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.
