Is Google Checkout coming to Australia? It appears that Google registered Google Payment Australia PTY. LTD. in Australia recently, which could be a sign of that. A reader pointed me to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission web site that shows a record for a Google Australia payments company. On January 4th of this year, Google seemed to have applied for the registration of the new company. The record also shows these past actions: 07/11/2006: 410A Application For Reservation of a Name of a New Australian Company 04/01/2007: 201C Application For Registration as a Proprietary C [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout | Google: Outside US

Since Google Checkout was launched last June, merchants in the program who also advertise on Google through Google AdWords have had little Google Checkout shopping cart icons in their ads. Today, Google Checkout announced the icon will be updated to a badge format similar to the Google Checkout buttons used by merchants since the program started. The image above shows the before-and-after look. I'm still seeing "before" icons, but I imagine they'll roll over into the new ones shortly. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: Checkout

I gave Google Checkout some hassle earlier about promotion they were doing of the service. Earlier this week, I met with them during a visit to Google. The team explained that some of the promotion they've been doing is designed to react to consumer demand, to serve Google users that are asking to make it easier to filter shopping results by Google Checkout merchants. Now the Official Google Checkout blog is up with a post discussing this in more detail. The post also talks badges that have been used recently instead of the standard cart icon, as well. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout

Google Operating Systems spotted Google testing large Google Checkout buttons underneath AdWords ads that are from merchants that accept Google Checkout. Here is a comparison image: This begs the question, is Google going to far with giving Google Checkout merchants an unfair advantage or not? More discussion at Google Pushing Google Checkout More and New Google Checkout Promo; New Google Trust Worries. Postscript Barry: Danny wrote an entry that has more on this named Google Checkout Blogs On Recent Promotions. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout

Via Search Engine Journal, JP Morgan released a report named Google Checkout vs. PayPal (PDF). The report shows that Google Checkout has potential but PayPal is still dominating the field. Here are the key points, as per the report: Surveyed about 1,100 online buyers in 2006 Google Checkout Adoption hits 6% in first year Google Checkout Users Skew Male, Affluent, and Young But Google Checkout Needs to Work Out Some Kinks PayPal Maintains Its Leadership Position. PayPal’s 42% penetration rate in 2006 was 7x that of Google checkout. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout | Stats: Popularity

Google has sent out a promotion to Google Checkout Merchants, notifying them that all new Google Checkout customers get $10 from Google. Technically, this is a $10 sign up bonus, the details explain that if you sign up before February 15, 2007, and you are a new user to Google Checkout, you will get $10 to spend at Google Checkout merchants until March 31, 2007. This comes following news of Google putting a Google Checkout promotion in the shopping OneBox of the search results pages, which Danny wrote about yesterday with New Google Checkout Promo; New Google Trust Worries. Read/WriteWeb a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout | Google: Marketing

Gary Price pointed out something new to me on Google, the ability to filter product search results from merchants using Google Checkout. But more important, Google's promoting this new feature right within its main search results. That move, along with just having dropped map links to competitors and in the wake of last month's tips fiasco, rings alarm bells that Google's not thinking clearly about the best way to balance promoting its own products and the trust of users. Here's what you get at the top of results for a search for sd cards 128mb: Note, Jan 17: Ionut Alex notes he's seen thi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Checkout | Google: Critics | Google: OneBox, Plus Box & Direct Answers

Google Steps More Boldly Into PayPal’s Territory by the New York Times shows how Google Checkout has really stepped things up this holiday season. The article covers how Google is giving merchants huge incentives to promote Google Checkout on their online stores. One merchant sent out a promotion to customers, telling them they get $10 off all orders of $30 or more if they use Google Checkout. He said his traffic tripled and it cost him nothing, since Google is paying the bill (he gets reimbursed the $10 per order from Google) and Google is also offering zero transaction fees until the en [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout

Threadwatch reports on a WebmasterWorld post by Marcia that Google Checkout currently is not stringing along the variables in the URLs necessary for affiliates to get paid their commissions after a recent upgrade to Google Checkout. It appears that this was not by design, and simply an oversight, which should be fixed sooner than later. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google: Checkout