04.18.07
Google Checkout Lands in UK
It’s official. Google Checkout is now available to online merchants and shoppers in the UK, poised to take on Paypal dominance in the UK market.
How does Google Checkout strike in UK?
1) Free transaction processing fee for UK online merchants until 2008.
2) After the FREE period, starting from 2008, Checkout’s UK merchant fee is a merely 1.5 percent + £0.15 (US$0.30) per transaction. (You can estimate Paypal fee at Paypal Calculator for a comparison)
3) If you are Google AdWords advertiser – For every £1 you spend on AdWords each month, you can process £10 in sales the following month for free through Google Checkout.
4) Rebate £10 to the buyers for all orders over £30.
More details at http://checkout.google.co.uk
One of the strong selling point is that Google has tightly integrated Checkout with AdWords. Any advertiser offering a Google Checkout option will now see their ads displaying with a Google Checkout “badge” icon next to the ad in search results. See below:
So, How does the empire strikes back?
1) Paypal team up with Yahoo to bring their own Checkout! Basically it means Yahoo Sponsored Search results will feature a blue shopping cart icon linking to merchants that accept PayPal Express Checkout as a method of payment. See below:
Paypal won’t just sitting there do nothing, although they already have more than 130 Million accounts and spreading like wildfire in europe. Google is not to be underestimated (so is Micro$oft). But would what Google offers be enough? Let’s just wait and see, the battle just begins.
