Posted by Jerry Dischler, Senior Product Manager We’re excited to tell you that as of this morning, the speed, security and convenience of Google Checkout are available to online shops and shoppers in the United Kingdom.
In the United States, thousands of sellers and millions of buyers have already taken advantage of this exciting new checkout process. Now, shops in the UK can offer Google Checkout to their customers and benefit from increased

Google AdSense has added a new referral product: Google Checkout. The way this one works is that if someone follows your referral ad/link and signs up for Checkout, and buys at least ten dollars within the next 90 days, you get a dollar.
Here are some of the ad formats (funny, no little buttons):
Text link:
Sign up for Google Checkout
Banners: Boxes: Leaderboards:

Google today added Checkout to the AdSense referral program, in addition of AdSense, AdWords, Firefox and Google Packs. The Inside AdSense Blog explains how the the new referral button works: You place the Checkout referral button on your site.
Someone clicks on the button, signs up as a buyer with Google Checkout using a valid U.S. credit card, and completes a purchase of at least $10 before shipping and tax through Checkout within 90 days. (T

We’re happy to announce a new referral channel that will allow Google AdSense publishers to refer buyers to Google Checkout and earn revenue for it. For every new buyer who completes a purchase of $10 or more before shipping and tax, publishers will earn $1. For more details, see the Google AdSense blog. We are continually looking for ways to bring more Google Checkout buyers to our merchants’ stores, and we expect AdSense Referrals to be a p

Our merchant list continues to expand with the recent addition of Blue Nile, MTV, and Comedy Central. One of the largest online retailers of certified diamonds and fine jewelry, Blue Nile makes it easy to select the perfect diamond. If music or comedy are more your thing, shop MTV and Comedy Central to find CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other wearables featuring your favorite shows and artists.
Browse these stores and more from our places to shop p

At Ritz Interactive, we operate a leading network of e-commerce websites that include RitzCamera.com, WolfCamera.com, BoatersWorld.com, and other popular online shopping destinations. We offer a full array of photographic and consumer electronic products as well as a wide range of marine, boating, and fishing products, at competitive prices for online shoppers.We originally decided to implement Google Checkout because of its potential to deliver

We’ve just released a new Sandbox feature for developers to more fully test their integration with Google Checkout. For details, take a look at this post on the Google Checkout API Blog.

Google is now reporting how many of its users are subscribed to website’s feeds, by including the subscriber info in the header its Feedfetcher spider leaves when it grabs a feed. This means that if you look at the header, you’ll know how many users combined subscribe to that feed in Google Reader and the Google Personalized Homepage

An important part of Google Checkout since we launched last summer has been helping users find convenient, secure places to shop through tight integration with AdWords, the advertisements on our search results pages. Merchants who decide to offer Google Checkout as a checkout option on their sites are identified by a shopping cart when their ads are displayed on Google. Today we’re updating the shopping cart with a better image: We expect th

How many Valentines do you have? According to a recent survey, half of U.S. Valentine’s Day shoppers will be buying gifts for more than one Valentine this year – for their spouses, for family members, for their pets, and maybe even for multiple sweeties. To spend less time shopping (and more time with all those Valentines), shop with Google Checkout — once you’ve signed up, checking out is as simple as logging in. And shoppers new to Google Ch

Hitwise ran another story on Google Checkout market share, and they included the top 10 sites sending traffic to Checkout. Basically, this list contains the most important stores of Checkout traffic, so it’s worth noting, especially if one of these sites drop Google in the future:

You really have to discount Google Base, since it isn’t going away anytime, and eBay, since they aren’t an official Checkout partner (and how they send any referal traffic is beyond me), but we have

Until recently, we’ve stated that sellers must charge their buyers within 72 hours of a successful authorization to be guaranteed funds. However, some sellers have mentioned that 72 hours often isn’t enough time, especially during holidays or long weekends.
In response to this feedback, we’ve extended the authorization period to seven calendar days for guaranteed funds. Now you can step away from the office without having to worry about charg

Posted by Jonathan Berger, Associate Product Manager

Back in September, we introduced a feature that allowed users to more easily find Checkout stores by filtering search results on Froogle. We got great feedback about this feature, and our users have continued to ask for even easier ways to find Checkout stores when they search on Google

