Freelancers To Flock To Google Checkout?
If you are a freelance writer, do you depend on Paypal for at least part of your payment processing? Sure, getting a timely check is nice especially when it quickly clears the bank and no fees are taken out. Still, being able to accept immediate payment is where its at for most of us.
Since last summer I have been doing a balancing act between Paypal and Google’s Checkout. Both work well for me and Paypal certainly has the advantage in terms of experience and global penetration. I am not sure how widely available Google Checkout is, but it is making progress.
This past December Google waived Checkout fees in a bid to increase usage; it was a one month test that seemed to work very well. Yesterday, I learned that Google is upping the ante by waiving all fees until 2008. That’s right, you won’t get hit with that 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction fee from Paypal if you use Google Checkout.
No, this isn’t some advertisement for Google Checkout — they aren’t sharing some of their billions with me — just a note to my writing co-laborers that there is one more way you can save some money on fees. I’ll use Paypal for some transactions, but the good money for 2007 will be processed by means of Google Checkout.
Great! Now how do we get clients, who just got used to paying with Paypal, to switch? LOL
Good point, Diane. New clients are a snap while existing clients may be hesitant. I did make the switch with one client recently and saved myself $30 in the process.
If we bill out even just $10,000 that can be moved to Google Checkout, then the savings are $300 for the year. Not bad!
Hello Matt,
Thanks for the heads up. Google Checkout looks like an attractive tool for merchants. I’m not a freelance writer, but I think it would come in handy for any kind of E-commerce business.
Diane, perhaps you could offer your clients an incentive for making the switch, letting them know that future transactions with you will be much faster, and even easier.