Google Data » Alyssa

Google Product Search now accepting alternative feed formats

Alyssa — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:32:00 +0000

We understand it can be time-consuming for merchants to prepare their product feeds for multiple shopping engines, each with their own formats and standards. That's why we're introducing a new uploading option that enables merchants to submit information to Google Product Search using existing data feeds they’ve prepared for other shopping engines.

You can take advantage of this option when you register your data feed in your account. Select the type of feed you’re registering and then chose from a drop-down list of feed formats. We'll automatically format your feeds for proper integration and uploading into Google Product Search.

We hope this new uploading option makes it easier and more convenient for merchants everywhere to upload their items to Google Product Search. If you're submitting feeds to other shopping engines, you can begin submitting your products for inclusion right now, and start driving traffic to your site with very little effort or time required.

If you're an existing Google Product Search provider, please continue submitting your feeds in the Google Base format to take advantage of optional and custom attributes.

For more details and step-by-step instructions about uploading with alternative feed formats, please visit our Help Center article.

Posted by: Jessica Ng, Product Marketing Manager

Back-to-School savings now in session

Alyssa — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Whether you're looking to fill up a backpack or a dorm room, Google Checkout is a fast, easy way to buy what you need this fall. Checkout shoppers can get savings of $5 or more at hundreds of stores for a limited time. And after you take advantage of these exclusive offers, you can use your Google Checkout login for quick, secure shopping throughout the school year at thousands of online stores.

Posted by Christian Yee, Product Marketing Manager

Meet the Team: David Wurtz

Alyssa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:35:00 +0000

From time to time we'll introduce you to a member of the Checkout team. Meet another one now.

Alyssa: How long have you been at Google, and what role do you play on Checkout?

David: I've been an associate product manager on Google Checkout since joining Google last June.

Alyssa: What did you do before coming to Google?

David: I came to Google directly out of college. I attended a very small engineering school in Boston called Olin College of Engineering, where I studied bioengineering. I know, I know. It has nothing to do with my job at Google. But hey -- one of these days, I may find a way to apply my degree to Checkout. In junior year of college, I actually dropped out for a semester to start a web 2.0 company called Flagr. Flagr is a social network based around the places you go and the things you see. Flagr's slogan explains it all: Bookmark the real world. This was a fantastic experience, and offered me incredible insight into the world of Silicon Valley, angel investors, and VCs. I often reference my experiences at Flagr on my day-to-day role on Checkout.

Alyssa: What sorts of things fill your day?

David: One of the best aspects of my job at Google is that each day I face a completely new set of challenges and opportunities. It's such a fast-paced, dynamic environment that it's hard to fall into a routine. This makes a question like this difficult to answer, but let me give it a shot...

In a typical day, here are some things I may do:

Draft a product brief: This is a proposal that outlines a potential new Checkout feature and presents a strong business case for why we should add it to the product. We work hard to ensure our time is spent developing the most effective features.
Mock something up: I'm a fairly visual guy, so I tend to get myself involved in the user interface design of my projects.
Reach out to merchants: Merchant feedback plays a big role in new feature development, so I frequently reach out to merchants to add them as testers.
Learn about other Google initiatives: As you might expect, there's a lot going on at Google. A big part of the product management role here is understanding all the other initiatives that are under way, so you can better grasp a) how your features fit into the bigger picture and b) how your team can collaborate with other Google teams to create even better products.
Try stuff out: I typically sign up for one or two web services in the commerce space each day, just to see what the competitive marketplace looks like.

Alyssa: What has been an incredible moment that you have experienced since joining?

David: A few months ago, I traveled around the world (literally) with 35 of my fellow associate product managers as part of an annual trip. We visited four countries over the span of two weeks: Japan, China, Russia, and Norway. Our schedule was jam-packed! We visited local Google offices, interviewed Google users, met with high-tech startups and venture capitalists, and toured all four cities.

As you may have guessed, the trip was full of incredible moments. But one morning, we woke up early to visit the Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo. The market serves as a central auction place for Japanese fish vendors and merchants. Thousands of merchants line up for their chance to bid on the latest catch -- huge, one-ton tunas that cost thousands of dollars each. Surrounding the auction are hundreds of local vendors, each selling a variety of unidentifiable (but edible) sea creatures. Some of these merchants are bargaining with customers, some are slicing and dicing fish with machetes, and some are transporting their loads at lightening speed on modified go-carts.

A hectic place to be at 5:00 am! As a sushi lover, you can imagine this was an amazing experience. What topped it off was the two pounds of raw fish I had for breakfast that morning. With so much supply, the prices were incredibly low and the fish was really fresh. It certainly reset my expectations for what good sushi should taste like.

Alyssa: What about when you are off duty?

David: When I'm not at Google, I enjoy throwing a Frisbee, exploring new and interesting places around the world with my fiancée, dabbling in some eCommerce ventures of my own, and -- of course -- playing with my Maltese puppy, "Maya." I'm also a big fan of the financial markets, where I like to trade option spreads. How do I spend Friday night? Watching a Netflix DVD, a Lost episode, or perhaps hanging out at Barnes and Noble with a great book.

