Coming Soon: Google GBuy

Some observers forget that Google already has a payment service of a sort in place. If you go to Google Base, you will find that many if not most of the items listed are for sale. In fact, go to a listing for a car, and you might see something slightly reminiscent of what you’d find on eBay. (That’s probably because there’s only a certain number of ways to display an attractive “for sale” item). Rather than any kind of bidding function, though, you’ll usually see what methods of payment the seller accepts, and some way to contact the seller.

If they have been approved to accept payments via Google Payments, though, and chose to do so for that item, you’ll find a big “Buy” button on the listing. From their end, it’s relatively easy to set up. Simply log in with the appropriate Google account, post a new item, list its details, click “edit” at the payment section near the bottom of the form, and check the box for accepting payments through Google. There are a variety of payment options a seller could choose to accept; interestingly, PayPal isn’t one of them.

Sellers who want to accept payment through Google need to create a special account for it, in which they fill out the standard information (name, business name, address, phone, and so on), as well as their own credit card information. You also need to include bank information so funds can be transferred into your bank account. Google verifies your bank account in a way that will be familiar to anyone who has verified an account with PayPal – it deposits less than a dollar into your account using the information you gave it, and then asks you to enter that information into a bank account verification form after the deposit is made.

When a buyer clicks on the “Buy” button, he or she is sent to a secure checkout page where they specify a payment method (as with eBay, you need an account with Google to actually buy anything from Google Base using this method). After placing an order, the buyer gets a “thank you” screen, and the order is sent to the seller. The buyer can view the order’s status through a purchase history page. And yes, there is a feedback mechanism; after completion of the transaction, the buyer is sent an email from Google asking for a rating of the seller on a five point scale.