Here at eBid info we have been long time supporters of Google Checkout since it’s birth and have enjoyed promoting and recommending it as an lower cost alternative to Pay Pal as I’m sure most of you have.


Unfortunately my support is set to change on May 5th 2009 when Google will be implementing a new unexpected tiered pricing model to Google Checkout where the majority of small merchants will now be charged the same high prices and tiered system that Pay Pal use.

  • In the UK fees will increase from 1.5% + £0.15 to 3.4% + £0.20 per transaction.

  • In the US fees will increase from 2.0% + $0.20 to 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.



That’s a 1.9% + £0.05 increase for the UK and a 0.9% + $0.10 increase for the US which during such a serious recession is a huge increase and lets not forget that an additional 1% processing fee will also be added to that from buyers whose billing address is outside the country of your Google Checkout account.


Looking round the Google forums, this decision has not gone down well, Most of the merchants replies I have read say they will be removing it from there web sites in favor of lower cost alternatives and many are considering moving back to ( Dare i say it ) Pay Pal for it’s wider audience, features and availability to more countries such as Australia and Canada.

The loss of support for GC will be the most damaging, I know for a fact lots of you will no longer be spending time promoting or recommending it anymore also AdWords spending will go down due to the changes, In my opinion this is a seriously bad move from Google in these hard financial times.

With such a high number of users loosing interest, I really hope Google change this decision, add more countries and gain back there goodish reputation.

For more details on the changes and full fee structure you can visit the Google blog here: Google Checkout Fees In 2009