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout Team

Get feedback on your items’ performance

Alyssa — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:45:00 +0000

Google Base now offers more feedback on the performance of your items. Log in to your Google Base account and click on the new "Performance" tab.
You'll find information on how many items you have uploaded and how many of the items are active. You can also see how many clicks your items received on Google (e.g. on Product Search or on Real Estate search) and how many were retrieved through the Google Base Data API.

This new tool will allow you to spot trends with historical graphs of your account performance. You can also download detailed tables that show the performance of each of your top items.

We're excited about this new feature and hope you find it useful. More information can be found in our Help Center. And please share your feedback with us here.

Posted by Matthias Ernst, Software Engineer

Checkout summer savings

Alyssa — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Posted by Christian Yee, Product Marketing Manager

Whether you're traveling to far-off locales or relaxing at home, save on items for your summer adventure with Google Checkout. You can shop with one login across the web and track all your orders in one place. And starting today, over 50 Google Checkout stores will be offering savings of $10 off purchases of $60 or more to Checkout buyers through June 23rd. Learn more about Google Checkout summer offers.

Welcome, Orvis

Alyssa — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:19:00 +0000

Posted by Sarah Hoople, Strategic Partner Manager

Summer is nearly here and we're happy to welcome Orvis to Google Checkout. Known for world-famous fly fishing gear, distinctive clothing, home furnishings, and gifts, Orvis is one of the oldest outfitters in the U.S. (they've been in business more than 150 years!) and a leader in customer service. By enabling Google Checkout, Orvis is offering their customers another checkout choice as they prepare for the great outdoors.

Help bring relief in China

Alyssa — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Last week, China's Sichuan province was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake. Currently, we know that there are tens of thousands reported dead and hundreds of thousands who are wounded and homeless following this catastrophe. Buildings are in ruins and rescue efforts have been hampered by aftershocks and landslides. If you'd like to participate in the global relief effort that is under way to help those suffering in Sichuan, you can do so by making a donation here. Donations through this program will help strengthen relief efforts and assist survivors as they rebuild their lives and communities.

Zappos.com takes a step forward with Google Product Search

Alyssa — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Checkout is just one of the Google ecommerce solutions available to merchants. Take a look at the Google Base blog to learn how Zappos.com succeeded in increasing conversions and lowering costs by adding their products to Google Product Search for free.

Continue to make a difference for Earth Day

Alyssa — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:08:00 +0000

Posted by Gavin Chan, Product Marketing Manager

Even though Earth Day was last week, it's not too late to make an impact. You can still donate to an environmental non-profit organization using Google Checkout. And when you donate on behalf of friends and family, we'll give you a personalized view of Google Maps so you'll be able to see how your generosity spreads.

Take a look at this video the Checkout team put together to see how easy it is to get started. You can also view this Googler's donations map to get an idea of what your personal map could look like. If you haven't done it already, we encourage you to support Earth Day by visiting Checkout's Earth Day page and making a donation.

Updating our attribute requirements for submitting products

Alyssa — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Posted by Jessica Ng, Product Marketing Manager

If you're a Google Product Search provider, you've always known that we classify our attributes into three categories: "required," "recommended," and "optional." We've recently updated the list of attributes in each category to make it easier for providers to submit their product information and prioritize the attributes relevant to their products. Here is an updated list of attribute requirements, along with some information on what the categories mean.

Required attributes are attributes that you're, well, required to include for all your items. We won't be able to process and approve items in your feed that are missing required attributes. The following is a list of required attributes:

description
id
link
price
title

Recommended attributes are ones that we strongly recommend including for your data feeds, and we consider them as important as required attributes. However, we realize that not all providers and items have this information available; therefore, if your feed contains items without this information, we will still process them, but it will be more difficult to ensure that they appear for relevant search queries. The following is a list of recommended attributes:

brand
condition
image_link
isbn
mpn
upc

All other attributes are optional attributes. Optional attributes give you more ways to describe your items and additionally help shoppers find your products.

We hope that this update will make it easier for you to create data feeds and prioritize the time spent on them. For more information on these attributes, you can visit our feed guidelines here. Also, keep your eyes out for status messages on the data feeds dashboard that will provide additional guidance on the attributes we're recommending for your items.

To see attribute requirements for submitting item types other than Products, please visit the data feed overview in the Help Center.

Zappos.com finds the perfect fit with Google Product Search

Alyssa — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Associate Product Marketing Manager

In Q1, we attended several industry events where merchants were interested in hearing about other merchants' experiences with our commerce solutions products, particularly Google Product Search. With that in mind, we wanted to share some feedback we recently received from Zappos.com.

Zappos offers shoes, bags, and apparel as an online retailer that stocks more than 3 million SKUs and has more than 7 million customers. Zappos started using Google Product Search to drive more traffic and sales to their site.

In a case study, Darrin Shamo, manager of Zappos' SEM/SEO initiatives, recently shared with us that "Product Search brought in an average of 380,000 visitors a month during the vital holiday shopping season of November-December 2007 -- an increase of 400% over the year before. And the conversion rate was higher than all other comparison shopping engines in our portfolio."

