For all the criticism of Google “unfairly” leveraging its search and AdWords functionality to make Google Checkout so attractive, I’m amused that eBay — which owns PayPal, seen as the the primary target for Google Checkout — is formally not accepting Google Checkout for eBay purchases in their payment policy.
From time to time, as new payment services arise, eBay will evaluate them to determine whether they are appropriate for the marketplace. Payment services that are not permitted on eBay may, in fact, be outstanding services for consumers in other contexts. eBay’s evaluation relates only to whether a particular service is appropriate for the eBay marketplace. eBay will consider the following factors, among others, in making its determination:
Whether the payment model offers substantial financial, privacy and anti-fraud protection for buyers and sellers
Whether the payment model raises the potential for confusion among eBay users, or involves incentives that may present fraud concerns
Whether the payment model involves precious metals, or other non-cash (points, miles, minutes, coupons, discounts) as consideration
Whether the payment service has a substantial historical track record of providing safe and reliable financial and/or banking related services (new services without such a track record generally cannot be promoted on eBay)
The identity, background and other business interests of the payment service sponsor
The license/regulatory status of the payment provider in the countries where it provides payment services
Presumably, they’re using the fourth bullet (“substantial historical track record”) as the formal stick here, though, as noted elsewhere, some argue that Google Checkout won’t be safe (largely for soft reasons). And, of course, besides the goodness of eBay’s heart in protecting consumers, the unspoken seventh
bullet would be “The payment provider has a substantial chance of competing against PayPal which, of course, we own and make money from.”
I recall when eBay bought PayPal that, aside from the convenience factor, there were a lot of concerns that eBay would essentially bar the way for any other online payment service. Looks a lot more that way to me now.