Power Sellers Unite

dticorp · Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 1759

Google uses homepage to go after PayPal

http://venturebeat.com/2007/01/19/google-uses-homepage-to-go-after-paypal/

Lots of buzz about Google’s decision to use its homepage to promote its online payment product, Google Checkout, in its continued effort to encroach upon leader PayPal.

Google’s homepage is one of the most popular, and it has remained spartan so that anything it promotes will likely capture the eye. We’re not aware of Google doing such overt promotion before. However, when we checked Google’s homepage ourselves, we didn’t see the promotion.

So Google generates a “media story” by putting up the promotion, and then creates another one by pulling it down?

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terryp · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Posts: 540

A very smart move……..Hopefully GC will be going worldwide very soon. :D

Paypal can… :butt: ... with all the headaches they have given me over the past 5 years

:butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt: :butt:

lotsofgoodstuff · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 282 Location: CA

It was there yesterday morning, with an offer for $10.00 credit if you use particular merchants to pay with GC. Later in the day it was gone, and nowhere to be found today.

Good thing to advertise it on the homepage? Yes IMO :)

dticorp · Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 1759

Google, eBay Go to War

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20838&hed=Google%2c+eBay+Go+to+War

Search giant takes the gloves off in its fight with the auction service for online payments.
January 19, 2007

By Sunshine Mugrabi

It’s official: Google and eBay are at war over online payments. This week, Mountain View, California-based Google upped the ante by offering a link on its homepage to its online payment service, Google Checkout, which included a special offer for a $10 rebate on merchandise.

This is just one of many such promotions, said Benjamin Ling, product lead for Google Checkout, who said that Google is “very happy” with the progress it has gained in the marketplace.

Yet, after six months on the market Google Checkout—hyped by some as a PayPal killer—isn’t close to toppling that dominant player in the online payment arena. PayPal, which is part of San Jose, California-based eBay, commands a 42 percent adoption rate among online shoppers, compared with Google Checkout’s 6 percent, according to A J.P. Morgan survey of 1,100 consumers released Wednesday. “Could it be possible that Google is starting to panic a little bit?” asks Tim Boyd, analyst at Caris & Co.

eBay's shareholders, however, may be a little spooked too. eBay’s stock price has hovered around $30 a share for the past six months, down from $46 a year ago, in January 2006—a sign that Wall Street may still be somewhat spooked by Google’s entry into the online payment arena. Google’s stock price, of course, has been rising almost steadily over the past year, from about $400 per share a year ago, to just under $500 this week.

Meanwhile, eBay has totally frozen out Google Checkout—the system is not allowed on any of its sites. eBay spokesman Hani Durzy denies this is for competitive reasons, saying that it’s not yet a proven payment system. He also said that there is little if any merchant demand for it—though some online forums tell a different story.

eBay is also increasing its emphasis on PayPal as the key payment method. This week, the online auctioneer altered its policy to state that new sellers from the United States or Canada must provide PayPal or merchant credit card payment capabilities. This was for security reasons, according to a blog post by Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America Marketplaces, who announced the policy change at a seller’s conference this week in Burlingame, California.

Nevertheless, such moves will make it tougher to unseat PayPal, which has an already formidable offering. The J.P. Morgan survey found that only 2.3 percent of users intend to use Checkout instead of PayPal. In contrast, 43.4 percent said they plan to use PayPal and not Google Checkout.

Only 19 percent of Google Checkout users reported “good’ or “very good” service experiences, compared with 44 percent of PayPal users, according to the J.P. Morgan survey. Even more damning, 81 percent of those surveyed described their level of satisfaction with Google Checkout as “fair to poor.”

Mr. Ling said that while Google is never happy to hear that a customer had a bad experience, the company’s own internal metrics paint a far different story—finding that less than one percent of customers have had problems with the service. “We’re committed to improving the user feedback,” said Mr. Ling.

While Google Checkout’s user skew male, affluent and young, this could mean that it’s having trouble penetrating the lucrative small seller and online auction markets that eBay has a virtual lock on.