"Our objective here is to lower marketing costs while hitting our target return on investment (ROI) across campaigns," Shamo continued. "Google Product Search is free, and that helps us accomplish this goal. By adding Product Search to our comparison shopping engine mix, we are able to boost our aggregate ROI by 11%."

Learn more about Google Product Search.

At ECMTA 2008 Spring eCommerce Summit

Alyssa — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:17:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout team

This week (April 22-24) we're attending the eCommerce Merchant Trade Association's 2008 Spring eCommerce Summit in New Orleans. If you're at the show, come see our Commerce and Analytics educational session on Wednesday afternoon at the Morial Convention Center. We have team members present to tell you about how you can process your transactions for free with Google Checkout and increase your sales. Plus, you can hear more about other products in Google's commerce solution, including Product Search and Google Analytics.

Meet the Team: Prem Ramaswami

Alyssa — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:03:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout team

From time to time we'll introduce you to a member of the Checkout team. Meet one now.

Alyssa: How long have you been at Google, and what role do you play on Checkout?

Prem: I've been a Google Checkout product manager for over a year. I work closely with our merchant engineering team in the greatest city on Earth (New York, for those of you who don't live here :)). Before Google, I worked for MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, as an engineer on an airborne 3D laser radar wide-area mapping program. And before that, I was finishing up an undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Though I'm not mapping things with lasers anymore, I am still excited about the work I do to enhance the overall ecommerce experience for merchants and buyers.

Alyssa: What sorts of things fill your day?

Prem: I work closely with our engineering team on building an easy-to-use service, and I coordinate with sales and operations to make sure we're focused on the features that make it simple for sellers to offer Checkout. Together, we look for ways to drive more traffic and increase customer conversions. I also spend a lot of time reviewing feedback from merchants to ensure that we're paying attention to the needs of potential and current sellers. As part of the Checkout team, I've worked on features ranging from our easily downloadable order reports to our Checkout for Non-Profits launch.

Alyssa: How do you go about taking an idea like Checkout for Non-Profits from conception to reality?

Prem: Carefully! In all seriousness, this idea was a fairly obvious one, considering the fact that Google has a history of supporting the non-profit world. I found an engineer who was interested, and together we spent the famous Google 20% time working on this. As a product manager, I need to worry about the entire project, driving it from idea to implementation. This means everything from legal and compliance work to guaranteeing a great user experience. With the non-profit launch specifically, we had to make sure that the experience wasn't confusing for the donors or for the charities. You might think that sounds like a lot, and it is, but product managers are known as jacks of all trades (feel free to insert master-of-none joke here!).

Alyssa: Any high points?

Prem: When first thinking about Google Checkout for Non-Profits, I wanted to create a new program that would really revolutionize the process of collecting donations for non-profits without huge technology budgets and I knew that getting the resources I needed would require executive support. When it was time to get approval for the service, I scheduled a meeting with Larry, Sergey, and Eric, prepared a 40-slide deck with numerous projections, and braced myself for what I expected would be a long, involved discussion. Instead, I presented the first slide and Larry said, "We should do this." Eric agreed. And just like that, the meeting was over. Coolest thing ever.

Alyssa: That's great. And what about when you're "off-duty"?

Prem: New York is a great city with lots to do. I love getting out of my apartment (also known as my room, since it's a studio) and exploring. I read a lot -– I'm a self-described news junkie, and the number of times I refresh Google Reader in a day is truly sad. I'm a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan, but I'll pretty much pick up any book ranging from fiction to non-fiction as long as someone else tells me it's a worthwhile read. I just recently read a great book called The Mouse Driver Chronicles. I travel a ton and completed a work trip to Japan, China, Thailand, India, and Israel earlier. I also get addicted to the tube, watching shows like Entourage, Heroes, 24, Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs, and lots more (I'm always playing catch-up!).

Product Search and Checkout – A Perfect Match

Alyssa — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Product Marketing Manager

Did you know about the ways Google Product Search and Google Checkout can work together to increase traffic and sales to your site? For those not familiar with the service, Product Search allows merchants to upload their products for free, making their products more discoverable for Google users. Using Product Search and Google Checkout together can be even more effective to connect you with potential buyers. If you're a Google Checkout merchant, the Checkout badge will appear next to your listings in the Product Search results. Users even have the option of searching for only Checkout-enabled items.

We've heard great success stories from merchants who have leveraged Google Product Search and Google Checkout to grow their business. Shawn Butler, head of development at Bestprices.com, recently said that, "The combination allows buyers and sellers to find each other through Google, and online retailers to benefit as a result." According to Shawn, Product Search now accounts for more than 35% of his store's overall sales. Visit Google Product Search to learn more about uploading your products for free.

eTail 2008: Come see us

Alyssa — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Product Marketing Manager

This week (February 11-14) the Google Checkout and Google Product Search teams are headed to Palm Desert, California, for the eTail 2008 conference. If you're planning to attend, please stop by and visit us at booth #64. We'll be on hand to explain how Google Checkout and Google Product Search can help you manage listings, drive leads, increase conversions, and reduce costs.

See you there!

