Google Checkout - too good to be true?

The old adage has it - if it is too good to be true - then it probably isn’t.

Google came pushing it’s google checkout. Free payment gateway! Too good to be true?

Well it appears that it is.

Firstly we have the absolute disaster as it is poorly compatible with a number of affiliate networks. Well my first response is that the tracking is the responsibility of the merchant - not the payment gateway or the network.

But the big problem is that google checkout does NOT redirect the customer back to the merchant website once the transaction has ended. This is bad for the merchant - no second chance for a second impulse buy, and secondly the affiliate - as more often than not the tracking script is placed on the ‘checkout success’ page, so if there is no user visiting the success page - there is no tracking of the sale.

Google has its own solution for this, but it requires the merchant or affiliate network to be approved. This is basically a pain to all involved. More info on this see a4u forum

Also something to remember - google is not a bank! Just because google is the biggest internet company doesn’t mean that it’s payment solution will do everything and do it free. Paypal has only just really been accepted as being a bonified payment gateway and not just an ebay payment system.

I was originally tempted by GC but I am now treading with caution.

There are also alot of people worried about the amount of information that google is collecting - just in time for launch of its own CPA / CPS affiliate style model. Not sure if this worry is just or not.

I am sure that time will tell

April 30th, 2007 Posted by scifind | affiliate marketing, paypal, google, Networks | one comment