money money google has it all

June 19, 2005 7:45 PM

Google Wallet to compete against Paypal. So, Google has my email, my search history and soon, my bank information. I'm ok with this, I guess, because I gave it to them.
posted by raaka (32 comments total)

looks like they might be taking on craigslist too...
posted by kliuless at 7:50 PM on June 19, 2005

looks like they might be taking on craigslist too...

Ebay has a 25% ownership stake in Craigslist, right?
posted by pruner at 7:54 PM on June 19, 2005

I've been long hoping that SOMEBODY legitimate would compete with PayPal.
posted by spock at 7:56 PM on June 19, 2005

A sure sign Google will be doing somthing like online shopping, auctions, books, etc..
posted by stbalbach at 8:30 PM on June 19, 2005

I haven't used Paypal in years, but I'm still very glad about this, simply because I want Google to succeed. I read somewhere recently that 99% of their revenue comes from ads; that's extrordinarily risky. Its long past time for them to diversify their revenue streams.
posted by gsteff at 8:50 PM on June 19, 2005

As long as Google is an Amerikan company, its service will still suck because it'll be crippled by US law. Yes, I write this as someone that's bitter about being kicked off Paypal first for selling "pornography" (body piercing videos), and then for selling "illegal drugs" (I'm Canadian and what I sold -- anesthetics -- are perfectly legal north of the border).
posted by glider at 9:00 PM on June 19, 2005

Paypal sucks. I have a dormant account with no money in it that I don't use anymore because of their restrictive policies. Some of the same policies that make Ebay a less than free trade forum.
I will welcome a new format, even if it IS Google.
posted by Balisong at 9:03 PM on June 19, 2005

I hope they enable micropayments. That could rock.

On the other hand, this will simply accelerate the growing fears about Google.
posted by catachresoid at 9:38 PM on June 19, 2005

On the other hand, this will simply accelerate the growing fears about Google.

I don't pretend that Google is perfect, or that they won't ever become ruthless money-grubbers, but to date, I think any objective observer has to concede that their corporate ethics record is heads and shoulders above the rest of the software industry. They've done some questionable stuff (the most notable to me is the filtering of search results within China), but honestly, if you could choose to give 30% of marketshare to Paypal or Google, would you really pick Paypal?

Not to mention that their new Summer of Code program is basically the coolest (and one of the most valuable) corporate charity projects I know of.
posted by gsteff at 9:46 PM on June 19, 2005

Andy Baio told me he doesn't think Google will charge for their service; he reasons that Google can't oust Paypal without offering its service for free. But doing so would still give Google control over the Internet's payment systems. Andy tells me that's a useful goal in itself. But I don't get it. What does that do for Google?
posted by NickDouglas at 9:49 PM on June 19, 2005

Sweet Jesus, I can't wait until the festering Paypal barge starts sinking. I'm a merchant who's done 170 transactions with them, and in the one instance where I had to deal with customer service they proved to be extremely careless.

From their local BBB -- "[Over the last 36 months] PayPal, Inc. has had 3572 complaints ... 1731 were concerning Service Issues ... 1103 were concerning Credit or Billing." It's interesting to think what the numbers would be if you count the people who never went the BBB complaint route.
posted by rolypolyman at 9:54 PM on June 19, 2005

I dont think the goal here is really to displace PayPal as much as it is to be able to quantify for their advertisers exactly how effective their service is, by offering a "% of sales" type rate instead of a "cost per click" which has many fraud issues.
posted by H. Roark at 10:04 PM on June 19, 2005

If Google offered what paypal offers, I would switch my merchant accounts in a heartbeat.

And even though I still giggle at Bill Hicks' "Kill Yourself" marketing routine, google has done an outstanding job of insinuating themselves into the state of ubiquitous. And all without becoming an obvious evil empire.
posted by dejah420 at 10:22 PM on June 19, 2005

...doing so would still give Google control over the Internet's payment systems. Andy tells me that's a useful goal in itself. But I don't get it. What does that do for Google?
Because, once you have control, you can charge whatever you like and do whatever you like. See "Microsoft - the early years" for comparison.
posted by dg at 10:25 PM on June 19, 2005

Death to PayPal! Death to PayPal!
posted by nlindstrom at 10:38 PM on June 19, 2005

It looks pretty clear to me that Google, while content at being the best search engine around, is actually more interested in becoming the King of Information Brokers and they are well on their way to becoming that.
posted by raaka at 12:42 AM on June 20, 2005

greenzap
posted by ackeber at 1:39 AM on June 20, 2005

greenzap may be a scam (earlier FPP)
posted by pruner at 1:52 AM on June 20, 2005

But doing so would still give Google control over the Internet's payment systems. Andy tells me that's a useful goal in itself. But I don't get it. What does that do for Google?

