Google Checkout: Another Google Flop? .. Is it Safe for Buyers & Sellers?

When Google Checkout came out I was very excited to have a viable alternative to PayPal from a reputed company despite its limitation to US only market. Since its launch I have heard several complaints from my readers, with zero positive experiences.

Patrick said:

within 10 days of the Checkout launch, my credit card info was stolen and thousands of dollars of charges were racked up in my name. I don’t use Adwords and have never used Checkout. Yet someone got through all of these fabulous fraud protection features? Google did NO verification of the credit card info. I think eBay was right in banning the use of Checkout. Google clearly has poor fraud protection, despite their constantly saying that they do.

Julias said:

I agree that Google has no checks. Just disputed a transaction for something I did not buy and like the other poster had never used AdWords or signed up for Checkout. The lady at the credit card company said someone may have mistyped a number - if that’s the case, then shouldn’t the CVV # check have caught that??? Very frustrated that I’ve had to spend an hour today fixing something that could have been avoided with a bit of digilence on Google’s part.

Ron said:

Do NOT use Google checkout under any circumstances. I used it twice for the $10 bonus, but what I got in return at that up. Google charged my first order fine. Three days later, I placed another order, only to be charged twice for the same order. I contacted Google and they claim I was only charged once, but the second charge was a “pending authorization”. Authorization for what? They already have my money. My bank confirmed Google did charge twice for one order. I sent confirmation along with a copy of the double charges to Google and they still deny charging twice. As at is now, I’m out over $30 because of Google Checkout. Steer clear!

J M said:

Google Checkout charges your credit before your order ships. You might be ringing up a credit card bill and get nothing in return if the merchant does not ship your order.

I ordered an in stock item from buy.com on Dec. 6th. Google Checkout charged my credit card immediately. Buy.com never sent my order because it turns out the item is not in stock, it is on indefinite backorder. It took more than a week of contacting buy.com and Google Checkout to find out why my order never shipped.

There is a conflict in the Google Checkout Program policy and what buy.com says Google Checkout policy is.

Google Checkout Program policy:

“As a Google Checkout merchant, you’re required to adhere to the Google Checkout policies at all times.

2. Order Management

b. Ship orders before charging the buyer’s credit card. You may not attempt to charge the buyer’s credit card until you have
shipped the order.”

https://checkout.google.com/seller/policies.html

What buy.com says Google Checkout policy is:

“Please note that you are billed though your item has not yet shipped. This is one of the unique policies when purchasing through GoogleCheckout.

For more questions on GoogleCheckout policies, please visit our Buy.com help site. Under Pricing and Billing click on “What are my payment choices?”. Then, choose Google check out or you can simply copy paste the following link in your address box:

https://www.buy.com/corp/support/billing/google.asp“

Buy.com policy for customers not using Google Checkout:

“When will my credit card be charged? Since we don’t think you should pay for your order until it is actually on its way, Buy.com will not bill you until your products, including backordered or preordered items, are actually shipped. In
the case of Music Downloads we will bill you at the time of purchase.”

https://www.buy.com/corp/support/billing/creditcards.asp?what=whencharged

Google Checkout support knows that I (and many others - this is a growing problem, and not just with buy.com) have been charged for merchandise that has not been shipped and that the merchant can’t even give an estimate on when the item will be available - if ever.

They have done nothing about it. The charge is on my credit card statement. I have nothing to show for it.

If Google Checkout can’t be trusted to require merchants to “adhere to the Google Checkout policies at all times,” why should consumers trust Google Checkout with sensitive financial and personal information at all?

They shouldn’t. Period.

Don’t use Google Checkout.

Annabel said:

First off Google (as well as amazon and all others who store your cc#) do not use CCV2 checks except sometime when you first input your card. They cannot because storeing or keeping CVV2 info for subsequent checkouts is verboten. Most of them just ask fo it to make you feel better but do not use it.

Ram said:

Google checkout is a big fraud. The first time they charged me twice for my order and I called my bank and asked them to reverse the order.

The second time, my total bill was approx $70, but they charged me $50 more (god only knows for what) and my emails to them are unanswered.

If you’re a little less careless and don’t watch your account closely, i’m pretty sure Google will not hesitate to take your money — as they say, the more money you have the more greedy you become

Tony said:

I’m in agreement with most of the others, Google Checkout is definitely a ripoff, do not order at any cost! They provide no protection against sellers who take money and ship nothing, as was my experience.

Ann said:

Just had to cancel a credit card because it had few hundred dollars charge with the reference GOOGLE*neff. I talked to the credit card company and they told me it was an online purchase via Google, nothing else was available. Luckily, the charge was refunded the next day, after the charge was made. Apparently, all the ’safeguards’ did not stop one thief from charging lots of stuff on my card number. He/she must have canceled the order!

Comment source

What bothers me is that all the experiences posted are very negative. The main complaints are that Google Checkout isn’t careful about double-charging, doesn’t respond timely to customer queries, charges before shipment and may have somehow contributed to credit card fraud (read the first comment). I wish someone from Google Checkout would respond to these comments and clear the negative perceptions. At this time I would hesitate to recommend someone to use Google Checkout as either buyer of seller. I wonder if it will go down in history as yet another Google flop like Orkut. It is definitely in no position to challenge PayPal at this time.
What is your experiences with Google Checkout?