Google Wallet May Debut Soon: Analyst Sees Rollout Before the Holidays

[mandy]

Google may launch its widely anticipated online payments system Google Wallet before the holidays, an analyst said Friday, giving the search giant yet another way to profit from its widening Web empire.

The service is expected to rival eBay’s PayPal, which allows web users to transfer money from, say, consumer to merchant without using a credit card. PayPal users have to credit their accounts using bank accounts or credit cards.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said Google Wallet will not be a PayPal clone. Unlike PayPal, analysts speculate that transactions would be limited to ones between businesses and consumers. The service would probably not allow more personal uses, such as a friend sending money to a friend. But like PayPal, it would likely be a stored value account.

full article: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14233&hed=Google+Wallet+May+Debut+Soon§or=Industries&subsector=Communications

related thread: http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...852.0.html

[xppman]

Well if it is a “a stored value account” that may be a deal killer for some consumers.
Or maybe not.
Glad many of us have merchant accounts too.

I guess we will see. I hope when they roll it out that we hear a BIG sucking sound over the net from one Payment service (who’s rep has been pretty tarnished these days by the underhanded and unethical marketing branding theme it’s parent company developed) to the NEW Goggle Wallet service.

You are such a great “Plum Devoted” Administrator Mandy.
Always giving us GOOD stuff to read. 

[stardust]

Well, if the rest of the world can pay without credit cards, why shouldn't US folks?

*because we're spoiled, that's why.........*

[bargainbloodhound]

With Google Wallet, a consumer that clicked on an ad for a product could purchase that product without leaving the site.

However, both the user and the merchant on the other end would have to sign up for the service in order for the transaction to take place

Hmmm, sounds like a tie in with AdSense/AdWords, Google introducing pay-to-purchase ads to go along with its present pay-per-click ads.  That would also mean you won't be using google wallet to pay for purchases on eBay or Yahoo or other sites that don't run google/AdSense ads.

[stardust]

I think, from what the article does and does not say, that's it's still too early to determine whether you must be an ad buyer to take/accept payments via Google Wallet.  This is rather a conundrum (sp?), as ebay is allowing NO 3rd-party payments as of January 15, and they are Google's biggest ad buyer/payer.  Also, will everyone have to be listed with Froogle or Google Base to be able to use Wallet?  Certainly not enough info yet to see any kind of clear picture.  And you can bet that ebay and yahoo know exactly what's going to happen, which is why they're making the moves they have -- or are planning-- this year and next.. 

This is all working up into quite a mystery, and should provide some good entertainment over the coming months. 

[rose]

This is all working up into quite a mystery, and should provide some good entertainment over the coming months.

As long as its good entertainment not bad. 

[rose]

post 4000 

[thentavius]

If they do it the right way, the pre-added funds idea might just work if they make sure that two things are allowed:

--you get to CHOOSE how much money you want to add to your account. None of this incremental crap (like Endicia, where you must purchase $10, $20, $25, at a time--rigid amounts). If you want to add $1.75 or $175.12 to your account, you should be able to--no matter what the precise amount.

--You can send and receive between members, from your available added balance, without having to do anything weird. Like--let's say you want to send your buddy $25, and you only have $20 in your account. You should be able to send the $20--plus have the system draw the extra $5 (without having to draw an incremental amount, like "add $50 to your account now!") from your card or bank account.

I don't know if I'm making much sense. I think the bottom line is, we all need to see more of the details before we can truly develop opinions on it. One thing's pretty clear to me, though--and that is the fact that Google Wallet willmake a ripple in the waters of online payments

[regic]

Google's terms of service for their video upload program changed on Friday morning, more specifically the wording now states that they might allow publishers to "rent" their videos.  This creates more of a need for something like Google Purchases which would allow renters to pay owners.  So I started watching Google Purchases (code name "sierra") a little closer.

In the very recent past, users were greeted with a login screen when visiting purchases.google.com, even if they were already logged in.  Any attempts to gain access would always take them back to this same screen.  Now when users log in, it actually takes them somewhere — to the Google Account Settings page — but there is no link for Purchases (yet)...

full article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=60

[regic]

A screenshot from last October of an early version of Google's signup for for purchases.google.com.  The signup form has since been removed from the Google site.

http://www.webmasterbrain.com/res/img/ar...chases.jpg

... I managed to find the actual sign up form for a service Google have coined "Purchases".

    Welcome to Purchases

    Welcome back, email. Before using Purchases, we need to know a little more about you. Please enter the additional information below.

    If you want to use the Purchases service as part of a separate Google Account, click here . (Note: you can only be logged into one Google Account at a time)

Full article: http://www.webmasterbrain.com/seo-news/g...iscovered/