Consumers will be directed to merge their Checkout account with their Google Wallet account. They can automatically transition their Checkout account to Google Wallet the next time they sign in or make a purchase online and their Checkout history will then be available in their Wallet account.

Thankfully Google recognise that merchants won’t take too kindly to having to change their websites a month before Christmas, so shoppers using Google Wallet will be able to make purchases seamlessly on merchant sites that accept Google Checkout. Buyers will simply be able to log in and pay with their Wallet account… assuming that they’re aware that their Google Wallet will work on sites with the Google Checkout branding.

Once Christmas is out of the way in the new year Google will begin transitioning merchants Checkout logos to Wallet logos, and doubtless there’ll be some back end tinkering to do on your website if you currently accept Checkout.

Realistically this is an admission that Checkout hasn’t caught on, otherwise Google could have built offline payments into Checkout rather than launching them as a rebranded Google Wallet. How well Wallet will catch on has yet to be seen. The big question is will you change the Google Checkout logos on your websites to Google Wallet, or will you just press the delete button and allow buyers to use other payment methods?

Saying that they “encourage you to update your feeds and follow the Commerce blog for information about Google products such as Checkout, Wallet, Offers and more, and for shopping, retailing and payments news” is really the start of a slow death for Google Checkout.

Google have plenty to bring to the table as far as driving ecommerce traffic goes, but as for being a competitor to PayPal they’ve pretty much given up. If they can’t justify a Google Checkout blog it spells the end for Google Checkout as an alternative payment processor.

A recent server update has temporarily disabled the Google Checkout merchant frontend servers. As a result, logging in to your Checkout merchant account now returns a 404 file not found error. Please note that this issue only affects the Google Checkout web interface, all other services are still functioning correctly. This issue does not affect your your user’s experience with Google Checkout or your ability to accept orders and process them via our APIs.

Since yesterday, sellers have been complaining that they were unable to access the admin area for Checkout, which was returning a 404 error. Buyers were still able to place orders and pay using Google Checkout, but merchants could not check order details nor see if the payment had been verified. Most frustrating seems to have been the lack of a quick Google announcement of the reason for the problem, and no phone support for merchants to find information for themselves.

There’s currently no ETA for the fix.

The landing page for the Checkout promotion small print says “Offers available until June 23, 2007“.

Opps, not like Google to get something like that wrong, I’d have thought they’d want to forget June 2007 after last year!

Following eBay’s response (and after the deadline for public submissions expired on 3nd May), one more 38 page anonymous report was submitted, which set out in detail why they considered eBay’s move to be anti-competitive.

It didn’t take too long though for one eBay user to expose the culprit, examining the hidden (but easily accessible) meta data of the document he found the phrase “ACCC Submission by Google re eBay”. The document has been replaced with an amended version with Google’s name removed.

This has to be embarrassing for Google, all the major banking institutions that made submissions did so publicly, and it looks much worse have your intentions revealed in this manner than it would do to be up front in the first place.

(Thanks go to Richard for spotting this story)

Topskips (yes a skip hire company) have a website, they have a blog, they even have their own online company TV channel, and back in July 2007 Topskips started to accept PayPal. The reason I like them so much is they pretty much do everything an eBay seller should be doing – website, blog, video (waves to the guys at vzaar) and online payments.

Now however the competition is hotting up in the skip payments industry – Topskips have just announced they’ll be accepting Google Checkout in addition to PayPal. That’s not something that’ll happen any time soon on eBay, but for your own website offering a choice of payment methods is one of the top ways to ensure customers don’t abandon shopping carts.

If you’ve never visited the Topskips website it’s well worth a browse. You might not be in the market for skip hire, but they could teach an awful lot of businesses just how to fully embrace the web.

A Californian man has apparently made $50,000 from opening online accounts. Like PayPal, many companies verifiy your identity (or at least your bank account) by making one or two small deposits, and then asking you to confirm the random amounts you received.

Normally this is pennies, but this gentleman opened some 58,000 accounts netting a small fortune (plus another $8,225.29 from Google Checkout which he’s not yet been prosecuted for). He said he “needed the money to pay off debts and stated that this was one way to earn money”.

Now back to my PayPal account – when I first set up my account rather than deposits PayPal used to make a small charge on your credit card, which was credited to your PayPal account when you made your first purchase. The first time I attempted this the charge failed and some time later I used a second card to verify my account. When I made a payment PayPal true to their word refunded the charges to my account, but for BOTH credit cards on that was charged and one that wasn’t.

So PayPal I’m ‘fessing up – I owe you £1.37 from years ago.

However, what might be more significant is what visitors do *after* visiting the payment site. Robin Goad says “visits do not always mean purchases. … While I can’t provide abandonment data, it is likely that people visiting another retail site after either Paypal or Google Checkout may have not completed their purchase. In other words, a lot of downstream traffic to our Shopping and Classifieds category could be used as a proxy for abandonment rates.” On that basis, GC’s 43% downstream to shopping and classifieds sites seems unfavourable in comparison to PP’s 28%: are buyers just checking out Checkout, rather than actually using it?

If you’re a merchant offering both PayPal and Google Checkout, how are sales working out for you? Which system do your buyers prefer? – leave us a comment below.

Via WebProNews.

eBay have always donated fees to charities where products are sold on the site through eBay for Charity. They match the percentage the seller donates by donating the same percentage of fees. For direct charity sellers this is 100% of fees due going to the benefitting charity. PayPal however don’t donate fees, or even waive fees for processing for charities.

Google have suddenly made their service attractive to well over one million US non-profit organisations. It’s yet to be seen if they’ll introduce a similar measure for registered charities in the UK. It’s time for PayPal to play catch up!

The events will focus on areas key to expanding your business both on and off eBay. The agenda covers topics such as eBay, Amazon Seller Central, Google Checkout, PayPal Express Checkout, Paid Search Marketing and Shopping Comparison. There’s time for networking over lunch and a further networking reception (with drinks) in the evening.

ChannelAdvisor hold many events throughout the course of the year including online seminars and the annual Catalyst Conference. The Insite Conferences are designed for small groups to encourage networking and group discussions. Spread around the country in Bristol, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and Dublin there’ll be an event near you.

I attended Insite last year and it was a throughly productive day. All too often it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day running of your business. It’s well worth setting aside just one day this year to review the industry and how you can move your business forward. If there’s just one event that you attend this year’s Insite would be a great choice to make a positive impact on your business.