[Clips] Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy, A New Online-Payment Option

R.A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Tue Jun 27 19:09:36 PDT 2006


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  Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
  Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:59:41 -0400
  To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
  From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  Subject: [Clips] Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy, A New Online-Payment Option
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  <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.


  --
  -----------------
  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
  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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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
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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