Google Checkout No More After November 20, 2013
Google Checkout / Buy With Google Wallet button support in every ecommerce cart will officially be retired. After November 20, 2013, it will no longer be a viable service for any ecommerce merchant selling physical goods.
Google explains it in more detail in the Google Checkout Help Docs and in their Google Commerce Blog Announcement.
Google Checkout / Wallet never really gained large traction with consumers on the web. Google tried to make it a competitor to PayPal and Amazon Checkout, but their restrictions and poor implementation left it as an awkward way for customers to pay for their goods.
Google has decided to focus on their “Google Play” store and digital subscription payments, and is leaving the gateway / merchant account business to the other more successful institutions like PayPal, Amazon, and Authorize.net.
…
So, make your plans now to phase out Google Wallet in your online store well before November 20th.
Looking for a web host that understands ecommerce and business hosting?
Check us out today!
Well, rest in peace, you arrogant Google, you. They wouldn’t let us put them in a list of payment options, they wouldn’t let us calculate the shipping ourselves and forward to them the total price (though I notice that many retailers have ignored that requirement). They wouldn’t allow log-ins to our web site. They set out to change the face of on-line sales, and the method they used was to strong-arm the stores into doing things their way. Well, is anyone at Google going to learn the lesson? Probably not, unfortunately. Arrogance, arrogance, arrogance.
lb
Thanks for the honest feedback. I agree, Google has left a number of ecommerce merchants high and dry with this decision. Their implementation was far from perfect.