Google Checkout unwelcomed by retailers

Google Checkout has seen major retailers drop the product, while others refuse to use it.

Launched at the end of June, Google Checkout marketed itself as a solution that big stores and little stores alike could use.

Retailers such as Levi Strauss, who originally signed up, have since dropped the checkout gateway for unspecified reasons.

However, merchants have generally complained of slow order processing times, and especially complained of an over-zealous approach to credit card transactions, that repeatedly flags a significantly high number of false positives as “fraud”.

Additionally, a PiperJaffray study found online retailers had serious concerns about transparency, and the fact that they would lose control of marketing and customer data to Google ment that many could not envisage signing up to the service.

Google have also been criticised for displaying a “Google Cart” icon on Google Adwords advertising next to adverts from retailers that do not use Google Checkout - including by major rival eBay, who owns the Paypal processing gateway.

Overall, Google’s attempt to move into the financial transaction processing market seems to have been a stumble more than bold step, and at present Google’s inexperience in this area is causing real problems for users.

However, no doubt Google will continue to push and refine the process, due to the immensely lucrative returns from owning marketing and customer data directly.