Power Sellers Unite

Lightingguy · Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 145

"How to use Google Checkout on eBay"

In order to use Google Checkout as a eBay seller you have to go around the eBay rules a little.
You can NEVER ever mention the words Google Checkout in you ad EVER.
You can NEVER ever mention the words Google Checkout in the eBay based message system EVER.

Here is how I do it.
In your eBay preferences you have to go in and turn OFF ALL the Paypal stuff.
If you use a bulk uploader for your ads REMEMBER to remove the Paypal email address from the auctions BEFORE you upload them.

In my ads I state that I accept Money Orders, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, & Amex.
After an auction ends I send the buyer a eBay invoice/message stating that I will be sending a invoice from my payment processor to their email.
I receive the eBay email of a "Sold Item".
I open Google Checkout and go to the invoice page.
I copy/paste the buyers email, name, and item they won, from the eBay "Item Sold" email, into the Google Checkout invoice.
I add up the cost of the item + the shipping cost.
Place this TOTAL COST into the invoice.
In the message part of the invoice I tell them that this is the invoice that they need to pay from and to follow the link with the total amount.
I send the invoice to the buyer via regular email.
I then go BACK into eBay and send the buyer another eBay message.
In this 2nd eBay messge I tell the buyer to go and check their regular email for the invoice from my payment processor.
They pay for the item using Google Checkout. Usually
I use USPS Click & Ship to do the the online postage (free delivery confirmation)
Save the delivery confirmation to the Google Checkout page.
Send the buyer a "Item Shipped" email from the Google Checkout item page.
Then I go back to eBay and mark the item that was just paid for as Paid & Shipped.

You can NEVER mention Google Checkout anywhere in your eBay ad OR in the eBay message system.
This will throw up a flag in the eBay system.
eBay does not like Google Checkout at all....
Why????
Because you are NOT using Paypal and eBay owns Paypal and eBay is losing out on the Paypal fees.

I usually have about 1 in 10 that will not use Google Checkout and opt for a Money Order.
I usually have about 1 in 10 that will not use Google Checkout and simply NOT pay for the item. eBay dispute is filed for NON-Paying Bidder.
I usually have about 8 in 10 that will use Google Checkout and never complain.

That is the simple "How to use Google Checkout on eBay"

It might seem like a lot of work.... BUT
I never have to deal with the crap from Paypal!!!!!
I do not have to deal with my account getting "LOCKED" for 6 months.
I no longer receive SPAM?Phishing emails from Paypal.

And on top of all that Googel Checkout is FREE the rest of 2007.

Once again.....

Paypal can :butt:

BSIT · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 110

Thanks Lightingguy ... do you think Google Checkout will eventually have it so you can have your auction management software automatically email the Google Checkout invoice to the winning bidder? Thanks again for taking the time to help all of us that is great!

- BSIT

Lightingguy · Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 145

BSIT wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
do you think Google Checkout will eventually have it so you can have your auction management software automatically email the Google Checkout invoice to the winning bidder?

That would mean that eBay would finally acceptable Google Checkout as a payment service.
And who but Meg really knows right now when that will happen.

But until hell thaws out I just use this little go around.
It has been working for me for the past 3 months.
I can't complain.

Lightingguy · Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 145

So after the fun at eBay Live in Boston this past week....
I wonder how many people want to use GC on eBay now???

BSIT · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 110

What happened that your referring too Lightingguy? Thanks J

ASLANstore · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 704 Location: MidWest

Lightingguy,

It appears to be a good workaround in order to accept GC, thanks for sharing it with us - however, I dont man to rain on your parade, but...

1 out of 10 buyers choose not to pay at all due to being offered Google Checkout and money orders as the only accepted payment methods?
That is a horrible statistic. If 10% of my buyers ended up not wanting to even folow thru with a transaction, I'd definitely be re-evaluating my strategy

Marty

Nikkicute · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 879

BSIT wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")What happened that your referring too Lightingguy? Thanks J

eBay-Google spat hints at larger tension.

BOSTON - A spat that erupted this week between eBay Inc. and Google Inc. after Google tried to siphon attention from the online auctioneer's grand user celebration might presage more tension in one of the Internet's most interesting new rivalries.

EBay and Google have been close partners. Google feeds the text ads that appear on eBay's international sites (Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) handles that for eBay's U.S. site). And the companies have been working on integrating aspects of the Google Talk voice-messaging software and the eBay-owned Skype Internet calling service.

EBay also is one of Google's largest advertisers, spending tens of millions of dollars a year on "keyword" ads that generate links to eBay listings when Google users type certain search terms.

At least until this week, when eBay pulled all its keyword ads from Google's U.S. site.

EBay seemed to be acting in protest of a party planned by the Google Checkout online payment service during this week's "eBay Live" event for about 9,000 of auction company's buyers and sellers. Google called its Boston affair "Let Freedom Ring" — a reference to the fact that eBay, which owns rival PayPal, does not allow Google Checkout as a payment method.

Although Google canceled the party after eBay pulled its ads, eBay has not yet relented. Officially, eBay described its move as a test to see whether it could get more bang for its buck if it increased its spending on other search engines, including Yahoo, IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s Ask.com and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.