Tax made easy!

Alyssa — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:02:00 +0000

Posted by David Wurtz, Product Manager

We have received valuable feedback about the process of specifying tax in your cart posts, especially when using Buy Now buttons. That's why we are very excited to release our new "Tax Rules" feature, found under the 'Settings' tab. From here you can specify default tax rates that will be used when your cart posts lack tax information.

For those of you who rely mostly on Buy Now buttons, it is easy to charge tax on your items with these new settings in place. And for those of you who post shopping carts that already contain tax information, you can choose to use this account setting instead.

Thanks to everyone who brought this issue to our attention. We're always on the lookout for feedback like this, so please keep it coming.

PS: In case you weren't aware, there's another way to specify shipping and taxes in your Buy Now buttons: Simply add the few lines of code shown below to your Buy Now button snippet (just don't forget to modify this example code to reflect your actual shipping and taxes).

Announcing Order Report API

Alyssa — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:19:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

A few months ago, we released a reporting feature that enabled you to easily review and download previous orders. Initially accessible only from the seller interface, this feature is now also available to API users. With the Order Report API, you can download a list of Google Checkout orders into a comma-separated file. The API will return a list of orders for a period of up to 31 days, and you can limit results to orders that have specific financial or fulfillment order states.

As always, we are interested in hearing your feedback so please let us know we can make the merchant experience event better.

Checkout for Political Contributions

Alyssa — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:01:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

More and more citizens are making political contributions online, and the newly launched Google Checkout for Political Contributions is an easy and fast way for candidates to collect contributions from supporters and build new online communities by enabling supporters to embed Checkout contribution buttons on their websites, blogs, and social network profiles. If you happen to be running for national office, there's more information (and a quick process to get started) here. We hope this initiative helps bring regular citizens one step closer to the political process.

New on the hot list: Google Checkout Trends

Alyssa — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:29:00 +0000

Posted by David Wurtz, Product Manager

Many of you are aware of Google Trends, the handy tool that enables you to track and compare what Google users are searching for. Now imagine a similar tool that can give you some insight into what people are buying and selling online. That's exactly what we've built: Google Checkout Trends aggregates the sales data of Google Checkout merchants and charts it in a matter of seconds. (Of course, all the data is anonymized first.) So if you're interested in how sales of Batman or Spider Man paraphernalia compare, or are wondering just how popular Ugg boots are these days, visit Checkout Trends for a glimpse into online shopping. Go ahead and try it out -- and get creative with the searches. You may be surprised at what you find.

Vote for the features that matter most

Alyssa — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:27:00 +0000

Posted by Lisa August-Schmidt, Google Checkout Operations

When it comes to improvements for Checkout, you know best which features will make a difference to your business. In the past, we've followed your discussions in the developers forum and have noted your email requests too. Now we've built a Feature Request Form that will let you vote for the three new elements you'd be most interested in having. We've also included a section at the bottom where you can suggest any features we haven't listed. Your ideas will help us get a better idea of which new features you'd most like to see. So let us know what you want -- we're listening!

Helping sellers integrate Checkout

Alyssa — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Posted by Jayanth Mysore, Product Manager

We've launched a new set of pages that offer more information on how to integrate Checkout into your site. Now you can more easily:

* compare our different options for integrating
* identify shopping cart platforms that have already integrated Google Checkout
* better understand the integration process with our APIs (including a handy checklist to guide you through the process)

If you've already signed up or integrated, you'll find the new content under our recently launched "Tools" tab. If you are a new merchant just signing up, you'll automatically land on the new integration options page. We'll keep you updated as we add new content to these pages over the next few months.

Finding ways to give back during the holidays

Alyssa — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:37:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

Since launching Google Checkout for Non-Profits a few months ago, we've gotten a lot of email from people wanting to know where they can use Checkout to make donations. The volume of email has only increased as we've moved further into the holiday season, so we thought we'd launch a holiday page that highlights some of the organizations you can support using Checkout.

The holiday season is a wonderful time to give, and we have some great organizations accepting donations through Checkout, including AmeriCares, Direct Relief, the March of Dimes, and UNICEF. Using Google Checkout, you can donate $35 to buy a water pump for Action Against Hunger, fight global warming with Clean Air-Cool Planet, and help kids achieve their dreams through The Global Fund for Children. And when you donate, every penny of your donation goes to the organization.

Free transaction processing beyond the holidays

Alyssa — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:17:00 +0000

Posted by Gavin Chan, Product Marketing Manager

As you merchants out there may know, we originally planned to transition back to Checkout's standard fee structure on January 1. Considering how busy this time of the year is for you, we're extending our free transaction processing offer an extra month -- to February 1, 2008.

After that, you'll still be able to earn free credit card processing by using AdWords, Google's performance-based advertising program. For every $1 / £1 you spend on AdWords, you'll be able to process $10 / £10 of sales through Checkout for free. For anything outside of that, you'll be charged 2.0% plus $.20 per transaction if you're in the US, and 1.5% plus £0.15 if you're in the UK.

