--- begin forwarded text
Delivered-To: rah@shipwright.com
Delivered-To: clips@philodox.com
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:59:41 -0400
To: Philodox Clips List
From: "R.A. Hettinga"
Subject: [Clips] Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy, A New Online-Payment Option
Reply-To: clips-chat@philodox.com
Sender: clips-bounces@philodox.com
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB115136840690491346.html
The Wall Street Journal
Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy,
A New Online-Payment Option
By MYLENE MANGALINDAN
June 27, 2006; Page D3
For years, consumers who didn't want to give Web merchants their
credit-card information faced limited options when it came to making
purchases online. This week, consumers could get access to another
electronic-payment option -- and one that offers a mail-in rebate incentive
to boot.
Web-search giant Google Inc. is set to introduce a test version of its GBuy
online-payment service as early as this week, according to people briefed
on the situation. The service, which would challenge eBay Inc.'s PayPal
online-payment service and others, has been expected for several months. To
attract consumers, Google plans to offer an unspecified rebate to people
who complete online purchases using GBuy, according to one person briefed
on the company's plans.
Here is how the service will work: Consumers who search for items like
"shoes" or "strollers" on Google's search site will see text ads with a
symbol or icon designating advertisers that accept GBuy payments. Shoppers
normally would have clicked on an ad and been linked to that merchant's Web
site. Now, while they will still be linked to the merchant's site, they
will go through a different checkout process integrated with Google if they
choose GBuy for their transaction. Details of the service could still
change before Google's official GBuy announcement.
The expected arrival of GBuy presages a shake-up in the online-payments
market. Until now, consumers have only had payment options such as PayPal,
which lets consumers pay using their credit card or a bank-account transfer
without disclosing their account information to the merchant or individual
receiving the payment. Consumers have also been able to use online checks
and online credit options, such as Bill Me Later. Bill Me Later allows
consumers to pay for purchases without disclosing their credit-card number,
instead disclosing pieces of personal information that lets the company
match up the person's identity with their credit information.
Chris Mario, a Damascus, Md., resident, says he "would 100% use Google
payments" because he likes the company's technology. He says he uses PayPal
now but would prefer using an independent third-party payment service when
making some online purchases, as opposed to the PayPal unit of eBay, which
runs auction and other e-commerce Web sites.
Though PayPal has more than 100 million users, it faces maturing growth and
is now trying to expand its market from its payments business related to
eBay purchases. A PayPal spokeswoman says the company doesn't comment on
rivals' services and has managed to thrive despite strong competition.
At the same time, Google's new payment service will be a test as to whether
the company can be hugely successful outside its core search-technology
market.
A Google spokesman notes that billing and payments have been part of the
company's services for some time and can be used in conjunction with
several products now.
Google plans to charge merchants a 2.2% commission on a sale, plus 30 cents
per transaction using its payment service, according to people briefed on
Google's pricing. That is higher than Pay-Pal's lowest published rate of a
1.9% commission plus 30 cents per transaction.
Google's rate doesn't include the discount pricing that the company will
give to merchants participating in its AdWords advertising program,
according to these people. Merchants who spend money on Google's ad program
could get the cost of payment processing through Google dropped to nothing,
these people said.
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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--- end forwarded text
--
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
