Google Checkout: Worth the Risk?

Imagine yourself in this seller's place. After spending countless hours designing their website, taking product photos, writing advertising copy and integrating Google Checkout, they opened their online store and began promotion. One week later they received their first order. Suddenly with no warning, without explanation, and with no recourse . . . wham, their Google Checkout account was closed. Google cancelled the order and refunded the customer's payment. Non-compliance with Google's Terms of Service was cited as the reason for the closure. The seller was left puzzled when multiple attempts to find out "why" failed.

If you think this is an isolated incident, try searching the Google Checkout Merchant forum. A recent search for "suspended" resulted in 460 posts by disgrunted Google Checkout merchants stating their account had suddenly been closed without explanation. A search for "closed account" returned 438 posts. These numbers have significantly increased since this lens was originally written. Imagine how many other accounts have been closed without the seller bothering to post their confusion, anger and dissatisfaction about Google's actions in the Google Checkout Merchant forum!

The scenarios are nearly identical. The Google Checkout notices and explanations received by these sellers appear to be the same "canned" rhetoric. The sellers express their shock about the sudden account closure. Many are furious about their loss of revenue and dread spending the time to find and integrate an alternative payment processor into their website's shopping cart.