So if you're an AdWords advertiser, make sure you link your AdWords account with Checkout by the end of January to earn free transaction processing moving forward. If you aren't an AdWords advertiser, learn more about AdWords and sign up to earn free transaction processing with Google Checkout.

Holiday shopping with Product Search and Checkout

Alyssa — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:32:00 +0000

Posted by Gavin Chan, Product Marketing Manager

When thinking about ways to help people use both Google Product Search and Google Checkout to do their holiday shopping this year, a few of us from these teams decided to have a little fun. The result is a short video featuring our very own Kristin and Brian in their holiday finery. So if this video inspires you to shop, make sure to visit our holiday special offers page. And happy holidays to you.

Cardinal Commerce goes mobile

Alyssa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:04:00 +0000

Posted by Reid Townsend, Technical Account Manager

Some things are simply better together, like chocolate and peanut butter. Or, say, Google Checkout and mobile devices. We launched Google Checkout for mobile back in May, and we’re excited to announce a new way to make products available to the legions of mobile users. Cardinal Commerce has integrated Google Checkout for mobile into their MAX platform. SkyMall, RitzCamera, Dazadi, and Northern Response are now serving up their products to mobile users everywhere with this new technology.

How does it work? Merchants simply post a keyword linked to an item for sale (on a billboard, in a magazine, or on a poster, for example); buyers can text in this keyword on their phone, and then they'll get a link back that they can use to complete their purchase with Google Checkout. It's that easy!

You can also text "google" to 49432 to access the products from these merchants on Cardinal Commerce.

Holiday shopping is now more rewarding

Alyssa — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:36:00 +0000

Posted by Shoaib Makani, Product Marketing Manager

Don't let the holiday shopping grinch put the squeeze on your time or budget. With Google Checkout you can shop more quickly with one login across the web and stay organized with all your Checkout orders tracked in one place. And to help you save on those holiday purchases, more than 100 Google Checkout stores are offering promotions ranging from exclusive discounts of up to $50 to free shipping for Checkout buyers through December 17, 2007. What's more, when you shop with Google Checkout through December 31, 2007, you can earn frequent flyer miles.

Reward yourself with the gift of time and exclusive savings. Learn more about Google Checkout holiday offers here.

Google Checkout badges on non-profits’ AdWords ads

Alyssa — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:17:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

One of the great things about working at Google is the opportunity to contribute to the company's support of the non-profit community. Google works with non-profits in a number of different ways, ranging from helping them increase their visibility and drive traffic to their sites through the Google Grants program, to providing them with special versions of products like Google Apps, Google Earth, and YouTube which help them take better advantage of new technology as they work to further their causes.

As a member of the Google Checkout team, I've been able to make a contribution by helping launch Google Checkout for Non-Profits, which enables non-profits to collect online credit card donations free of charge (and free of hassle) using Checkout. And today I'm happy to announce that we will now begin displaying the Google Checkout badge on the AdWords ads of non-profit organizations who use Checkout.

An important part of Google Checkout is matching up users with convenient, secure places to shop when they search, and the Checkout badge on AdWords ads is one of the ways we've been able to do that. In this same vein, we're adding the Checkout badge to non-profits' AdWords ads to help connect donors and non-profits more easily, and ultimately make donating to them as fast, simple, and secure as possible. And, of course, Google has committed to processing Checkout donations for free through at least the end of 2008, so donors can support their favorite non-profits knowing that 100 percent of their donations will reach those organizations.

If you'd like to learn more about how Google Checkout for Non-Profits might be able to help your non-profit organization, head over to http://checkout.google.com/seller/npo/.

Welcome, TigerDirect!

Alyssa — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:04:00 +0000

Posted by Stephanie Bilodeau, Strategic Partner Manager

The Google Checkout team welcomes TigerDirect, a 20-year-old business that currently ranks as the #24 top retailer in Internet Retailer's 2007 Top 500 guide. TigerDirect offers digital and electronic equipment, ranging from large-ticket items such as desktop computers and laptops to smaller-scale purchases like digital cameras and PC components and accessories. In fact, you can find more than 25,000 TigerDirect items listed in our Product Search. By launching Google Checkout, TigerDirect has made the choice to provide their users with more choice when it comes time to check out.

So keep your eyes open during the rapidly approaching holiday season, as TigerDirect plants itself firmly in the Checkout fold.

Site search for Checkout customers

Alyssa — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:11:00 +0000

Posted by Ryan Pollock, Site Search Team

If you're a Google Checkout merchant, you're probably interested in learning about other Google products that can help you run your website and increase sales. In particular, your website needs its own search engine so that visitors can find products that interest them; Google offers a number of solutions for this. Thousands of businesses use our hosted search and appliance solutions, but we've found that many Checkout merchants aren't as familiar with these products.

In July, we launched Custom Search Business Edition (CSBE), which enables you to quickly create a hosted search engine for your website that uses Google's index and relevance algorithms. CSBE has a number of great features, but perhaps most interesting is an XML API that allows you to completely customize the look and feel of your search results. Currently, CSBE does not allow you to directly control your search engine's crawler, so if you want to ensure that certain URLs are regularly indexed, you may want to consider using a Google Mini instead. The Google Mini is an integrated hardware and software solution for creating a search engine. Compare our site search solutions in more detail.