As a result, it may take a lot more than just a link on Google’s home page to dislodge PayPal.

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xbaystores · Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 562

"PayPal, which is part of San Jose, California-based eBay, commands a 42 percent adoption rate among online shoppers, compared with Google Checkout’s 6 percent, according to A J.P. Morgan survey of 1,100 consumers released Wednesday. “Could it be possible that Google is starting to panic a little bit?”

It is just 6 months old! Paypal didn't have anywhere near that in their first six months of operation, and if it wasn't for being allowed on eBay before eBay bought the company, it would have flopped. Google's 6% is amazing considering they have done little marketing, and that it is not allowed on the #1 shopping destination on the web. Google is not in panic mode, they are in competition mode. It has long been said that the only companies who could compete with eBay were Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google. Amazon already has as many items from private merchants for sale as eBay has, although eBay claims to have 90% of the market. Yahoo probably won't recover from the firs auction bomb. MSN is getting ready to enter the e-commerce world... but Google has #1 the financial strength, #2 The reputation, #3 They are already set up on Base, and with their programmers could have it in true competitive form within a couple months.

Is Google starting to panic? No, because their analysts aren't suddenly bashing Paypal like eBay's analysts are doing to Google. The report in the last week about Google's low satisfaction was created by the merchant bank that handles all of eBay's international payment processing, so they are naturally going to conduct a BS survey. This clearly shows eBay is in a panic, and nearing survival mode. They should be scared. They have PO'd at least half of their sellers who would leave in a second for a good alternative, and Google is knocking on the door.

ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

google is no better or nicer for sellers than ebay or paypal BUT they becoming a real competitor to ebay and paypal will be great for sellers. And it looks like they are serious since they are paying buyers to use their system--this will WORK. They will become a real competitor and then BOTH ebay and google will do sellers right. but if paypal or ebay would die make no mistake google will raise fees and hurt sellers as much as they can---they would be the new ebay! But for now all should help any site trying to become a competitor.. This site will indeed become a real competitor. Ebay and paypal will be foreced to lower fees and do sellers right!

dticorp · Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 1759

Is Google Slow Start Making an Impact on PayPal?

http://ebay.business-opportunities.biz/2007/01/24/is-google-slow-start-making-an-impact-on-paypal/

That’s 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. Indeed, most Google Checkout users probably never would have (and in the future, never will) used it if not for the steep discounts.

* 43% of PayPal users indicated they would continue to prefer it over Google Checkout, while only 2% said they would continue to prefer Checkout over PayPal. In other words, Checkout has established virtually no brand loyalty at all.

* 56% had no familiarity with Google Checkout.

So, Checkout has had a rocky start, one that suggests the only reason anyone has used it is because of discounts, discounts which will not continue in the future, and that most Checkout users would prefer not using it at all.

http://www.DtiCorp.com

HONEYWELL Thermostats and HVAC accessories

http://www.ListFree.org

FREE online classified ads by category, city or region

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ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

yes -- there is a huge difference in NOW and when yahoo tried to get paydirect going--- the difference is nearly all sellers are upset with ebay and these same sellers have told and will tell their buyers that a rival will lower the buyers cost. so buyers also will be upset at ebay cause ebays greed has made them pay higher costs on their goods.

you can take this to the bank.... google checkout WILL grow and be a real competitor and make paypal lower fees.... then sellers and buyers will have competition which helps sellers and buyers!

buyers are not STUPID... they know that helping build a competitor will lower the cost of the goods they buy!

take your money out of ebay and paypal stock NOW!!! they are going down to nearly equal with google checkout!

actually as SOON as the stockholders saw the clue that google was gonna make a online payment system... the wise stockholders knew right then .. that ebay stock will be going DOWN and many did sell which did lower the stock more.

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")Paypal didn't have anywhere near that in their first six months of operation
and remember...when paypal started up, they offered not a rebate to join, but real actual money!
:?