    To get adwords benefecial still without using checkout,I think it is better to use Paypal Plugin for the transactions,if paypal rates is better,time now to use paypal more often with this new plugin

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  • Shelly S.

    The complete elimination of AdWords credits killed it for me. There is no incentive to use it over PayPal anymore, and PayPal has a better system and name.

    We’ve been using both Google Checkout and PayPal on our site, but I may just give up on Google Checkout once the new structure’s in place. PayPal’s far less hassle.

    Either Google overestimated their customers’ loyalty, or they want Checkout to experience a quick and painful death.

  • Chris

    Without the Adwords incentive there just isn’t any real benefit to using Google Checkout any more! The only thing I can think of is having it enabled so that adwords ads get a Google Checkout badge near them.

    PayPal is must easier for exporting data, Google Checkout is a nightmare with its amateur export features that don’t provide any information about the buyer.

  • http://www.ebrandz.com Milind Mody

    I have personally recommended Checkout to many of our clients because of the Adwords credits. Hence Checkout was my favorite payment option.

    I will be scaling down our processing on Checkout. I am not sure if this is the right move by Google, because as others have said, Paypal has better features than Checkout. Also there is no Virtual terminal option in Checkout.

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  • Bill

    I am quite sure Google Checkout will soon be extinct with this rate increase. I had used it almost exclusively since the rates were fairly reasonalbe at 2.0% plus a 30 cent transaction fee. Now that they’ve decided to cut off their own foot with this crazy rate hike, I did some research and found a much better alternative, and WAAAY cheaper: http://www.getpaidbycheck.com This site processes email invoices to your buyers, and gets them to input their payment via electronic check. They simply print the check, and mail it to you via 1st class mail, and let you know that the customer paid it with an email notification. Best of all, they have no monthly fees, no setup fees and charge a flat rate of 1.85 per transaction. The 1.85 rate includes the postage to mail the check to you…. This simplicity and low cost blows the doors off of Google Checkout in my opinion, because almost everyone has a checking account, whereas a lot of people still don’t use credit cards, especially online…. Google Checkout, Rest In Peace.

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  • http://abrir-cuenta-banco-usa.blogspot.com/ Paul

    It is a pity that I can’t suggest to my friends Google Checkout. Honestly, I was expeting more from Google. I want an alternative to the (great) Paypal. Yes, I lvoe Paypal, but a healthy amount of decent competence will not hurt.

    Google is too slow on this field in my humble opinion. Paypal is lightyears ahead. Lets hope for the sake of _all_ related companies that they’ll revert those changes.

    Paul’s last blog post..Cobrar 1ShoppingCart en Paypal (sin cheques que se pierdan en el camino a casa)

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