Now you can cancel that order when you have an "oops" moment

Alyssa — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:30:00 +0000

Posted by Anita Barci, Product Marketing Manager, Google Checkout Team

Having second thoughts about that sweater you just ordered? Maybe you want to get a different size, or accidentally entered the wrong shipping address?

Now with Google Checkout you can quickly and easily cancel an order if you want to. Just navigate to the Order Receipt and click the "Cancel" button at the top of the page. This button will be available for up to 15 minutes after placing orders on most Checkout merchant websites. As long as the button appears, you can cancel an order with one simple click -- no questions asked. If the "Cancel" button doesn't appear, you'll need to contact sellers directly.

This button will automatically be enabled on most merchant sites starting today. Sellers will now be able to see in their inboxes which orders are within the 15-minute cancellation window and which orders have been canceled by buyers. Please note that the order cancellation button is currently not available for purchases of digital content. To learn more, refer to our FAQ.

Five new API features

Alyssa — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:16:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

Today we launched an "Advanced Settings" section in the "Integration" tab under settings. This section lets Level 2 integrated merchants opt in to take advantage of new features without affecting any other part of their Checkout integration. Right now there are five specific features that merchants can opt in to use:

* Name Parsing: Provides the first name, last name, and full name of the buyer and order recipient in separate fields new order notifications.
* Google Promo Notification: If an order is placed under a Google promotion, you can require new order notifications, charge amount notifications, and refund amount notifications to include the promotion amount.
* Ship-to Phone: Returns the buyer's ship-to phone number in new order notifications.
* Billing Phone: Returns the buyer's billing phone number in new order notifications.
* Improved Notifications: Prevents a merchant from improperly acknowledging a new order notification by requiring their acknowledgment to specify the serial number of the notification.

Scheduled maintenance on October 22

Alyssa — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:46:00 +0000

Posted by Don Faul, Manager, Google Checkout Operations

On Monday, October 22, at 9:00 pm PDT (Tuesday, October 23, at 5:00 am BST for merchants in the UK), Google Checkout will be unavailable for approximately 30-90 minutes as we conduct server maintenance. During this time, the Google Checkout button will not appear on merchant websites, and merchants will be unable to process orders or log in to their Google Checkout account. Please note that any orders received prior to this scheduled maintenance will not be affected. If you have any questions, please contact the support team.

Your feedback at work

Alyssa — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:01:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

We pay close attention to the feedback we get from merchants in discussion boards, blogs, and email, and we are always working to improve Checkout in response.

The most recent example: today we launched a new report so you can easily review and download your previous orders. Go to your Merchant Center inbox and find the "Download data to spreadsheet (.csv)" link -- clicking the link will download a comma-separated file that lists order-specific information. (Please note there is a 30-minute delay between orders in your inbox and orders appearing in the report.)

Another new feature suggested by merchants is the ability to access your buyer's ship-to phone numbers via the Merchant Center, in case you want to make sure your special delivery truly arrives on time. And these launches follow other recent releases including line-item shipping, carrier-calculated shipping, and simplified buy buttons.

We hope these enhancements make the lives of our merchants easier -- so give them a try and keep that feedback coming!

Taking action and going green

Alyssa — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:57:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Product Marketing Manager

Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of blogs worldwide are posting news about how individuals and organizations are helping the environment in all kinds of ways. We thought this would be a great time to let you know about some of the ways in which Google Checkout is playing a role in the important work that many of these organizations do.

Renewable Choice Energy is an example of an innovative organization that is coming up with new and interesting ways to help the environment. People can buy wind power credits using Google Checkout, offsetting the energy that is used with an investment in environmentally friendly wind power. With each Wind Power Card purchase, Renewable Choice Energy is working towards decreasing our dependency upon fossil fuels.

We also just launched an easy way for all U.S. non-profits, including environmental organizations, to collect donations from their supporters. With Google Checkout for Non-Profits, IRS-certified 501(c)(3)s) receive the full amount of the donation, with no transaction processing fees. Organizations can leverage YouTube's non-profit channel to engage supporters and offer people a fast and easy way to make a contribution with Google Checkout.

Something old, something new

Alyssa — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:53:00 +0000

Posted by Robert Swerling, Head of Strategic Partnerships, U.K. Checkout

As summer weddings give way to the holiday shopping season, we're excited to let you know that two more great retailers are offering Google Checkout services in the U.K.

Are you interested in buying something dazzling for your loved one, like a piece of jewelry? You can now shop at Goldsmiths, which opened its first store in Newcastle in 1778 and is Britain's largest jeweler today, and purchase using Google Checkout. In fact, it's the longest-trading retailer to offer Google Checkout to online customers.

Or perhaps you'd like to stay in touch with friends and family during the giving season. In that case, use Google Checkout on Vodafone. Vodafone UK is part of the world's leading international mobile telecommunications group and offers a wide range of voice and data communications to help customers make the most of their time.

As the Checkout family grows, we'll continue to help innovative, quality retailers -- whether they've been around for months, decades, or centuries -- connect with their customers. And don't forget that our summer promo is still going strong in the U.K.

