Google Data » Jessica Smallman

Free transaction processing for Google Grants recipients continues through 2011

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:00:00 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce that as part of the Google Checkout for Non-Profits program, free transaction processing for Google Grants recipients will be extended through 2011.

So if you’re part of the Google Grants program, you’ll be able to use Google Checkout to accept donations without paying transaction processing fees in the coming year. We hope many non-profits take advantage of this benefit through the next year as they raise funds to advance their causes.

Please read more about (and join!) the Google Checkout for Non-Profits program. For more information about other Google tools for non-profits, check out for Google for Non-Profits site.

Posted by Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

Last chance for Checkout holiday shopping deals

Jessica Smallman — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:04:00 +0000

Online holiday shopping has been setting new records this season, and there’s no reason to slow down now. Google can help you find great deals for all the last-minute items on your list using Google Checkout and Google Product Search.

Know the type of store you’re looking for? Visit the Checkout Deals Page to find Checkout sellers offering discounts of $5, $10, and $20. Shop with multiple merchants to take advantage of the deals through December 16.

Need a little item inspiration? Use Product Search to browse popular items, holiday gift guides, and specific deals from Checkout sellers. Remember to pay with Google Checkout to take advantage of the advertised deals.

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Posted by Jessica Smallman, Google Checkout Team

Check out and then Google Checkout eBooks and Chrome apps

Jessica Smallman — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:00:00 +0000

This week we welcomed two new additions to Google Checkout: the Google eBookstore and the Chrome Web Store.

The Chrome Web Store is an online marketplace where you can discover thousands of apps, extensions and themes for Google Chrome. The Google eBookstore offers the world’s largest selection of ebooks with nearly 3 million paid and free titles ready for purchase and unlimited storage in the digital cloud.

We hope these products will offer new opportunities to Checkout buyers and merchants and are excited to welcome new eBooks and Chrome users to Google Checkout.

Posted by Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

UK Merchants: Increase online donations for your cause

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:58:00 +0000

We’re pleased to announce that tax exempt organizations in the UK are now able to accept donations from their users via Google Checkout. If you have selected “Non-profit” as your primary product type in the Settings tab of your Checkout profile, the Donate button is now available for you to embed on your website. Learn more about how to set up the button and increase donations to your cause.

In addition, donors in the UK will be able to elect into Gift Aid while making the purchase, making their donations even more valuable to UK non-profits.

Posted by Sri Raga Velagapudi, Software Engineer and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

Stand out to shoppers with the Google Checkout holiday promotion

Jessica Smallman — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:46:00 +0000

The holiday shopping season is quickly approaching, and we know merchants are busy planning ways to stand out to the right buyers and increase sales. We’re excited to present a way for active Checkout merchants to partner with Google to help drive Google Checkout leads and sales during the upcoming shopping season: You can sign in to your Google Checkout account to review the details and quickly set up a holiday promotion.

Google will market the promotion through AdWords ads, emails to buyers, and social networking posts to bring buyers to the Checkout Deals Page. Last holiday season, merchants who ran a Checkout promotion increased their Google Checkout sales by an average of 209%, compared to a 25% increase for merchants who did not participate.

You can participate in the Google Checkout Holiday promotion by offering shoppers your choice of a $5 off $30, $10 off $60, $10 off $100 or $20 off $200 discount (pre-tax and shipping), limit one per user. If you participate, we'll change your standard Google Checkout button on your website to the special promotional Checkout button that features an orange starburst labeled with the promotion discount. When the minimum cart requirement is met, the discount will automatically appear for buyers when they shop with Google Checkout from November 23, 2010 at 4:00 PM Pacific to December 16, 2010, at 4:00 PM Pacific.

Additionally, if you are an AdWords advertiser, Google will change the standard Checkout badge appearing on your Google.com AdWords ads to a new badge that features the promotion discount. These badges have been introduced to enable shoppers who search on Google.com to easily identify and take advantage of promotional offers. Merchants eligible for the standard Checkout badge are eligible for the new promotional badge at Google's discretion.

To get started, sign in to your Google Checkout merchant account at http://checkout.google.com/sell, go to the 'Tools' tab, and click the 'Promotions' link in the left-hand navigation to view the promotion details and accept the offer of your choice or decline the terms. Once you accept, Google will take care of the rest. No additional integration is required.

