Google Checkout: A Gateway Service?

Earlier this year, Google extended an offer to merchants to take advantage of Google Checkout services for free until the end of the year, a gesture that rival PayPal matched in kind. Tuesday, the company officially extended the offer of free services until December 31, 2007. The move is surely aimed at positioning Google Checkout as a more universally accepted alternative to PayPal as an online payment processor. By extending free processing until the end of 2007, Google hopes that more merchants will take advantage of the service, and by extension, other Google services such as AdSense. Along with the extension of free payment processing, features that have been implemented into the Checkout service: Easy coupon creation: Create coupons from the Google Checkout Merchant Center. You can specify $-off discounts and %-off discounts, and add restrictions such as "one per customer," "new customers only," and so on. Try it now (requires a Checkout merchant account). Email invoicing: Bill customers for purchases by sending them a Google Checkout invoice over email. The email will contain a link that your customers can click on to pay you via Google Checkout. Try it now (requires a Checkout merchant account). Simple website integration: With the HTML API, integrating Google Checkout with your shopping cart is easier than ever. Simply add an HTML form to your website and use it to send us your shopping carts. Learn more in the new Developer's Guide. Steve Bryant at What other Google services might a merchant likely use? Let's take a look at Google's official Murdok. Visit Murdok for the