Could Google Checkout TAKEOUT Paypal.com?

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

Posted on August 10th, 2008.

15 Comments! Join The Discussion by Leaving Your Comment.

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Jarret Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 11:46:14 Comment #17956

I think if Google did try and promote their service more like you mentioned they could stand a good chance against PayPal.

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?

Check out Jarret’s last blog post..Do You 404?

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Zath Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 11:57:07 Comment #17957

I was thinking about this the other day - I started using Google Checkout over a year ago, but don’t use it that often even though I would like to.

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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Garry Conn Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 12:05:43 Comment #17958

Google is strange like that. They will announce a new and wonderful service, usually they’ll issue a press release where AP picks up on it. Google will also write a post about it on their blog…. and then that’s about it. The rest is up to you to dig and find yourself.

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.

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Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 16:28:28 Comment #17962

I don’t see Google Checkout in the places I buy things online, so I suppose it hasn’t caught on as well as they’d like. If it wasn’t PayPal, I’d say they’d probably buy them out, but I don’t think that’s an option with ebay being the owner.

Check out Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com’s last blog post..Back From Vacation

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Randy Brown Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 18:19:14 Comment #17965

sure, if Google put it’s mind to it, it could probably crush Paypal.. but so far it seems they just havnt tried to directly compete. For example, Google still does not offer a reoccurring subscription payment option.

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..

Check out Randy Brown’s last blog post..Warning About The BadBehavior Module

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Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:14:26 Comment #17968

Hey Randy,

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?

Check out Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com’s last blog post..Back From Vacation

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Randy Brown Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:28:19 Comment #17969

Paypal claimed they banned me due to “selling certain adult or obscene items or content” - I believe they did this because our Premium forums area had a section for “grown up” discussions - i.e.; the sort of things you might not want to talk about in public, but far, FAR from “obscene”..

bottom line is, i think they really F*’d up - which they pretty much admitted to by unbanning me..

Check out Randy Brown’s last blog post..Warning About The BadBehavior Module

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Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-10-2008 19:47:07 Comment #17970

Boy, I’ll say! Looks like they had an intern that didn’t take the time to research. Glad to hear they made things right though.

Check out Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.com’s last blog post..Back From Vacation

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Garry Conn Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 01:14:29 Comment #17977

Paypal decided to ban my account and hold my $5,000 for no apparent reason.

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.

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Randy Brown Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 17:33:59 Comment #18007

I wrote about it here:
http://success.grownupgeek.com/index.php/2008/04/05/paypal-limited-access/
with links to updates at the bottom of that page..

Check out Randy Brown’s last blog post..Warning About The BadBehavior Module

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Nick Throlson Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 01:06:49 Comment #17976

Could take down paypal we will have to wait and see lol

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Michigan Web Design Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 02:09:23 Comment #17978

I think Google SHOULD overthrow paypal. I HOPE they do too. Paypal is known for holding funds and freezing accounts. They’ve done it to me before. I still use them but instantly withdraw the money I’ve been paid so if they try to freeze my account, there’s no money in it for them to hold. If google checkout worked like I needed it to, I would switch to them instantly.

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JK Swopes Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 04:38:50 Comment #17980

Man….right now Paypal is the monopoly! I mean, there is revolution money exchange, but it hasn’t caught on either. As far as reach and saturation…it’s like eBay, everybody knows paypal.

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.

Check out JK Swopes’s last blog post..Look at the Bloggers Joe Sees

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Owen Wrote a Comment:

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 07:11:09 Comment #17985

Isn’t there more to it than simply “knocking them out?”

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.

Check out Owen’s last blog post..Stop Copying Windows?

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Allyn Wrote a Comment: Subscribed to comments via email

Date/Time: 8-11-2008 16:39:31 Comment #18003

I’d love to use Google checkout if they would pay my adsense to me with it. I can’t stand the fact that they don’t pay adsense earnings into Paypal.
Does anyone know if they pay thru their own checkout?
AL