We’re looking forward to a fun and successful holiday season!

Posted by Jessica Smallman, Google Checkout Team

Remember these tips for safer shopping

Jessica Smallman — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:25:00 +0000

National Cyber Security Awareness Month may be coming to an end, but online security is something to think about year-round. With the exciting holiday shopping season coming up, we wanted to share some tips for keeping your buying and selling experience online safe and secure.

Beware of money-transfer and seller scams: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Never wire money to a seller you haven’t reviewed very thoroughly, and stay alert for phishing attempts. Note that Google Checkout does NOT support payments through wire transfer and will never ask for your username or password via email. See our previous post on fake Checkout invoices for more details.
Work with legitimate businesses: Before you make a purchase from an unfamiliar seller online, make sure to investigate them. For example, do a web search for reviews from other buyers with experience with the seller. Legitimate merchants should provide you with contact information that you can reference if you have any questions or problems with your transaction.
Make sure your passwords are strong: Don't reuse passwords across multiple accounts, and remember to change them periodically, especially if you suspect your account may be at risk. Check out more tips on how to choose a smart password.
Type web addresses into your browser's address bar: Never navigate to sensitive accounts by clicking a link or cutting and pasting the address. Instead, enter the address yourself, (e.g. type “www.bankofamerica.com”).
Only send information over secure connections: Look for the https connection in the address bar (and the padlock icon in your address bar if you’re using Google Chrome or IE) when transmitting any sensitive information like credit card or bank numbers. When accessing financial accounts, check that the website has an Extended Validation Certificate — the URL or website name should show up as green in the URL bar, meaning the organization that operates the website has been validated.
Avoid conducting financial transactions on public computers: Avoid logging into accounts that contain sensitive financial information (e.g. bank or credit card accounts or commerce websites) on public or shared computers. If you do access such information on a public or shared computer, remember to sign out completely and close your browser window after you're done.

Shopping online can be fun and easy, and Google Checkout wants it to be safe and secure as well. For even more information, visit Google’s Online Security Blog to read about keeping your data safe in the the cloud.

Posted by Eve Hu, Google Checkout Risk Operations

Stop. Think. Connect. to protect yourself from fake Checkout invoices.

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:56:00 +0000

In keeping with our commitment to security for our users, and in recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we wanted to encourage everyone to be wary of spoofed Google Checkout invoices that try to trick users into sending money to scammers. A spoofed invoice is an invoice designed to look like it came from someone else — in this case, Google Checkout. We’re finding that these spoofed invoices are often related to fraudulent vehicle purchases, where the scammer persuades the buyer that the high-cost purchase will be protected by Google Checkout. In fact, the transaction is fraudulent and has nothing to do with Google Checkout.

Buyers have reported that the spoofed invoices are designed to look similar to Google Checkout invoices, with one important exception: payment is requested through wire transfer, money transfer services such as Western Union or Moneygram, or direct bank transfers. This is a clear scam signal because Google Checkout does NOT support money transfers in any of these ways.

A typical scam might look like this:

You are searching online to buy a car and find a listing for something you like at an incredible price. When you contact the seller, they suggest that you use Google Checkout to pay for the car. Then, they send you what they claim is a Google Checkout invoice that lists the price and has instructions on how to send them the money. The red flag, again, is that the invoice has instructions on how to wire money via Western Union or Moneygram, or via direct bank transfers.

Here are some additional tips for safer shopping and recognizing scams:

Google Checkout currently supports payments made by credit or debit cards only. If a seller suggests you can pay via wire or bank transfer with your Checkout account, don’t proceed with the transaction; it’s likely fraudulent.
Scammers may reference the terms “Verified Google Checkout Agent,” “Regional Manager,” “Purchase Protection Account,” or some other form of escrow account in their spoofed invoice. None of these terms are used on Checkout.
Scammers may request high dollar transactions to be broken down into smaller payments, sometimes with each payment going to a different person.
The price of the goods you are interested in purchasing seems too good to be true, or the seller claims to have the new hot item that is sold out everywhere else.

If you received a fake Google Checkout invoice, you may wish to file a report with the appropriate authorities and/or your regional fraud reporting center — such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center. For more information on scams in general, please see this post on the Google Security Blog.

