Google Checkout Australia

Google has been granted a financial services licence that permits it to operate Google Checkout as a "non-cash payment product".

checkout_logoWhile this launch is no suprise as it has been discussed on SearchEngineLand back in Feb 2007  when Google registered Google Payment Australia PTY. LTD but no other action had been made since then.

A recent article in the AustralianIT today has made public a new move for Google Checkout to operate within Australia.

According to a Google Checkout disclosure statement lodged with the ASIC, Google Payment Australia will be an e-wallet style service that allows buyers to store their credit/debit card details for easy purchases online from participating merchants. So it appears that Australian’s will soon be able to use Google Checkout as a alternative to Paypal.

Within the US/UK markets your Google Adwords campaigns also have the option of having a notification icon shown below thcheckout-adwordseir ads to show that people they are using Google Checkout.  There is no word yet if this will be available within Australia but it could provide a greater incentive for people to switch from payment gateway such as eWay & Paypal to Google Checkout.

The expansion of Google Checkout into Australia will likely be welcomed as work around such as having a US/UK bank account allowed Australian users to utilise the service but proved expensive.  Google had made it difficult to setup merchant accounts for Australian businesses but this may now change.

The launch of Google Checkout would match up well with its recent Google Apps store gadget powered by Google Docs.  As Google works to expand its Google Apps product into Australia the new Google Docs store gadget is a perfect match for small business looking to save money by moving online.

If you are looking for a shopping cart solution we have found that Interspire offers similar features to Google Checkout and they also have a new hosted product BigCommerce which is designed for easy setup of online stores.

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