Download Squad’s Jordan Running took upon the task of discovering which stores, beyond the 15 listed on the promo page, are participating in Google Checkout’s deal that gives ten dollars off the first purchase a new Google Checkout user makes. Turns out there are a ton of them, 234 in all! I had no idea Google Checkout had so many partners, all of which makes me wonder if the service might be reaching further than I thought.
All I know is, I am going to have to find a decent way to track stores signing up with and dumping Google Checkout

JP Morgan has published a report on how Google Checkout did in 2006, and their findings show that Checkout reached 6% of the 1,100 consumers they surveyed, compared to 42% for PayPal, what I call a good, but not massive, start. They also found that:

Google Checkout users are younger (57% under 35), more likely to be male (penetration rates 2x more for men) and more affluent (34% have incomes over $75,000) than PayPal.
Only 19% of Google Checkout users reported it as Good or Very Good, abysmal compared with 44% of PayPal users and 65% of credit card users

Google’s been doing some unpopular things of late:

They ran “tips” above search results, basically ads for Google services on any remotely related search, ones that no one could compete with and that appeared on searches that were completely irrelevant, like “tips” for Blogger on searches for “blogoscoped”

Posted by Martin Omander, Technical Account Manager

The O’Reilly Network has published my tutorial about the Google Checkout API, and you can read it here: Build a .NET App for Google Checkout.
Though the code samples in the article are for .NET, I think it’s a good overview of the API and a good read for anyone planning to integrate Google Checkout into their online store. The article demonstrates level 1 and level 2 integrations.
For more code samples in various languages, visit our samples page.

Posted by Zachary Bailey, Merchant Operations Coordinator

Besides offering buyers a faster and more convenient way to shop online, Google Checkout can also help you lower your costs throughout the new year by processing all of your transactions for free through December 31, 2007. Say you currently pay 2% plus $0.20 per transaction and your average transaction is $50; with Google Checkout you can save an average of $1.20 on every sale you make

Google Checkout has yet another promotion available: $10-off free for new users. Sign up for Checkout before February 15, 2007 and you get a ten dollar bonux on your first purchase of ten dollars or more, that you must use before March 31, 2007.
(via Ben’s Bargains)

On December 27, PayPal announced a “virtual debit card”, letting you make online purchases everywhere MasterCard is accepted. One little problem: Christmas was a few days earlier, meaning the online financial service missed the holiday shopping season for some stupid reason.
PayPal’s move was a smart one, devaluing “exclusive” arrangements like the one Google Checkout has with online merchants (in fact, you could use PayPal and Google Checkout on the same purchase, thanks to this)

Posted by Patrick Chanezon, Checkout API Evangelist

The Google Checkout sample code page has been updated, so check it out! We now provide sample code that demonstrates complete Google Checkout Level 2 integration for these 5 platforms: Windows Classic ASP (COM), .NET, PHP, Java 1.5, and Java 1.4

The sample code for each platform is managed as an open source project, licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, and hosted on Google Code’s project hosting

Posted by Joren Winge, E-commerce Manager, Skates on Haight

Our goal at Skates On Haight is to get our skate supplies into the hands of as many skaters as possible as quickly and inexpensively as we can.
Google Checkout helps us reach more skaters — and convert more of them into customers. It encourages first time buyers to take a chance with e-commerce, and creates a secure, comfortable payment system that gives customers peace of mind when they are buying from an unfamiliar company

Posted by Steve Miller, Product Manager

For many, the holidays are both a great time to shop and a chance to help out those in need. We hope that Google Checkout can help you accomplish a bit of both: As part of our holiday promotion, donors have the option to give to a few of our nonprofit partners.

If you do decide to donate, we’ll make sure your generosity goes a little farther. Every penny of your donation goes to the organization, and we’ll chip in $10 for your first donation of $30 or more.

Posted by Jonathan Berger, Product Manager for Buyer Experience

Wondering what people are buying with Google Checkout? You can now view most popular products through our personalized homepage gadget. The gadget is an easy way to learn about special deals on items, get ideas for holiday gifts, and see what’s popular. Trying it out is easy. Just click the “Add It Now” button on this page.
The list is updated each day so you can stay on top of trends and the latest deals. The gadget also provides a handy shortcut for searching products sold by Google Checkout merchants.