Introducing Google Checkout for Non-Profits

Alyssa — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:58:00 +0000

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Product Manager

Today, I'm happy (OK, more like ecstatic) to introduce Google Checkout for Non-Profits -- with this launch, U.S. non-profit organizations (IRS-certified 501(c)(3)s) now have an easy way to accept online donations, and donors have a fast and secure way to support their favorite groups. The best part: it's completely free for the organizations. Through at least the end of 2008, non-profits will pay 0% + 0 cents in transaction fees for each donation they accept through Checkout. And that means donors can support these groups knowing that 100 percent of their donations will reach their charity.

Besides being free, Checkout for Non-Profits is designed to make the entire donation and collection process more efficient. For donors, it enables you to complete a donation with just your Google login, and it helps you track your giving in a convenient and central place (a feature that should be particularly useful for those of us who tend to start our tax returns on April 14). It also helps to drive more donations to non-profits by making it easier for donors to give, and it makes collecting funds as easy as pushing a button. With Checkout for Non-Profits, we hope to do for donations what we're currently doing for e-commerce: increase the volume of transactions by making the process as simple and secure as possible for everyone involved.

To learn more, head over to our Checkout for Non-Profits page, and take a look at non-profits like the William J. Clinton Foundation and the March of Dimes , which are already using it to drive online giving on their YouTube channels.

At Shop.org next week

Alyssa — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:52:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout team

Next week (Sept. 17-19) we're attending the Shop.org Annual Summit in Las Vegas. If you're at the show, stop by and visit us in booth #429 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. We'll have team members on hand to explain how Google Checkout works to increase your sales and provide free credit card processing, plus folks from the Product Search team to talk about the benefits of increased traffic to your store.

Time for end-of-summer shopping in UK

Alyssa — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:59:00 +0000

Posted by Sandeep Menon, Product Marketing Manager

Whether it's for electronics or clothes or sporting goods, more and more people are shopping online these days. And one of the benefits is that you can easily shop whatever the weather. Beginning today, a number of Google Checkout stores in the UK are offering exclusive savings of up to £10 for Checkout buyers. This offer is for a limited time only, so start shopping — and saving — now!

One more thing: to explore products from Google Checkout stores, be sure to add the gadget to your iGoogle homepage by clicking here:

More savings for back-to-school shopping

Alyssa — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:35:00 +0000

Posted By Susan Taing, Google Checkout Team

Classes are starting across the country, so don't forget that you can take advantage of back-to-school savings of up to $20 from select Checkout stores. Whether you're looking for new gear at stores like Shoebuy.com, Aeropostale, or Bluefly; the latest tech from stores like Buy.com or USA Notebook; or supplies from stores like drugstore.com and Beauty.com, Google Checkout will help you save time and money as you get ready to start the new school year.

At eTail East this week

Alyssa — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:23:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout team

This week, we're attending the eTail East Coast Conference in Washington D.C. If you're at the show, stop by and visit us in booth #65 at the Hilton, and try to catch our own Steve Stukenborg on Wednesday, August 8, during Track B. Steve will be joined by Steve Larkin from Zales for a session called One Merchant's Experience with Google Checkout.

Golfballs.com scores with Google Product Search

Alyssa — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:52:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Checkout

You might remember the post we did a while ago about Google Product Search. One of our merchants, Golfballs.com, has started to use Google Product Search in addition to Google Checkout. Here's what they had to say about their experience...

"At Golfballs.com, we're always looking for ways to improve and optimize our marketing dollars. Recently, we found that one of the most effective ways to reach our goal ROI is to use Google Product Search.

In Google's natural search results, we rank well for general golf keywords, but we have a difficult time ranking as high for the majority of our brand products. By using Google Product Search, we've been able to increase traffic from search result pages simply by providing a data feed of products to Google. The feed gives Google more information about our inventory and that translates into more relevant placement on search result pages. In addition, Google Checkout helps make it even easier for consumers to find us when they search for items like Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls by displaying the Google Checkout badge next to our search results. Ultimately Golfballs.com has seen an increase in revenue through the combined efforts of Google Product Search and Google Checkout."
- Brandon Hartness, Golfballs.com Director of eCommerce

drugstore.com joins the Google Checkout family

Alyssa — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Posted by Stephanie Bilodeau for the Google Checkout team

Thousands of stores across the web already accept Google Checkout, and our Checkout family continues to grow. Starting this week, you can shop at drugstore.com (and Beauty.com) with Checkout too. You can buy everyday essentials like sunscreen, vitamins, hair treatments, and over-the-counter medication anytime with the added bonus of free shipping on any order over $49 or more. A Checkout welcome to both sites!

Artist uses Checkout for international sales

Alyssa — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:41:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Associate Product Marketing Manager

While most people know that Checkout helps retailers sell more, it can help artists too. For instance, a well-known spray can artist called Vulcan sells his art using Google Checkout. He told us that Checkout has helped him be more successful in selling his art on the web. "Spray can art is international," he told us. "I have painted around the world, and putting my art on the web lets people see the pieces I create right after I'm done with them. Google Checkout lets people buy them without a lot of hassle, so I can keep on doing my art."

