Protect yourself from fraud with Google Checkout

Monday, July 31, 2006

Posted by Gavin Chan, Associate Product Marketing Manager

One of the lesser-known benefits of Google Checkout is its ability to help you prevent and fight fraud. In fact, Checkout's first line of defense works to prevent fraud from even reaching you: we proactively filter out fraudulent transactions using Google Checkout's proprietary fraud detection technology.

To help you fight fraud, we developed the Chargeback Resolution policy, which covers all Google Checkout transactions. This policy helps you efficiently manage any chargeback you receive; we even fight them on your behalf. Our team will work closely with you to ensure that you have the best chance of winning a dispute. If you already have tools and systems in place to handle chargebacks, we won't stand in your way -- you retain all the rights to directly contest chargebacks yourself.

An important aspect of the Chargeback Resolution Policy is the Payment Guarantee, which offers an additional layer of protection by guaranteeing payment for transactions that follow best practices in fraud prevention. Transactions covered by our Payment Guarantee are marked as "Covered by Payment Guarantee" on the Order Details page of the transaction. If you don't see this designation on a given transaction, don't worry—it's still covered by the Chargeback Resolution policy.

The Google Checkout API

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Posted by Jason HJ Chen, Developer Support Engineer

The Google Checkout team focuses a lot on how we can best meet the needs of both buyers and merchants, especially since these interactions are the raison d'être for this service. But there's a third constituency we aim to serve that isn't quite so apparent—namely all the developers out there working with the Google Checkout API. These are the folks who do the important work of integrating merchants' websites with the product and making available the more advanced functionality found in the API, which in turn helps expand the network of sites offering Google Checkout.

Granted, I'm somewhat biased since I'm involved in developer support for the Google Checkout API, but all developers—regardless of if they're just kicking the tires on the API or are in the midst of integrating—should be aware of the resources available to them.

First and foremost, the epicenter for all things API-related is the Google Checkout API section of code.google.com. There, you'll find a lot of different resources including the developer's guide, sample implementation code, and our small (but growing) collection of developer's cookbook articles.

One other thing not to miss is the Google Checkout Developer's Forum. A growing community gathers there to discuss all things related to the API. A great example of the developer community in action are the different posts addressing needs around the use of HMAC SHA1: there's a post about a Javascript implementation for use with Classic ASP, another on HMAC_SHA1 in Ruby, and an explanation of how to do the same in Perl.

We've got a lot more developer resources planned for the coming weeks and months. If you have any thoughts about how we can improve your experience as a Google Checkout API developer, please get in touch. I'll personally read all of your suggestions, and hope to respond whenever possible.

Help resources in a nutshell

Monday, July 24, 2006

Posted by Marianna Mareckova, Administrative Associate, Product Marketing

Are you a merchant trying to figure out the mysteries of Google Checkout? No worries. You've already stumbled onto one great source of information by visiting the Google Checkout blog -- and here are some others:

Merchant Help Center offers answers to the most frequent questions on various topics: About Google Checkout, Getting started, Making sales, Checkout settings

Developer's Center to find all the information and resources you will need to integrate your website with Google Checkout

If you'd like to discuss with or learn from other Google Checkout users, there are two places you can go:

Google Checkout Merchants Forum. The place to discuss Google Checkout with other merchants, ask questions, and contribute your own expertise. Topics include guidelines, payouts and reconciliation, badges, account linking, free transaction processing, new features, system updates, feedback and suggestions, and much more. From time to time a Google rep called 'GoogleCheckoutPro' will post tips and clarifications.

Google Checkout Developers Forum. This Google Group is a place to discuss technical issues and integration with the Google Checkout API, ask questions, and share answers. Topics cover API integration basics, troubleshooting, using classic ASP/Java/.NET/Perl/PHP/Python/other programming languages with the Google Checkout API, system status and updates and more. From time to time a Google rep known as 'GoogleCheckoutDevPro' will post tips and clarifications.

Google Checkout and AdWords

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Posted by Gavin Chan, Associate Product Marketing Manager

We’re seeing a lot of excitement and questions about how Google Checkout works with AdWords, so we thought we’d answer some of them here. Here are a few of the more common questions we're hearing:

What is AdWords?

AdWords is Google’s search advertising program, which displays ads alongside Google search results and on search and content sites in the Google Network. When you create an AdWords ad, you choose keywords for which your ad will appear and specify the maximum amount you're willing to pay for each click. Your ads are then displayed when people search using the keywords you’ve selected; you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Can I offer Google Checkout if I don’t use AdWords?

Definitely! You can still provide your customers with a fast, safe, and convenient checkout experience. As far as fees go, you’ll only be charged 2% plus 20 cents per transaction for the sales you process through Google Checkout.

What are the benefits of using Google Checkout with AdWords?

There are two main features you can take advantage of when using both programs together: the Google Checkout badge and free transaction processing. The Google Checkout badge is a small shopping cart icon that appears on your AdWords ads when you offer Google Checkout on your website. It communicates to buyers that shopping with you will be fast, convenient and secure.

Free transaction processing enables you to process $10 of Google Checkout sales at no cost for every $1 you spend on AdWords. For example, if you spent $1,000 on AdWords last month, this month you could process $10,000 in Google Checkout sales for free.

Why is Google Checkout integrated with AdWords?

Our goal is to improve the entire online sales process for sellers, from generating leads through online advertising to processing the sales that result. Shoppers often begin the purchase process by searching online and looking for places to buy. One interesting stat from Shop.org: 37% of all online purchases start with a search. When shoppers search, the Google Checkout badge helps turn more of these queries into leads by making it easy for users to identify stores that accept Google Checkout. Once customers click through to the store and are ready to buy, Google Checkout offers a streamlined checkout process that helps convert those leads in to sales. Finally, when it’s time to process sales, Google Checkout works with AdWords to reduce transaction processing fees to zero. We think there's a natural relationship between online advertising and transaction processing -- and that's why you see the integration at every step in the online sales and marketing process.