Posted by Kyle Harrison, Product Manager

Starting today, merchants will be able to use existing affiliate tracking and analytics tools for sales through Google Checkout. You can now include a pixel URL with parameters in the cart post and it will be included on the Checkout Thank You page. You’ll also be able to include placeholders for dynamic variables that will be populated before calling the URL. For more details, refer to third-party conversion tracking in the Google Checkout API documentation.

Oh boy…
Google has announced that it won’t even try to make money off Google Checkout, making it completely free through December 31, 2007. Yes, for the next 389 days, Google won’t stand a chance of making a single dollar off of Checkout, not charging one single processing fee

Posted by Susan Taing, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Don’t miss our newly launched holiday promotion site featuring lots of gift items and special offers. You can find more details about the promotion at our Google Blog announcement.

Not only is Google being charitable with its money via the Google Checkout program, giving you $10 towards purchases of TV’s, DVD players, sweaters, and lots of other stuff, but they’re also giving money to charity. Google unveiled its “Cyber Monday” promotion, which includes some new merchants that accept Checkout, including a few charities.
So, instead of saving ten bucks on that new video game, you can give $30 to the United Nations Foundation, the Acumen Fund, TechnoServe, Global Green USA, and Campus Climate Challenge, and Google will add ten dollars to your donation

Herewith the story of my attempts to buy a Dora the Explorer Mr. Face Plush Backpack from ToysRUs using Google Checkout. In short, Google now has my credit card number. (It’s one I use for testing, however). It feels kind of odd, to be honest. It seems Google is obviating the merchant entirely vis the ongoing data relationship with the buyer

From a release just mailed to me:Google Checkout Adds New Merchants, Charity Donations and Promotions to New Holiday Site Looking for the perfect holiday gift this past weekend might have been enough to send most shoppers over the edge. That’s why Cyber Monday, November 27, is expected to attract a crowd of online shoppers for the holiday season this year.

Hitwise reports that downstream traffic to Google Checkout is up 30% in the past four weeks, with the number one store, by far, being Buy.com. Buy delivered 18.3% of Checkout’s traffic, with number 2 Dick’s Sporting Goods way behind at 4.8%. Of course, Google’s major “Free Money” promotion is the biggest thing driving people to use the service, and with it running until the end of December, we’ll have to wait for January numbers to see if there is a big drop-off.
Paypal could be considered the nearest competitor to Google Checkout, but Paypal is still dependent on eBay for the majority of its traffic: for the week ending 11/18/06, 70% of Paypal’s upstream traffic came directly from eBay.
Both Buy.com and Jockey sent 16% and 7% of their respective traffic to Google Checkout last week, which seems like a very high conversion rate

Golfballs.com fills a golf equipment niche by providing personalized golf balls, bags, shirts, caps, clubs, and much more. We are very dedicated to website usability and the overall customer experience.
Google Checkout has been a great complement to our goals by providing a safe, secure, and most importantly, a very usable checkout option for our customers

Google has taken the lead in its battle with PayPal to see who can lose the most money while accomplishing nothing. Google has upped its free money offer, giving away $20 on items over $50, in addition to the current $10 off $30, and extended the full promotion from November 27 (Cyber Monday) through December 26

One of the most god-awful stupid promotions I’ve ever seen was when Google started offering $10 off $30 or higher purchases made with Google Checkout at select stores. The savings were great for the consumer, but it inspired zero loyalty in anything, just a huge loss-leader that may turn out to have accomplished nothing.
Well, PayPal has decided it needs to throw away twice as much money as Google did! Between November 23 and December 15, purchases of $50 or more at participating retailers, including Dell, Sharper Image and Barnes & Noble, will earn a one-time $20 credit to their PayPal account

Posted by Steve Stukenborg, Senior Product Manager

Since we launched, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that you wanted an easier way to offer Google Checkout on your website — without needing to be a coding wizard.
We’ve just launched a new option for integrating with Checkout: an HTML API. Just send us a shopping cart via an HTML form with name=value pairs, and manage the orders using our Merchant Center interface

Google seems to be pretty serious about their little PayPal killer, and is releasing a steady stream of new features that appear to be addressing merchant needs.