Not long ago Vulcan moved from New York to San Francisco to develop his art in a new environment. He's often invited to do solo shows such as this one, and recently he was at Google to paint a set of Google Mini search appliances for our Japanese launch. Take a look.

And don't miss this cool time-lapse video of a painting coming to life at Google by hip-hop filmmaker Kevin Epps.

Our new iGoogle gadget

Alyssa — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:35:00 +0000

Posted by Graeme Roche, Associate Product Manager, Checkout

Starting today, you can add a new gadget to your personalized iGoogle homepage. The gadget, called Shop with Google Checkout, will feature fun top-10 lists of products available through Google Checkout. We'll be updating the gadget every day with new lists and products, so you can get a daily dose of entertainment as you browse and shop using Checkout.

Here's what it looks like:

Add the gadget to your iGoogle homepage by clicking here:

As we continue to improve the gadget, we'd appreciate your feedback, so feel free to send comments to checkout-gadget-feedback@google.com.

Scheduled maintenance update

Alyssa — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:56:00 +0000

Posted by Don Faul, Manager, Google Checkout Operations

We have rescheduled the server maintenance originally planned for Thursday, July 5th at 9pm PDT. This maintenance will now occur on Monday, July 9th at 9pm PDT. At that time, Google Checkout will be unavailable for approximately 60-90 minutes. During this maintenance period, the Google Checkout button will not appear on merchant websites, and merchants will be unable to process orders or log in to their Google Checkout account. Please note that any orders received prior to this scheduled maintenance will be unaffected. If you have any questions, please contact the support team. We will be sure to let you know if there are further updates to the schedule.

A partner perspective

Alyssa — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:12:00 +0000

Posted by Mike Naylor, Director of IT & Marketing, Ebuyer

As a Google Checkout launch partner in the UK, we were excited about taking advantage of the benefits of Google Checkout from day one. We've been very pleased with the initial results we've seen: an increase in our on-site conversion rate and more sales. We've also seen an improvement in our AdWords ROI.

Customer feedback has been positive, as users appreciate the convenience that Google Checkout offers, and we have more new customers, as the badge on our AdWords ad gives users confidence that shopping with Ebuyer will be secure.

If you're interested, you can read more about our experience with Checkout.

Increase sales with Google Product Search

Alyssa — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:11:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout Team

We thought we'd take a moment to tell you all about a free Google service that can help you drive more traffic to your site and increase your sales. Google Product Search allows people to search for and find products that they want to buy online. As a merchant, you can use Product Search to promote your products to potential customers for free. If you're also a Google Checkout merchant, the Checkout badge will appear next to your listings and highlight you in the search results of Product Search.

If you'd like more information, please take a look at our FAQ or, if you're ready, go ahead and get started now.

Save up to 21% on shipping with FedEx

Alyssa — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:55:00 +0000

Posted by Gavin Chan, Product Marketing Manager

We're excited to let you all know about a new program we recently put together: FedEx is offering Google Checkout merchants savings of up to 21 percent on FedEx® shipping. The only requirement is that you be an active Checkout merchant. Interested? Get all the details and sign up here.

Update: Clarified some details of the promotion.

Let freedom ring

Alyssa — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:13:00 +0000

Posted by Alyssa England, Google Checkout Team

Are you an online seller attending eBay Live! in Boston this week? If so, join us for a celebration of user choice at the Google Checkout Freedom Party on Thursday night (6/14). To get to the party, just hop on the classic Beantown trolley in front of the Boston Convention Center and follow the freedom trail to the Old South Meeting House. We’ll use the same spot where revolutionaries launched the Boston Tea Party to celebrate freedom with free food, free drinks, free live music -- even free massages. Join us and bring a friend. RSVP here.

Look, Ma — no wires!

Alyssa — Thu, 31 May 2007 00:55:00 +0000

Posted by Peisun Wu, Checkout Engineering Team

Since launching Checkout last summer, we've been working hard to extend it to new merchants and buyers. Last month, for example, we took a big step forward by making Checkout available to merchants in the UK. Now we're taking our first step toward making Checkout available on a whole new platform: mobile.

Existing Google Checkout buyers are now able to make fast, secure purchases on their mobile phones from any WAP–enabled Checkout merchant. The Checkout experience has a couple differences in the mobile world -- for example, buyers verify their identity with a PIN rather than with their full Google login -- but generally it's the same secure and convenient experience that's offered on the desktop.

On the merchant side, US and UK Checkout merchants who have mobile-friendly sites can now offer their customers a fast and secure way to shop online while on the go. Existing merchants who have a WAP-enabled site can now use Google Checkout for mobile with no changes, and when new merchants perform a standard Google Checkout merchant integration, the mobile functionality will be implemented automatically.

We're just starting to explore the possibilities for Checkout on this new platform. As more people and businesses engage with the web via mobile devices, we'll be adding further functionality to Checkout for mobile in order to help users buy the things they need quickly and securely, anytime and anywhere.

So stay tuned, and, as always, don't hesitate to let us know you think.