Posts Tagged ‘Payments’

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Comparing GoogleCheckout to PayPal

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

All online payment solutions are not the same. Solutions for accepting online payments really depends on what you are selling and who is your customer. For example, GoogleCheckout and PayPal are good, simple solutions for accepting payments online, but they really cater to different types of businesses and customers.

PayPal. PayPal is now owned by eBay. PayPal really caters to people that are attracted to eBay as well as merchants and small businesses that sell products that you would find on eBay. PayPal also caters to International purchases.

GoogleCheckout. Google Checkout is one of the countless online tools offered by Google. Google Checkout caters to small businesses, especially small businesses that use other Google tools such as Google Adwords, Google Adsense, and Google Small Business Center. If you are a small business and internet marketing is part of your business plan, Google Checkout caters to your small business.

Comparing GoogleCheckout to PayPal.

Payment Options. Google as of this writing only accepts debit or credit cards. PayPal has more choices to include debits to checking accounts and eChecks as well as using the customer’s PayPal account.

International Shopping. As of this writing, PayPal is accepted in 55 countries versus Google Checkout can only be used in U.S.

Payment Fees. Payment fees are about the same unless you have Google Adwords. With Google Checkout, a small business can reduce their transactions fees by integrating their Google AdWords and Checkout accounts.

Customer Services. With PayPal, you can actually get hold of a live person.

Other Considerations. In other areas PayPal and GoogleCheckout are about the same. This includes rate merchant reliability feature, security, fees, and fraud protection.

PayPal and Google Checkout are not the only solutions for accepting payments online, but they are great solutions for small businesses that do not have a lot of in-house technology expertise and just need a simple online payment solution. For mid-size to large merchants, an online merchant account would offer lower payment fees and various shopping cart software solutions would offer superior online checkout experience for customers. Obviously, these solutions would require more investment upfront.

See Google Checkout vs. PayPal posting from BestShoppingCartReviews.com for more information.


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One Third of Credit Card Transactions Not PCI Protected

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Even though there are vast improvements in how merchants protect your credit card information, it is still disturbing that over 1/3 of our credit card transaction information is not protected by any reasonable financial standards. Visa just announced



“… that 65 percent of the largest U.S. merchants (those processing six million or more Visa transactions annually) have now validated their compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), up from 36 percent in December 2006. Among medium-sized merchants (those processing one to six million Visa transactions annually), compliance grew from 15 percent in December 2006 to 43 percent as of September 30, 2007. The merchants that comprise these two categories account for approximately two-thirds of Visa’s U.S. transaction volume.”

As reported by Payment News.

PCI Compliance. The PCI DSS is the payment industry’s standards body for setting security standards for organizations that handle credit card information. Merchants and financial institutions are spending millions to get compliant with these standards. No company desires to be in the news being identified as loosing their customer’s credit card information to a hacker or laptop thief.

Need For On-going Safeguard Programs. As it should be, identify theft and safe guarding personal information is becoming more and more a risk management issue for companies. The challenge is to not be complacent with just meeting a ID theft standard such as PCI and then not worry about the issue any more. Safeguarding personal information is an on-going program for both individuals and companies. The on-going challenge for all of us is that the hacker or thief will find a new way to breach security and get our personal information.


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Churches Moving to Electronic Giving

Sunday, July 1st, 2007

Many churches are now providing new payment options for offerings and tithes. New payment options include “Giving ATMs”, bank drafts, and even debit / credit card electronic payments. Especially with credit cards churches are wrestling if they are helping their members get into debt. Some think electronic payments to impersonal for giving to God. Read more about plastic replacing offering plates.

Resources and Tips for Churches, Ministries, and Non-Profits to Accept Donations Online.




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