Using Google Checkout

Provided by Mark Lawson of Koi Depot.

I would recommend Google Checkout to anyone that wants a complete, but easy to use check out system.

With Google they have made it easy to accept major credit cards at a low percent rate of only 2% and .25 per transaction.

Our other merchant account had raised their rates to almost 3% along with .35 per transaction, this was not going to cut it. I researched other options but found them to all be about the same. Yes you can receive a 1.65% from other companies, but you will need to buy their machine and gateway fees and the list goes on.

If you have just a small website with maybe 2-3 dozen items then Google will work for you! Not only is it FREE to sign up, but they have set up it up so you can build buy buttons and even for items that have multi sizes or color choices. Very easy to add to your website and it even has a floating cart in browser, so your customer can see what they have added to cart. The best part it’s free!

One of the great features is the ease in receiving your orders and the control panel covers everything. It lets you see who ordered, what they ordered, and what time they placed their order. You can set it up for charging credit card or just authorizing it, until you fill order. If you use a shipping account, once you have a tracking number you can send it off to your customer. If you need to cancel the order it can be done there as well, or if over payment you can refund some money as well.

The Google Payout Section

A great feature is the payout section, it shows what you have made and it then minuses the fee for that charge. Simple and clear, easy to understand, no hidden cost or fees later.

So you’re concerned about having customer’s credit card info on your server? No worries Google has all that secured and you don’t have to touch it. Now you want to know how to receive back your .25 per transaction? They have a program called Ad words, it is free to sign up as well, and you set your budget per month for the ads. Since I have signed up I have to date receive back my .25 per transaction fees. All for using a great advertizing tool offered by Google.

Now, for us we have found that we need something a bit more then the simple format offered by Google. So with the help of developers at Starsnsites we worked together to create what I feel is an all around easy to use shopping cart. The best part is Google integrates into it smoothly; multi choices on who you use for shipping, real time shipping costs, tax and list goes on. If you have a website by them and are looking for a new cart….call Starsnsites. They got it.

In conclusion I feel that Google Checkout is the best deal out there at this time. My best suggestion is for you to go out to Google Checkout and see for yourself!

Our thanks to Mark Lawson of Koi Depot in San Diego for providing this personal insight.