Posted by Steven Chen, Manager, Trust & Safety

Shopping with a buddy

Jessica Smallman — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:24:00 +0000

We know that savvy online shoppers are always looking for a deal, but sometimes it can be difficult to get the right service with the right price. A handy update to Shopping Buddy (previously featured on our blog under the name Google Checkout Promo Notifier) brings discounts plus ratings right to your Google Chrome browser. The extension now displays merchant ratings and reviews, so you can find promotions and learn more about a merchant all without leaving the site you’re shopping on.

The seller rating will display as a star with score from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) in the URL bar. To read detailed reviews and see the distribution of ratings, just click on the star.

To get more useful information while shopping online, download Shopping Buddy from the Chrome extensions page and be sure to let us know what you think.

Posted by Nicolas Garnier and Peng Ying, Developer Programs Engineers

Setting international sales tax rates gets easier

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:28:00 +0000

We’re happy to share an update to merchant tax settings that we hope will make selling internationally even easier. Merchants can now set sales tax rates for all countries supported by Google Checkout from the Tax setup option under the Settings tab in the Checkout Merchant Center.

Specifically, you can specify tax rates to apply to the goods that you ship to over 140 countries, all U.S. states, and all Canadian provinces.

To learn even more about setting sales tax rates, visit our Help Center and let us know what you think in the Merchant Forum.

Posted by Sri Raga Velagapudi, Software Engineer and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

Checking in on Google Checkout

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:05:00 +0000

Some exciting news today on the Android Developers blog: Google Checkout is now supporting Android developers in 20 new countries, from Portugal to Mexico and beyond, bringing the total number of developer countries on Android Market to 29.

This comes at a very exciting time for Google Checkout. Looking back at the last year in particular, what stands out is the promising growth we’ve seen in the use of the service: The number of transactions on Checkout has tripled, the user base has grown 50 percent, and the number of active users is up by 120 percent -- all in the last 12 months. We’re now helping improve the online checkout experience for hundreds of thousands of sellers and developers, and tens of millions of buyers, in many locations around the world.

Checkout has also played a valuable role in enabling a fast, safe, and convenient purchase experience across Google products ranging from Android Market to YouTube Rentals. Looking ahead, Checkout will be featured as a payment method in upcoming initiatives like the Apps Marketplace, Chrome Web Store, and Google Editions, and we’re looking forward to working with an even larger set of developers, publishers, and buyers on them.

Like most of you, we’re focusing much of our energy right now on gearing up for the holiday season, and on helping merchants drive even more traffic and conversions from our rapidly growing user base during that crucial time of year. U.S. merchants should look for information about holiday promotions in your account and your inbox soon. (To be sure you don’t miss any promotion announcements, remember to opt in to receive emails from Google Checkout.)

Meanwhile, we want to thank all the sellers and developers who have helped us grow and improve Checkout over the last few years. We are more excited than ever to innovate for you, and we’ll continue to work toward delivering the fastest, the safest, and the most convenient purchase experience across the web and the mobile. Stay tuned!

Posted by Arun Balaraman, Group Product Manager

Adding Google Checkout Donate buttons to your Google Site

Jessica Smallman — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:40:00 +0000

To make it easier for non-profits to receive donations with Checkout, we've launched a Google Checkout donation gadget for Google sites:

It’s easy to add the button right from your Sites page by selecting the “Google Checkout Donate Button” from the Google Sites list of featured gadgets which is accessible through the “Insert” menu and then “More gadgets...”

To learn more about how to create a Google Checkout for Non-Profits account, please visit the instructions page.

Posted by Nicolas Garnier, Developer Programs Engineer

Pay on the go with the Android Payment Chrome Extension

Jessica Smallman — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Imagine you’re selling at a market or expo and want to take credit cards. Rather than hassle with cash, you can use the new Android Payment Extension for the Google Checkout Store Gadget on your laptop to allow Checkout customers to purchase from their phones.

