Google launches PayPal rival in UK

by Lisa Simmons, Media Week 13-Apr-07, 11:00

LONDON - Google has brought its online payment service Google Checkout to the UK.

The system, a rival to eBay's PayPal service, offers advertisers that use Google's AdWords free processing on all transactions made through the system.

For every £1 retailers spend, they can process £10 in sales through Google Checkout at no charge.

Google is offering participating retailers free processing until the end of the year, after which merchants will be charged 1.5% of each transaction amount, plus 15p each time a shopper makes a purchase.

Shoppers register their payment and shipping details with Google Checkout once, and can find participating stores by looking for the Google Checkout icon on AdWords advertisements or on a retailer's site.

The UK site of online retailer Channel Advisor, www.channeladvisor.com/uk, is the first site to sign up to the service in this country.

Google launched Checkout in the US last June.