I am thinking that Google doesn’t really want to compete against Paypal.com. I can’t find Google Checkout anywhere in the SERPS and search term after search term, Paypal.com clearly loads up, number one and in many of the sponsored spots.
So anyway, what do you think? Could Google Checkout actually TAKE OUT Paypal.com? If Google simply put some effort towards bring out some “awareness” of Google Checkout I think many more people would use it.
The question I have is this:
If Google really set their mind too it, could then totally crush Paypal.com and take over this market? Could they be so successful in doing this that the result would cause Paypal.com to go out of business?
Also if the answer is yes, then why haven’t they? I am reading so many different stories about how Paypal.com simply “fails” to come to the rescue when people need them to, such as the case with even Chris Pirillo who lost out of $450 dollars to fraud.
Could Google bring some serious competition to Paypal.com, assuming that they would get off their ass and try?

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Tags: Google Checkout, Online Payments, Paypal.com, Paypal.com vs Google Checkout
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 11:46:14 Comment #17956
PayPal has a good thing going because they were smart enough to get their name out there beforehand, although eBay buying them out and promoting them really helped as well.
Although I have never used Google checkout, I don’t do a whole lot of shopping online. If I do buy something, I just usually use my credit card. Google could take over PayPal as they definitely have the marketing power and since a lot of people use Google, it wouldn’t be too hard for Google to garner trust with Checkout.
Does Checkout offer any significant features that PayPal doesn’t?
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 11:57:07 Comment #17957
I still pay people with Paypal even though I’m not a big fan - I just wish Google would seem push their system a bit more, I’ve not heard much since their offers they had a year ago when they introduced it.
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 12:05:43 Comment #17958
There are quite a few readers on my blog who never even heard of iGoogle, nor were they even using some of the more popular services such as Google Reader. So, yeah… it does puzzle me why Google doesn’t blast out more information about their services. I don’t know what their thought process is regarding that.
Perhaps the discovery is much more “special” and “profound” when eventually someone does discover a Google service compared to it being told to them. The first time I found Google Reader was through a friend. I was very excited about this discovery and I think I wrote a post about it. Perhaps I was more excited about the discovery than I would have been if I discovered it by other means.
Date/Time: 8-10-2008 16:28:28 Comment #17962
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 18:19:14 Comment #17965
Readers of my blog know that i’ve been using GoogleCheckout instead of Paypal since Paypal decided to ban my account and hold my $5,000 for no apparent reason.. Of course they reversed their decision shortly after I threatened to report them to every agency that would listen. But even after PayPal UNbanned me, i’ve stuck with GoogleCheckout. I no longer trust PayPal with my $, and so far the ‘quality’ of purchases I’m getting via GoogleCheckout is far higher - meaning there is far, FAR less fraud with GoogleCheckout purchases than with PayPal..
Maybe GoogleCheckout doesn’t really have to try hard at all.. Give PayPal more time to defraud more customers and they’ll put themselves out of business..
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:14:26 Comment #17968
Glad to hear you got rid of the “rope and wobbly stool”. LOL
After reading some of your experience, I’m still a little fuzzy as to why they banned you in the first place. I read one reader’s comment about leaving upwards of $2,000 in his PayPayl account and got banned afterward. Is that the reason?
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:28:19 Comment #17969
bottom line is, i think they really F*’d up - which they pretty much admitted to by unbanning me..
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Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:47:07 Comment #17970
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Date/Time: 8-11-2008 01:14:29 Comment #17977
You know, its situations like this that really scare me with Paypal.com. I’ll admit, quite a large % of my online income is channeled through Paypal.com, perhaps it might not be a bad idea for me to look into Google Checkout. I am glad that you eventually got your money owed to you. That must have been pretty stressful. I don’t care how much anyone makes… whether is it $1000 / month online or $25,000 / month… five grand is five grand no matter how you cut it. Can you link me to where you wrote about this experience.
Date/Time: 8-11-2008 17:33:59 Comment #18007
http://success.grownupgeek.com/index.php/2008/04/05/paypal-limited-access/
with links to updates at the bottom of that page..
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Date/Time: 8-11-2008 01:06:49 Comment #17976
Date/Time: 8-11-2008 02:09:23 Comment #17978
Date/Time: 8-11-2008 04:38:50 Comment #17980
When people think of paying online…they think paypal, so, anyone coming into it will have a hard road ahead. Do I think Google could demolish them if they wanted to? Yep, will they? I don’t know…..
I too have heard horror stories of Paypal, though I don’t have any myself, like Garry said…no matter how little or how much you make, if someone holds your money…things can become stressful.
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Date/Time: 8-11-2008 07:11:09 Comment #17985
I thought that Walmart was trying to become a bank so that they could process there own transactions, but its taking a while. Also is there not some law against becoming a monopoly?
Since Google checkout has been implemented I haven’t even used it. I’ve looked into the API documentation, but at the time it was not useful for my needs. Maybe its time I take another look and see if they have updated anything.
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Date/Time: 8-11-2008 16:39:31 Comment #18003
Does anyone know if they pay thru their own checkout?
AL
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