Canadian Garett Rogers wanted to sign up for Google checkout to play around with the new “email an invoice” feature that Google announced today. [Continue Reading >>]

Posted by Jacob Moon, Support EngineerIf you’re using or considering using osCommerce or Zen Cart to power your online business and want to offer Google Checkout, I have good news for you. We recently released Google Checkout modules for both open source shopping cart systems. With a minimal amount of configuration, these modules will enable you to quickly start offering Google Checkout to your buyers.You can download the modules from the contributions sections of the osCommerce and Zen Cart sites

Posted by Dror Shimshowitz, Product Marketing ManagerAs more and more stores across the Internet use Google Checkout, online shopping becomes faster and more secure. Even better, whatever you buy totaling $30 or more (before tax and shipping) at participating stores will automatically earn a $10 bonus. Now, one login lets you buy from lots of different stores, and also gives you a $10 bonus each time you buy. Look for the “$10 off” Google Checkout button when you’re shopping online. It’s the sign that guarantees your transaction will be faster, safer — and $10 cheaper.

Posted by Jeff Novak, Senior Online Marketing Manager, Odimo, Inc.As an early partner in Google Checkout, we at Odimo anticipated an increase in traffic and sales to both of our sites, www.WorldofWatches.com and www.Ashford.com. The results thus far have been impressive: the Checkout badge on search results has definitely increased our clickthrough rates and driven sales.The ease of use and the confidence of the security of Google Checkout has enhanced our ability to meet the online shopping needs of our new and existing customers

Posted by Jason Chen, Support EngineerOn Monday, September 25th, from about 5-7:00 PM PDT, the Google Checkout sandbox environment will be down for maintenance. This only applies to the test sandbox environment that you should be using to develop and test integration. The live production Google Checkout environment will continue uninterrupted.

Posted by Gavin Chan, Product Marketing ManagerNot too long ago we announced a new program for e-commerce providers to help them integrate Google Checkout into their shopping cart applications. In addition to helping with integration, we also offer incentives to get their merchants up and running with Checkout.Well, e-commerce providers aren’t the only group that can help merchants get started with Google Checkout, so we’re opening up the incentive program to everyone who maintains a relationship with online merchants

Posted by Tim McCue, Director of eCommerce, JockeyAt Jockey, we’re celebrating 130 years of making the world a more comfortable place. We think it’s fitting that as we celebrate our heritage, we’re also looking ahead to innovate and provide our customers with a radically improved purchase experience

Posted by Eva Hung, Strategic Partner ManagerIn addition to the stores we announced last week, we are delighted that more merchants have just joined Google Checkout. Some new places to shop includeFogDogRussell AthleticRussell Athletic is a well-recognized seller of quality athletic wear (e.g. football, track or volleyball). And stop by FogDog for such action-packed brand names as Oakley, Adidas, and Reebok.

Posted by Jonathan Berger, Associate Product ManagerWe recently launched a new feature on Froogle, Google’s shopping site, that makes it easier for shoppers to find products from stores that accept Google Checkout. Say you’ve signed up for Google Checkout and made your first purchase. You can make better use of that account by starting the search for your next purchase on Froogle.Try a search for running shoes and then click the “Google Checkout Stores” link at the top of the page in the “Stores” column

Posted by Michael Adberg, Co-founder, WeaKness.comThe experience we’ve had with Google Checkout has been very rewarding in terms of learning, website traffic, sales, and saving money, so we’d like to share a bit of our story. WeaKnees is a company that my friend Jeff Shapiro and I started a little over five years ago, based on our love of TiVo

Posted by Eva Hung, Strategic Partner ManagerAs Google Checkout becomes accepted at more stores across the web, we’re delighted to let you know about more merchants that are in the program starting this week. Whether you’re gearing up for fall sports, going back to school or working on the house, these merchants may have something for you. Welcome to our newest Google Checkout merchants: Ace Hardware GI Joe’siRobotPBS RockportThe Sports Authority

Posted by Joe Blackmon, Marketing Manager, Magazines.com Inc.Our goal at Magazines.com is to provide consumers with savings on a wide assortment of magazine subscriptions while providing excellent customer service. We carry over 1,500 magazine subscription offers at significant savings off newsstand prices, and even more important, we back up every sale with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.We’re excited about Google Checkout because it provides consumers with a convenient, safe, and quality platform through which to shop