This extension helps merchants quickly set up a store and accept payments via Google Checkout and Android by following the steps below:

1. Create a Google Checkout merchant account and configure your tax on the Settings Tab
2. Use the Google Checkout Store Gadget Wizard to generate a webstore template
3. Fill in the Google Spreadsheet with information about the items you wish to sell
4. Create a Google Sites page and follow the wizard to embed the Store Gadget
5. Install the Android Payment Chrome Extension

Once your customer tells you the items he or she wants to buy, you can create a cart with those items on your laptop. You then click the green Checkout with Android button and have the customer scan the QR code displayed with their phone. The QR code directs your customer to the buy page where they can complete their purchase.

While this payment method may not be perfect for all cases, we hope you find it useful for setting up a shop on the go and that it inspires further innovation in the mobile and payment developer communities.

Posted by Peng Ying, Google Checkout

Reward dads and grads with great savings

Jessica Smallman — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Graduation and Father's Day are around the corner, and it’s time to reward dads and grads for their hard work. Google Checkout makes it easy to find great deals to show dads our appreciation and to give grads our congratulations.

Hundreds of Checkout stores are offering exclusive discounts of $5, $10, or $20 on purchases made now through June 18, 2010. Find places to shop such as Nautica, TigerDirect.com, golfballs.com, eBags and more on the Google Checkout Deals Page. Or search for products to buy on Google.com and look for the Google Checkout promotion badge:

Happy shopping!

Posted by Jason Wang, Google Checkout Operations

Google Checkout for 501(c)6 organizations

Jessica Smallman — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:52:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce that IRS-approved 501(c)(6) organizations may now process transactions through Google Checkout. Previously, Google Checkout only processed online donations for 501(c)(3) religious, educational and charitable organizations in the United States.

Today, Google Checkout is extending transaction processing to IRS-approved 501(c)(6) organizations who focus on advancement and improvement of professional and business associations. If you are one of these organizations, we encourage you to sign up for Google Checkout to process transactions for memberships, dues and other services

Posted by S. Raja Satishchandra and Swathi Balerao, Google Checkout Operations

Understanding Chargebacks: A New Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel Video

Jessica Smallman — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Ever wonder what a chargeback is? Or how you can contest a chargeback received on a Google Checkout order? You can learn more about chargebacks in the newest Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel video.

Take a moment to watch the video, learn more about the chargeback resolution process, and leave your feedback. For even more detailed information on chargebacks, please visit the Chargeback and dispute resolution section of the Merchant Help Center.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel to get all the latest updates.

Thanks for watching!

Posted by Chad Liffmann, Google Checkout Operations

Announcing the new Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel

Jessica Smallman — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Welcome to the Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel, your interactive source for demo, feature launch and instructional videos for Google Checkout and Product Search.

Recently, we’ve added instructional videos for how to set up shipping information and sales tax calculations for Google Checkout. Soon, we’ll add videos to address frequently asked buyer and merchant questions and an informational video about how to handle customer chargebacks.

We look forward to supplying merchants with a video resource library and encourage your feedback. Click the ‘Subscribe’ button at the top of the channel page to follow all the latest e-commerce videos and please keep your channel comments coming.

Posted by Chad Liffmann, Google Checkout Operations

API integrations with Checkout get much faster

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 06 May 2010 23:49:00 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce a significant development in helping you get your business up and running faster with Google Checkout.

Earlier today, we released a new feature in the Checkout API that makes it easier for sellers to integrate Google Checkout into their order management systems. Please visit the new tutorial and Java and PHP libraries to learn how to integrate this new feature. The reduced number of API notifications and the elimination of the requirement of obtaining SSL Certificates make it possible to integrate Google Checkout with your existing order management system in just a few hours.

If you’re already integrated with Google Checkout, you will not experience any changes with your current integration. However as part of this change, existing Checkout merchants will see a re-designed Integration Settings page. Instead of opting into individual features that were part of the API, you will now be able to select a single API Version. Details of each version are available in the API release notes.

This will also make it easier for sellers who have already integrated with Checkout to manage the API features they wish to use in the future.

We’re excited about this release and confident that it will improve the experience of developers as they add Checkout to sites. Please do share your experiences with the new Checkout API (and anything else Checkout related!) in our forums.

Posted by Igor Ginzburg, Software Engineer and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

More options available for sales tax setup

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:03:00 +0000

Ed Note: This continues our series of posts about features that make running your business on Google Checkout even easier.

