Google Checkout vs PayPal?

[thefriendliestguy]

I was wondering is Google Checkout safer and cheaper than PayPal or is it the opposite please?

I am from Melbourne, Australia by the way if that helps.


Thanks in advance,



Warren

[plantsfish]

Less than $3,000 2.9% + $0.30

It looks like it costs around the same to me either way. But I am in the U.S.A.

[bykimbo]

No significant differences that I can see in the UK.

[BAGHAG999]

The buyers mostly prefer Paypal i use both and 99% choose Paypal.

[burgyeb]

In USA, if you use Paypal Micro-payment (must sign up for this with Paypal), it is much cheaper fees on low cost items. I did the math on this awhile back, if total cost (item + s/h) $10 or less*, it is best to go with Paypal (micro-payments). I have set up all of my auctions to reflect the most advantageous fee structure.

If you use Google in this case, the fees are outrageous. I prefer Paypal for buying and selling. Not sure if this fee scenario is same for UK, but I think so.

* = approximation

[suesjools]

In USA, if you use Paypal Micro-payment (must sign up for this with Paypal), it is much cheaper fees on low cost items. I did the math on this awhile back, if total cost (item + s/h) $10 or less*, it is best to go with Paypal (micro-payments). I have set up all of my auctions to reflect the most advantageous fee structure.

If you use Google in this case, the fees are outrageous. I prefer Paypal for buying and selling. Not sure if this fee scenario is same for UK, but I think so.

* = approximation

Agree with the above; Paypal and Google are fairly similar with regard to fees unless you use PP micropayments, which has saved me a bit over the past several months.

In my admittedly limited experience, most U.S. buyers prefer Paypal, not sure if this is the case with UK and European buyers.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[beadsandweeds]

Paypal fees can sometimes be a burden, for example when you sell a heavy book for $1 with $15 postage and the fees are calculated on $16 (so if you were selling on ebay, eBayInc would get your whole $1--and micropayments won't help unless postage is cheap as well as the item.)

Still, most of the time the fees are not that bad.

However the OP asked also about safety, and my take on that is that just about anything is safer than paypal. There are two aspects to the dangers of paypal, which have been among the most widely discussed matters on internet forums.

One is their promotion and support for fraudulent buying by forcing refunds without verification and without justification. The other is their contractual requirement that gives them permission to raid your paypal account for countless spurious reasons, and if it's empty, to raid your bank account, even for a long time after you have terminated your paypal account (e.g. in response to their having already taken money from you without justification).

In Australia at least, they have just escalated their dishonest and predatory rulebook to allow them to take money off you to refund ebay from your account when ebay (not paypal!) decides (rightly or wrongly) to refund a buyer, which means that if you sell on ebay, but not by paypal, but do have a paypal account, you risk paypal stripping your bank account. For me, that was the last straw. I closed my paypal account and I doubt if I will ever again sell on feebay.

People who have used paypal and not (yet) had problems (like me a few years ago) are apt to think that concerns about paypal are exaggerated or even fantasy, but paypal's record speaks for itself.

Now I want to pay my (tiny) ebid invoice and ebid will let me pay by any means as long as it's paypal. I find it bizarre that wherever there's a refuge from the dark side, the dark side is still promoted.

[tesb1980]

If OP is asking as a seller and not a buyer, unfortunately Goggle Checkout is not available in Australia....or Singapore either....