Google Checkout is a shopping cart, created by Google, to support webmasters. Linked with its other services, it is an effective way of creating an alternative route of payment for those that don't want to use Paypal, 2 Checkout or other merchant accounts.

It was introduced on the 29th June 2006, and was initially only for residents of the US, but has spread to UK (for sellers). Buyers regions are less rigid - giving merchants the option of offering a payment system where others are either unavailable, impractical, or more importantly, disliked.

What 'cut' does Google take?

From its FAQ, Google states that it will take:

" Process sales for free. For every £1 spent on AdWords each month, merchants can process £10 in sales the following month through Google Checkout for free. For all other sales, the charge is a low 1.5% + £0.15 per transaction." (UK)

Google Checkout rewards people using Adsense to process their payments - otherwise they charge a partially percentage based with a flat fee added in.

In practice?

To cover a £100 transaction, you would either:

a) have to spend £11 in Adsense or

b) Pay £1.65 in 'normal' fees.

If you're already paying for your Adsense spend, you will get a part of your checkout fees for free. This 'free' credit will be applied the next month (for example - if your paid £20 to your Adsense account in April, you would be eligible for £200 of transactions in May.

And for customers?

Customers don't pay anything to use Google Checkout - it's just like buying from any other store. Unlike PayPal, customers can't keep a 'balance' in Google Checkout, so its not a complete payment solution, and should not be used to 'replace' any service that you would use to store and pay for funds from a 'virtual' balance. At last check you can't use any funds you've been sent as a payment to another user, so in cases where you're earning funds to pay for other items online (such as a hosting reseller, that also pays for the servers from the same account) or a business that operates in a narrow profit band, Google Checkout might not be an ideal solution.

Other payment processors and Google Checkout?

Its fairly easy to intergrate Google Checkout with most checkouts - if you can't do it yourself, then find a good programmer to help you.