Google Checkout Does Micropayments!
Yay! I’m so geeked. Literally. A weeks-long conversation I’ve been having with Google has borne some mighty fine fruit — I’ve gotten them to clarify that Google Checkout can be used for micropayments!!
This is huge news for artists, writers, coders, and other small or individual merchants, especially those who’ll profit from being able to sell little things for cheap. Nobody would pay \$5 for a neat poem I wrote (you can get a book of poems for that!), but they might pay \$0.50 to download a .pdf or \$1.50 for a signed print. You can take payments of as little as \$1.00 on PayPal, but of course with PayPal you have to give them access to your bank account, and with Google, not so.
Google isn’t offering a “donate” button yet like PayPal has, but I bet it doesn’t take them long. I have noticed that they take feedback seriously, and I bet I’m not the only person to ask for a way to take starving-artist donations.
Oh, and lest I sound like a shill (I’m not, but you know, I can be reasonable… ;) — their customer service is fantastic, too. The people I emailed could spell and form coherent sentences, were polite, and showed patience if they didn’t understand my request right away. They also take replies directly to the emails they send you, and don’t take forever to answer (though it can take a couple days, which seems like a long time on the Internet!).
Anyway, text of my emails and their replies behind the cut. (You have to read them in reverse-chronological order; sorry.) Can I get a “yay”?
Yaaaaay!
-PD
P.S. - Be sure to read the comments for more detailed info on fees and such.
Hello PD,Thank you for your email. I understand you have a question about what
merchandise you can sell using Google Checkout.Google Checkout is currently designed primarily for transactions involving
tangible goods, although transactions for {intangible
goods/services/digital goods} such as poems or software may be processed
as well.You can process transactions for \$0.05 however, you will not be paid out
until you have reached an amount of \$1.00.For more information about Google Checkout content policies, please visit
https://checkout.google.com/seller/content_policies.html.Thank you for your interest in Google Checkout, PD, and please feel freeto reply to this email if you have any additional questions.Sincerely,—
No processing fees through the end of 2007 when you use Google Checkout
http://checkout.google.com/seller/freetransactions.html
“,1] ); D(["mb","
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: "Golden Apples Everywhere" <puredoxyk@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [#92177903] Micropayments?
“,1] ); D(["mb","
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:15:41 -0500",1] ); //–>
Chris
The Google Checkout Team—No processing fees through the end of 2007 when you use Google Checkout
http://checkout.google.com/seller/freetransactions.html
Original Message Follows:
————————
From: “Golden Apples Everywhere”
Subject: Re: [#92177903] Micropayments?
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:15:41 -0500- Hide quoted text -
Thanks again. Hmm, that is disappointing. But let me just be sure I
understand how this works — I can become a Checkout Seller and sell
something on my site for \$0.05, but I can not accept a \$5 donation in
return
for no merchandise, correct? What’s the definition of “merchandise”? I’m
a
writer; can I sell a poem online in exchange for a small fee (and can a
programmer sell his/her own software); or does it have to be physical
merchandise?I apologize for all the questions, and feel free to point me towards
documentation that explains all this, if I’ve missed it. I just want to
make sure I understand what Google Checkout can do for “merchants” like
myself and my friends, who deal primarily in non-physical goods, small
payments and donations (and at least some of us hate PayPal!).Thanks yet again,
PDOn 12/26/06, Google Checkout Team wrote:
>
> Hello PD,
>
> Thank you for your response. We apologize for the delay in responding to
> your email. At this time, we are not offering donation set-ups for
> organizations other than approved charities. However, we do appreciate
> your feedback and will definitely be offering additional charity
features
> in the future.
>
> Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional
> questions.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Eugenia
> The Google Checkout Team
>
>
> Original Message Follows:
> ————————
> From: “Golden Apples Everywhere”
> Subject: Re: [#92177903] Micropayments?
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:55:34 -0500
>
> Thanks! One more thing — Is there a “Make a Donation” button (or could
I
> make one and put it on my site) so that coders & artists can take
> donations
> for their work? (Don’t worry, we don’t want donations of less than a
> penny
> anyway!)
>
> -PD
>
> On 12/19/06, Google Checkout Team < checkout-support@google.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hello PD,
> >
> > Thank you for your email. You rock pretty hard as well. At this time,
> the
> > only type of payment Google Checkout can process is one cent or more.
> >
> > If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to
> > email us again.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Eugenia
> > The Google Checkout Team
> >
> >
> >
> > Original Message Follows:
> > ————————
> > From:
> > Subject: Micropayments?
> > Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:36:48 -0800
> >
> > Google, you rock pretty hard already, but you would be my personal
> heroes
> > if you told me that there’s no minimum purchase limit on Checkout, so
> that
> > all us Not Evil artists and coders and whatnot can use it for
> > micropayments?
>>
17 devoted students of Roshi accepted this page in 0.279 seconds without moving, or saying a word.
nope, don’t count on it… and certainly not after Jan 1st, 2007.
both with Google and with PayPal (and with most anyone else as well that processes credit cards), there is a minimum transaction processing fee that is between 20-30 cents. thus, the minimum effective “micro-transaction” you could reasonably do without losing money is somewhere around a quarter with Google, or 35 cents with PayPal. however, most people probably wouldn’t get a lot of value from this unless they start charging closer to .50 or more.
see Google’s fees here:
https://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html
see PayPal’s fees here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside
(full disclosure: i used to work for PayPal from 2001 to 2004)
Hmm, they didn’t clue me in on the fee (2% + $0.20 per transaction)– I’d actually been looking for mention of it, but didn’t find the page you did. However, this isn’t exactly a death knell for micropayments. Here’s why:
1. All transactions are free until the END of 2007, not the beginning. So the fees don’t kick in until January 2008, according to the very page you so kindly cited for me. This is obviously an offer designed to get merchants aboard, but still, that’s a whole year.
2. Google does listen, and a year is plenty of time for people to bug them about getting rid of the fee on transactions of less than $0.50 or so. They would still make plenty of money this way, I’m sure. I’ll get started on bugging them right away! ;)
2.5 Additionally, if enough people are using Google for micropayments by the end of 2007 and turning the fees on would tick off their customer base, I bet Google is even more inclined to work with people.
3. Somebody’s going to do micropayments, darnit. Google either knows this or will know it soon; they’re usually not too far behind the curve. (Their secret? They listen to their techies. A friend of mine went to work for Google a few years back as a software engineer, and he’s had nothing but good things to say about it (which is rare for a software engineer, believe me! ;)
4. And lastly, only making a profit on $.50 really isn’t that bad. Even if it stayed that way, it would still be a far better deal than PayPal, and a definite step in the right direction.
…And hey, thanks VERY much for the additional info! It was very helpful, and I’ll start a conversation with them about the details asap. But overall, I’m still very hopeful.
-PD