"We were not pleased by this notion of the Google Checkout party and the marketing around it, I will tell you that," eBay CEO Meg Whitman said in an interview. "But you don't (deploy) these kind of tests with no planning. You can't. Because you have to know how you're going to redeploy these dollars."

Even if eBay is likely to return to advertising on the Internet's most popular search engine, the tiff indicates just how much is at stake in the fast-growing market for Internet payment processing.

PayPal, which eBay acquired in 2002, is by far the leader, with 143 million user accounts around the world. Google debuted Checkout only last year, though Google claims it is accepted by more than a quarter of the top 500 online retailers.

PayPal, which had $1.4 billion in revenue last year, is vital to eBay because it is growing faster than eBay's older auction and shopping business. In fact, Rajiv Dutta, the former eBay chief financial officer who now oversees PayPal, said in an interview that "I am convinced PayPal is one day going to be bigger than eBay."

Whitman professed not to be worried about Google Checkout's ability to make serious inroads. She said that eBay has a huge advantage because PayPal is such a deep part of eBay, while payments are a sidelight for Google. She compared the situation to the way eBay demolished Yahoo and Amazon.com Inc. in Internet auctions.

"We're defending ourselves aggressively with PayPal," she said. "That is one of our core businesses. We're not going to let that go away to someone who'd kind of like to be in the business."

A Google spokesman said he could not immediately comment.

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")1 out of 10 buyers choose not to pay at all due to being offered Google Checkout and money orders as the only accepted payment methods?
fortunately i also take personal checks! :D most of my buyers pay that way...& thru bidpay.

Quote: › docWrite("quote")"We're defending ourselves aggressively with PayPal," she said. "That is one of our core businesses.
one of?? hel, that IS their core bidness...if ebay doesnt turn into just paypal in the future, i'll be dipped!
:P

Lightingguy · Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 145

AslanStore wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Lightingguy,

It appears to be a good workaround in order to accept GC, thanks for sharing it with us - however, I dont man to rain on your parade, but...

1 out of 10 buyers choose not to pay at all due to being offered Google Checkout and money orders as the only accepted payment methods?
That is a horrible statistic. If 10% of my buyers ended up not wanting to even folow thru with a transaction, I'd definitely be re-evaluating my strategy

Marty

Well I posted that workaround back in April.
I am happy to say that since then the percentages have a bit.
Out of the last 100 sales I have had on eBay here are my numbers:
Used Google Checkout: 90% Up from 80% in April
Used Money Order: 4% Down from 10% in April
Did Not pay at all: 6% Down from 10% in April

So the numbers are getting better all the time.
Does anyone else have hard numebrs with high sales
On the number of deadbeat bidders they have to file NPB Disputes against?

Thanks,
Lightingguy

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

no NPBs lately (thank goddess!), but about 50% of my buyers have paid with GC...after invoicing. i always make sure to say in the "comments" section that they can pay with any CC...i'm not sure the invoice makes that clear!
8)

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

You might also want to add a comment that "this is an invoice for your purchase on eBay" or something like that.

My 1 PITA buyer last Christmas season thought the GC invoice was an offer to buy OFF eBay and made a fuss about it. She never did understand and ended up a NPB.

Carol

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")You might also want to add a comment that "this is an invoice for your purchase on eBay" or something like that.
i think there's a separate box fer that, where you can enter the item & #. (sorry if i'm misspeaking here...it's been so long since i invoiced anybody!)
:lol:

Quote: › docWrite("quote")My 1 PITA buyer last Christmas season thought the GC invoice was an offer to buy OFF eBay and made a fuss about it. She never did understand and ended up a NPB.
really? sounds like a lame excuse to back outta the transaction.
:?

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

Nope, the box and item # thingy is on PP.

Nope again, this gal was totally terrified by an eBay warning not to do a transaction OFF eBay. Quoted some eBay garbage in her email to me. She wasn't a total newbie but only had less than 20 FB at the time.

Then she refused to answer any of my further communications with her. I tried to explain that it was an invoice for her purchase. I even then sent her a PP invoice. I also sent her several eBay system emails and the NPB warning. Not another peep out of her until she made a lying remark in FB. Fortunately for me her FB didn't count as she was NPB. But it was only a few days later that I was unexpectedly NARU, so her remark is my last FB showing at eBay.

Carol

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")Nope, the box and item # thingy is on PP.
in that case, no way would i ever have seen it!
:lol:

i do remember putting in the item # & name, tho. otherwise they wouldnt have a clue.
:!:

Quote: › docWrite("quote")Nope again, this gal was totally terrified by an eBay warning not to do a transaction OFF eBay. Quoted some eBay garbage in her email to me.
cracks ya up, dont it? ebay's bragging that they have 100m members, but they're gonna catch HER!
:roll:

Lightingguy · Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 145

knappschiles wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")You might also want to add a comment that "this is an invoice for your purchase on eBay" or something like that.

Carol

This is what I place in the body of the invoice:

This is the separate invoice that I told you about in the eBay message I just sent you.
This invoice is for payment of the eBay item you just won from me.
XXX PLACE ITEM NAME HERE XXX
Just follow the link at the bottom that tells the TOTAL price INCLUDING the shipping charge.
Thanks,
SELLER NAME