Great Google Checkout Article in NYT today.

This may require a free registration, but the NY Times has a great article is one of the first to capture what I feel is the real economic power of Google Checkout.  Sure the free 2% is good, but the boost in your adwords ROI is HUGE.  Also, although eBay shut down Google Checkout for eBay sellers, we've very successfully (example in article) worked with eBay's largest sellers to send out Google Checkout $10 coupons to their registered buyer lists.   The beauty is, Google pays the $10, so why wouldn't you do this as an eBay seller?  You pay no eBay fees, you pay transaction fees and Google pays the $10 for the customer.  Because of the huge success of this kind of promotion, we're going to be helping eBay sellers further automate this kind of cycle.

So ironically by banning Google Checkout on eBay, eBay is pushing sellers to promote it heavily off-eBay, so it's a double whammy (no eBay rev, no Paypal rev).  It will be interesting to see how long eBay can go with this "GMV leakage' going on.

Comments

[Christopher]

I know that ebay claims Google checkout did not pass their security checks or something like that - which is why they do not accept it as a payment option. How long do you think ebay can stick to that story forcing buyers and sellers to use only PayPal? I used Google Checkout 5 times this holiday season to take advantage of the 10 dollars off XX.XX and was impressed. Had I been able to figure out how to allow my buyers to use it I would have. I am waiting to do a little dance the day I hear google is starting auctions - ebay needs some real competition in the auctions and payment sections!

[Benelli]

Hi Scot, I think you're dead-on with this one. eBay doesn't yet realize the full scope of what is underway at Google. As a Platinum Powerseller I've seen great traction using Google Base + Checkout as a free 'Google Store'. I sent 25,000 items from my eBay Store to Google Base and 20% of my sales the NEXT DAY came from Google Base... and they were all free. No listing fee, tranaction fee, and no payment processing fee.

I have not been able to figure out how to use the Checkout rebates with this yet... any ideas out there? From what I can tell you may need to be API integrated with Google to use the discounts.

Google may also be aiming higher than we think, if they figure out a way to offer free payment processing for retailers, forever... then PayPal is done and Free Google Auctions will follow.