They know what you buy, and from whom. This information can guide Google Ads, as well as general search results, and pull in yet more revenue for them.
posted by Rothko at 2:15 AM on June 20, 2005

I've been hoping for this; the sooner, the better.
posted by taz at 3:07 AM on June 20, 2005

glider, while paypal reckons body-piercing is porn they also think that perfume ad-posters are porn and froze my account right in my busiest week of the year without warning. Took me weeks to find out that they objected to that specific ad, which ran in American Vogue. The only way to restore 'service' was to remove that ad. Censor much? Fuck Paypal. Seriously.
posted by dabitch at 4:01 AM on June 20, 2005

i love paypal, i love google

why the angst? let them fight over us.
posted by tsarfan at 4:15 AM on June 20, 2005

"Google has my email, my search history and soon, my bank information..."

What else can they do? How about "Find your future man/wife through Google"? Then they will control that part of your life as well...
posted by Termite at 4:42 AM on June 20, 2005

Maybe next Google will branch out into Google Pr0n -- take over the Xahara site?
posted by alumshubby at 7:10 AM on June 20, 2005

I am with dg in sharing some unease about Google's growing empire. No one has been a bigger fan of Google since day one than me, but I would like to see some good competition emerging rather than more and more of my life being dependent on one entity. I may be satisfied with Google today, but as a growing public company, it is likely just a question of time. I don't trust any large corporate monopolies, no matter how seemingly benign. Things can change for the worse in the blink of one disappointing quarterly report. It made me uneasy that Google was seemingly willing to make a creepy hire to get some government contracts recently. Google getting in bed with the government is rather scary to me given the nature of *this* government and the amount of information Google has. Competition is healthy.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:05 AM on June 20, 2005

madamjujujive, that link about the creepy hire says that he's not actually going to be hired by Google after all.... possibly something changed?
posted by Malor at 10:15 AM on June 20, 2005

I think the point is that Google was willing to do it in the first place...
posted by hototogisu at 11:16 AM on June 20, 2005

The buzz is now that Senor, an analyst for Fox News programs, may be setting up his own shop and talking to Google about providing "strategic advice."

Listen, I am a Google junkie myself. But that Senor almost-hire and some other things just give me a bit of a chill. There may be a day when things aren't so lovey dovey.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:59 AM on June 20, 2005

This can't come soon enough. Paypal are a bunch of scumbags. Well, not really. PayPal is fine, until you have a problem. Then you end up dealing with people who don't bother to read your email, assume that you're problem is already resolved because it says the case is closed in their system, and seem to speak english as a (distant) second language. Also, you never get the same rep twice so you end up explaining the same thing over and over again to people who make the same idiotic assumptions over and over again.

I had a transaction associated with an eBay auction that was disputed 2 1/2 months ago, and, even though the buyer and I settled things almost immediately, I still haven't been able to get them to return the transaction to me even though I've written dozens of emails and several faxes. I've been thinking of emailing the buyer and asking him to re-Paypal me the cash, but I'm sure the second he does that, they'll re-instate the original transaction and screw him. Also, I've heard from other people that there's no way to get a refund through them if the seller ships anything to your address, even an empty box. They just assume that it's a good transaction if the seller can provide a tracking number, and that's the end of the story.
posted by boaz at 1:00 PM on June 20, 2005

OTOH, Google is pretty specialized on automated functions (searching, mail, news aggregation), so they might have crappy or no customer service too, in which case, meh.
posted by boaz at 1:08 PM on June 20, 2005

tsarfan writes "i love paypal,"

I've never heard anyone say that before.
posted by Mitheral at 12:36 PM on June 21, 2005

Meineither, that was weird.
posted by dabitch at 12:50 AM on June 22, 2005