As the US tax season comes to an end, the Checkout team’s been doing a lot of thinking about taxes too. We’re happy to announce a new feature for sellers in the US that will allow you to simplify the way you calculate and charge sales tax.

You can find our new tax setup page under the Settings tab of your Checkout Merchant Center:

Access to the tax rate database which calculates tax rates based the buyer’s ZIP code is currently limited to US sellers. To learn more about these features, you can view the brief video tutorial below:

Posted by Igor Ginzburg and Andrew Cunningham, Software Engineers

Google Checkout + Sites: Two new ways to add Google Checkout "Buy Now" buttons to your Sites

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:47:00 +0000

Ed Note: This is the second in a series of posts from the Checkout team about features that will make running your business on Google Checkout even easier.

We're happy to share two new ways to easily add Google Checkout as a payment option for items on your Google Sites pages. To add the button right from your Sites page, look for the Google Checkout "Buy Now" Button Gadget in the Google Sites list of featured gadgets. Then setup your gadget with the item details and display settings in just a few clicks.

To learn more about how to add the gadget to your Sites pages through Google Sites, please visit the step-by-step instructional article.

Alternatively, you can also generate the "Buy Now" Button in your Merchant Center and copy and paste the generated button's code snippet into your Google Sites page HTML code. Just click the HTML button while in your Google Sites edit page mode and Sites will automatically embed the button in a gadget for you.

Posted by Nicolas Garnier, Developer Programs Engineer

Quickly customize shipping settings with the shipping setup tool

Jessica Smallman — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:04:00 +0000

Ed Note: This is the first in a series of features and posts from the Checkout team that will make integrating with Checkout, and then running your business on it, even easier.

The shipping setup tool, now available for all Checkout merchants, makes setting up accurate shipping options a snap. In just a few clicks, you can configure and customize the shipping settings that you passed in the Checkout API. The tool will walk you through the various options and steps required to configure the shipping options you make available to your buyers, and then allow you to modify these settings.

You can find the shipping setup tool in the Settings tab of your Checkout Merchant Center.

To learn even more about how to use this feature, check out the brief video tutorial:

Note that if you continue to pass shipping information via the API, it will override any information you have set up here. Try it out, and let us know what you think!

Posted by Igor Ginzburg and Andrew Cunningham, Software Engineers and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

Gift Sales Just Got Easier: Advanced Buyer Messaging Feature out of Beta

Jessica Smallman — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:41:00 +0000

We're happy to share that the Advanced Buyer Messaging (or gift messaging) feature is now out of beta.

The feature, released in beta in January 2009, provides the functionality for your customers to add gift messages, add additional instructions, or request gift receipts. Over the last year, we've seen a number of Checkout sellers who have used this feature to improve the buying experience of their users.

For example, Always Brilliant and Serenata Flowers have both implemented Advanced Buyer Messaging to allow their buyers to specify gift messages and request a gift receipt. Espresso Royale lets buyers specify any special instructions they may have regarding the order along with a gift message.

We're making a few changes to the feature as we take it out of beta. Based on user feedback, we have streamlined the number of tags making the feature more straightforward to use. We will support only the gift-message, include-gift-receipt and special-instructions

tags going forward. If you are currently using any of the old tags, you can continue to do so, but we encourage you to make the switch to one of the supported tags which will give you the same functionality.

If you haven't used the Advanced Buyer Functionality yet, we encourage you to explore how these features may be able to improve your customer experience. Take a moment to learn more about how to allow you buyers to specify special instructions related to delivery or treatment of goods, specify a gift message or ask you to include a gift receipt.

Posted by Boris Mizhen, Software Engineer and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager

Share the love with Valentine’s Day savings

Jessica Smallman — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:51:00 +0000

This Valentine's Day discover sweet savings with Google Checkout.

Now through February 11th, save $5, $10 or $20 on gifts for you and your loved ones. A variety of stores are offering exclusive discounts with Google Checkout, including BlueNile.com, FromYouFlowers.com and ShoeBuy.com.

It's easy to find places to save. Simply browse participating stores on the Checkout deals page or search for products on Google.com, and look for the Google Checkout promotion badge. Happy shopping!

Posted by Gina Del Vecchio, Google Checkout Specialist