Google Checkout makes inroads against PayPal with free processing promotion

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When Google introduced Checkout in June, it was seen as a formidable rival to PayPal, eBay’s online payment service. And with Google aggressively promoting Checkout during the holiday season and beyond, its use with some merchants has already surpassed PayPal’s.

But Google’s plan for Checkout has always been about more than online payments. The service is a calculated effort to expand Google’s base of advertisers, which provide the bulk of the company’s revenues...

Google has not released figures on the number of Checkout users. Still, there are signs that with the heavy promotions, the service is making significant inroads.

GSI Commerce, a company that runs about 60 online stores, including toysrus.com, levis.com and timberland.com, said that one in five holiday sales at its partners’ stores through the end of November were completed with payment systems other than credit cards, which include PayPal, a service called BillMeLater and Checkout. Of the three, “Google is the biggest by far,” said Michael Rubin, chief executive of GSI Commerce...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/techno....html?_r=1&oref=slogin