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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google Checkout is now available to Google Apps users with their Apps accounts, along with dozens of other services as part of a recently launched improvement to Google Apps.

Google Apps is Google’s suite of cloud-based messaging and collaboration apps, including Gmail, calendar, documents, spreadsheets and more, specifically optimized for use in organizations. These services, which run entirely in the cloud, are used by more than 30 million users in small and large businesses, educational institutions, government agencies and non-profit organizations around the world. You can learn more about how Google Apps can lower IT costs and improve productivity and collaboration at your organization at google.com/apps.

For those Checkout users who have a Google Apps account, if your administrator has already transitioned your organization to the new infrastructure, you can now use Google Checkout by signing in at checkout.google.com with your existing Apps account.

For more details, you can read the complete post on the Google Enterprise blog and follow all the updates on other newly available services for Google Apps users.

Posted by David Shin, Software Engineer and Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager