AuctionByte's Ina Steiner interviews Prem Ramaswami, Associate Product Manager for Google Checkout, for an update on Google's payment service. Both a podcast and a transcript of the interview are available. Ramaswami says: "We want to create the fastest, safest and most convenient shopping method for our buyers to use, and we want to increase ecommerce, because we strongly believe that increasing ecommerce increases the size of the pie for everybody out there."

Business Week's Catherine Holahan takes a look at PayPal - and other alternative payment providers including Bill Me Later and Google Checkout. "Experts point to three main drivers for alternative payments: concern over fraud risk, growth in merchant participation, and fear of, or lack of access to, credit cards."

Google has introduced Google Checkout Trends, a tool that allows anyone to get some insight into what Google Checkout merchants are selling - by item - online. According to Google, "Google Checkout Trends aggregates the sales data of Google Checkout merchants and charts it in a matter of seconds. (Of course, all the data is anonymized first.)"

Google Checkout has posted a page of charities that are using its Google Checkout for Non-Profits service. As a reminder, "Google Checkout for Non-Profits is a fast, convenient donation process that helps you attract more donors and increase online giving to your organization – and you can use it to process donations by charging credit or debit cards for free until 2009."

In an article titled 'Google’s Checkout perks paying off', Yi-Wyn Yen writes for Fortune's TechLand blog about Google Checkout and some new figures that Google provided yesterday about its performance: "Google says web shoppers who’ve signed up for Checkout are 10 percent more likely to click on an ad that features a Checkout button and 40 percent more likely to make an online purchase once they reach a site."

In an article titled 'E-Commerce Credit Card Alternatives Soaring In Popularity', Evan Schuman writes that "some of the largest E-Commerce chains have suddenly started to embrace non-traditional payment methods, with one analyst firm finding a startling 267 percent increase in such acceptance in February, when compared with the identical survey done in mid-October."

Meanwhile, HitWise looks at the growth in traffic associated with Bill Me Later. HitWise reports that Bill Me Later's traffic is up 271% from last year while PayPal's traffic is down 1% and Google Checkout is down 34%

Alas, the end is drawing near. Gavin Chan, Product Marketing Manager for Google Checkout, posted today on the Google Checkout blog that Google was extending the free transaction processing period for merchants through the holidays to February 1, 2008.

Mylene Mangalindan reports for the Wall St. Journal on marketing promotions being offered this holiday season to online shoppers by PayPal, Bill Me Later and Google Checkout. "For consumers, the offers represent an increasingly significant variable to consider when trying to play the holiday promotions. Most of the latest promotions involve free shipping, discounts or credits."

Today is Cyber Monday - expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year. As a reminder, some of the online ecommerce payments companies have special offers setup to save you money doing this year's holiday shopping. These include PayPal's Holiday Shopping site, Bill Me Later's holiday store, and Google Checkout's Holiday Offers.

Bob Tedeschi reports for the New York Times about ecommerce retailers adopting PayPal, Bill Me Later and Google Checkout as online payment options. One retailer quoted says "“So we’re a big supporter of these other payment methods. Somebody has to keep the MasterCards and Visas honest.”

Earlier this month, during its review of quarterly financial results, Google's management was asked about the progress of Google Checkout. Jonathan Rosenberg responded:

"I think the real story that is important there is that many of the advertisers that we are working with, such as Jockey, are reporting much, much higher click-through rates. They achieved as much as 60% higher with Checkout and they decreased the cost-per-click by over 31% with Google AdWords and Google Checkout. So we are seeing much more significant volumes in terms of some of these advertisers and the performance with the advertisers."

We're starting to see some pretty mainstream adoption of alternative payments (i.e., non-bank card-based) - what with PayPal's march through the skies with the airlines, Bill Me Later's very effective use of promotional financing, etc. PayPal recently reported that 44% of its payment volume was coming from its Merchant Services business (i.e., non-auction related).

Yesterday, drugstore.com reported third quarter financial results - and they included the following snippet regarding the value to a merchant of accepting alternative payments:

"...almost 10% of OTC transactions in recent weeks have migrated to alternative payment options since the completion of our roll-out of Bill Me Later, Google Checkout and PayPal."

Here's a real-life example of an ecommerce merchant who didn't fool around trying to decide which alternative payment type to implement - they just implemented all three of the majors!

Google has announced Google Checkout for Non-Profits - saying "with this launch, U.S. non-profit organizations (IRS-certified 501(c)(3)s) now have an easy way to accept online donations, and donors have a fast and secure way to support their favorite groups. The best part: it's completely free for the organizations. Through at least the end of 2008, non-profits will pay 0% + 0 cents in transaction fees for each donation they accept through Checkout." More details here.

Bill Slawski writes on his SEO by the Sea blog about a US patent application (20070203836) filed on February 28, 2006 that was published this past Thursday. The patent application is titled "Text Message Payment" and Slawski says was filed by Google and inventor Ramy Dodin. A PDF of the patent application (including diagrams) is available at PatentFetcher.

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Alternative Payment Services: Moving into Traditional Payment Territory" that offers "an in-depth look at the principle providers of alternative payment services" and "examines the payment modalities supported by these alternative payment services and the consumer demographics they appeal to."   » Continue Reading

A friend emailed us today to point out Buy.com's comprehensive explanation of Google Checkout for shoppers on the www.buy.com site. Buy.com is also promoting Google Checkout on its individual item pages - see this one for an example of a $10 off offer for new Google Checkout sign-ups.

The Google Checkout API Blog has a video interview with Renaud Visage, CTO of Eventbrite, about how he's monetizing a Facebook online events registration application using Google Checkout.

Ina Steiner takes a look at the recently introduced Amazon's Flexible Payments Service from the standpoint of online sellers - comparing it with PayPal and Google Checkout with respect to how it works for sellers.

A few of Google Checkout's merchants are offering back to school savings of up to $20 when you shop any pay using Google Checkout at their stores. Google Checkout continues to stress the service's basic consumer value proposition: "Complete your purchase in seconds with one login, keep your credit card info confidential, and track all your orders in one place."

A friend sends along a suggestion that payments professionals interested in a look inside PayPal and its merchant services efforts may want to purchase a copy of a Harvard Business School case titled "PayPal Merchant Services".   » Continue Reading

Comparing PayPal with Google Checkout one year after Checkout's launch, AP writer Anick Jesdanun finds Google Checkout much easier to use. The simpler approach of Google Checkout's wallet-based approach versus PayPal's more complex bank account-like functionality explain much of the difference between the two. Jesdanun concludes by saying that "unfortunately, until Checkout is more widely adopted by merchants and begins to let regular accountholders receive money, I must accept PayPal's complexities to fully engage in e-commerce."

Ehab Bandar writes on his Banking Unwired blog about Google Checkout - and how consumers might get confused. He believes that "the benefits of Google Checkout are only truly realized with an all or nothing approach."

The Official Google Checkout Blog announces a new gadget that can be added to your personalized iGoogle homepage: Shop with Google Checkout that "will feature fun top-10 lists of products available through Google Checkout. We'll be updating the gadget every day with new lists and products, so you can get a daily dose of entertainment as you browse and shop using Checkout."

Bloomberg reports on an interview with eBay CEO Meg Whitman: "PayPal is a huge home run,'' Whitman, EBay's chief executive officer, said in an interview. "It's the most innovative Web payment product out there and has done really well, even in the face of a little bit of a challenge from Google.''

Google Checkout has announced new digital goods delivery support - described as "an improved user experience tailored specifically to digital goods. Now merchants will have option of tagging an item as digital within the shopping cart and specifying details about how it should be delivered."

In a post titled "Google Checkout Team Lays out Differences From eBay's PayPal", Red Herring blogger Tomio Geron writes about a presentation by Google's Michael Feldman comparing Google Checkout to PayPal. Feldman said that as compared to PayPal as a payment method at completion of a purchase, Google "Checkout provides solutions much earlier in the shopping cycle. We help consumers find merchants … and can help them through that experience. We help influence users much earlier in the process and streamline the actual process."

We ran a Facebook poll last night asking those between 18 and 24 years of age "When you buy something online, how do you prefer to pay?" Here are the results - based upon a sample of over 400 responses - hardly scientific but interesting nonetheless:

No surprise, the debit card is most favored among this age group - but PayPal's showing is also especially strong. New entrant Google Checkout barely moves the needle in this particular survey and almost no one likes to pay by providing their checking account details (also known as eCheck).

Google Checkout has announced a new program that provides participating merchants a discount of up to 21 percent on their FedEx shipping costs.

Earlier this week, Google Checkout announced it would be holding a "Let Freedom Ring" party Thursday evening in Boston - where eBay is holding its eBay Live! conference. Tonight, apparently after considerable back and forth between the two companies, Google announced that the Google Checkout party planned for tomorrow night has been cancelled.

Google Checkout will be holding "a celebration of user choice at the Google Checkout Freedom Party this Thursday night" in Boston - right alongside eBay/PayPal's big annual eBay Live! event.

Google Checkout has posted a success story describing how Ritz Interactive grew its Q4 2006 revenues by using Google Checkout's promotions. "After implementing Google Checkout, site traffic increased more than 40% and overall cart conversion rates improved 35%."

The Economist takes a look at Google Checkout vs. PayPal - saying "Google's foray into payments may prove testing for PayPal, but it looks like being great for e-commerce in general."

AuctionBytes Ina Steiner takes a deeper look at yesterday's launch by Yahoo! of Yahoo! PayPal Checkout - noting that merchants are being offered free processing through 12/31/2007 along with $100 to spend on Yahoo! advertising if they sign up for the program.

Yahoo! has announced on its Search Blog that it will be providing an indication in its search results of merchants that accept PayPal - similar to what Google has been doing with Google Checkout merchants. Yahoo! says "beginning today, when you search for a product on Yahoo! Search you will see little blue shopping cart icons next to some of our merchant listings. Those shopping carts identify merchants that accept PayPal." More information here and here.

The BBC reports that Google has launched its payment service, Google Checkout, in the UK. More information about the UK launch is available on the Google Checkout blog and on the Google Checkout UK site.

A friend of Payments News sends a pointer to a story about Google Payment Limited now being listed as an eMoney licensee by the UK's FSA. If you do a search for Google on the FSA site - it shows an eMoney license was issued to Google Payment Limited on March 19, 2007. PayPal has a similar license - issued February 13, 2004.

Marketwatch reports on Google's disclosure in a regulatory filing that it spent about $58.4 million last year to promote its new Google Checkout payment service. "Google also said it expects to pay more Checkout-related transaction processing fees in 2007." Google's 10-K filing with the SEC is available online.

Brian Mark asks himself what is it that Google is getting out of offering Checkout for free - and proceeds to answer his own question by realizing that, as people register to participate in Checkout, Google then "actually knows where those people live. That’s right, your credit card billing address gets verified when you add it as a payment option. So now they know where you live, which helps them better target local search results and really tailor personalized search for you."

Sara Kehaulani Goo reports for the Washington Post about Google Checkout. "Checkout handles only one transaction for every 70 that PayPal does, according to Hitwise, a firm that measures online traffic."

A few weeks ago, Bill Tancer from Hitwise posted some traffic details on Google Checkout - including a list of the top 10 sites using Google Checkout. Number 1 was ToysRUs.com - who also accepts PayPal and Bill Me Later.

Google Checkout has launched consumer promotions for Valentine's Day. "Through February 15, first-time shoppers on Google Checkout will receive $10 off a one-time purchase of at least $10. This offer is being featured on a wide variety of Google Checkout's thousands of merchant partners, including Buy.com, Zales, Jockey, Bluefly, Aeropostale, and new partner Blue Nile." Google is highlighting the consumer convenience benefits of Google Checkout saying that it "eliminates an average of 15 steps from the online checkout process, in many cases making checking out as simple as entering a single login."

Google announced quarterly financial results yesterday and included in its conference call discussing the results were some interesting comments about Google Checkout - including the news that more than 20% of the Web's top 500 retailers have signed up for Google Checkout.   » Continue Reading

The Google Operating System blog notes the new, larger Google Checkout buttons now being tested - much bigger than the original little green shopping cart icon in participating merchant ads.

Google's Martin Omander has written an article titled "Build a .NET App for Google Checkout" for O'Reilly's WindowsDevCenter.com that includes sample code for developers to use to integrate ecommerce web sites with Google Checkout.

Dave Birch picks up the discussion about the question we asked a few weeks ago in our Creating Wealth from Payments Innovation post: why isn't there a Wal-Mart for payments? Dave blames regulation - and that's certainly a factor. Reminds me of the days when airline fares in this country were heavily regulated, preventing a Southwest from emerging. On the other hand, the most successful new entrant in payments in recent history - PayPal - navigated the regulatory waters (state money transmitter laws primarily) relatively easily. One could argue regulation wasn't much of a barrier for their entry. Google Checkout - acting not like PayPal as a money transmitter but, rather, as a master merchant - seems to have avoided any financial regulatory issues. On the other hand, mobile payment provider Obopay's job description for a VP Treasury Operations includes being responsible for "compliance with Federal banking regulations such as Anti Money Laundering, Patriot Act, Regulation D and E, and the FFIEC guidelines" and for "state money transmitter regulations".

MIguel Helft reports for the New York Times about Google Checkout - and the bigger agenda to "expand Google’s base of advertisers." Google Checkout recently announced that its merchant fees would be waived through 2007. Yesterday, it offered consumers a matching charitable contribution program - helping to spur consumer signups for Google Checkout.

Google Checkout has announced they're matching contributions to several charities - saying they will "chip in $10 for your first donation of $30 or more."

The Consumerist blog takes a look Google Checkout's consumer protection features in an interview with Google's Michael Kirkland discussing how consumers can dispute Google Checkout payments.

On the Hitwise blog, LeeAnn Prescott of Hitwise posts some interesting numbers about traffic to the Toys R Us website vs. competitors. Two weeks ago, she reports that the Toys R Us site was the leading source of traffic to Google Checkout.

Vishesh Kumar writes for TheStreet.com about Google Checkout's recent announcement that it will be offering Google Checkout free to merchants through 2007. Kumar suggests that "with a perch that allows it to see which searchers end up making what purchases, Google could introduce an advertising model whereby merchants choose to pay only when a product is sold, rather than when an ad is clicked on."

Google has announced it is extending its original offer to provide Google Checkout free to merchants through the end of 2006 - by extending the free processing offer for all of 2007 as well! "From now through December 31, 2007, we'll process all of your Checkout transactions for free." Google has also enhanced merchant coupon creation features, introduced email invoicing, and simplified website integration of Google Checkout for merchants. ""In a retail sense, using Checkout as a loss leader to get market share works for Google, because they will make it up with more advertising, which is highly profitable," says Martin Pyykkonnen, an analyst at equity firm Global Crown Capital, as quoted in an article by Jefferson Graham about the Google Checkout promotion in USA Today.

Consumer Reports takes a look at several online payment services, including Google Checkout, PayPal and Bill Me Later, that it says "can offer added security in an electronic world vulnerable to credit-card fraud and identity theft." The article adds "but they’re far from foolproof."

In an article titled 'Google Checkout Should Capture Small-to-Midsize Market", Jeff Molander blogs for Seeking Alpha about his views on why Google Checkout is likely being underestimated and could turn out to be "a killer application for Google." He figures consumer adoption is all about privacy (trust) and convenience of using Google Checkout as your online wallet. He concludes by saying that Google Checkout is much less about disrupting PayPal as it is about Google comprehensively serving the needs of the small to midsize marketplace.

Somebody had to do it - and John Battelle has - posting on his blog a deep dive into the Google Checkout Terms of Service (and associated Privacy Policies, etc.) In particular, Battelle notes that Google Checkout collects information about each transaction "including ... a description provided by the seller of the goods or services being purchased..."

It's Cyber Monday today - when everybody supposedly does their holiday shopping while at the office. Google Checkout has launched its Cyber Monday page of holiday offers where you can receive "$10 off purchases of $30 or more, or $20 off purchases of $50 or more, depending on the merchant." PayPal is offering free shipping and more from its holiday shopping page. Wal-Mart.com is also offering 5 days of super specials available only online - beginning today.

Google Checkout has announced that it will be launching a holiday site on Monday, November 27, 2006. According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down that perfect gift on Monday, November 27. (57% plan to shop during coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the workday.)   » Continue Reading

Google Checkout has been enhanced so that sellers can now send out email invoices via Google Checkout. Late last month, Google Checkout added a Coupon Creator feature allowing sellers to offer a variety of coupons and discounts including $-off discounts, %-off discounts, etc. as well as specifying such things as "one per customer," "new customers only," and so on.

TechCrunch's Mike Arrington reports on his experiences as a seller with customer service from both Google Checkout and PayPal. Arrington says "When we’ve had to contact Google about issues (such as the suspected fraud), we’ve received intelligent customer service and the problems were quickly resolved. Contacting PayPal customer support, on the other hand, has been a complete nightmare. Automated response hell, followed by canned responses that didn’t address our issue, followed by silence."

Google has announced that it is giving Google Checkout merchants a big holiday gift: processing all of their Google Checkout sales for free beginning today through the end of 2006 - whether the merchant is a Google Adwords advertiser or not. Google says "There's no limit: we're processing all of your Checkout sales for free" from November 8 through December 31.

Rick Aristotle Munarriz writes for Motley Fool about Google Checkout. He reports on the experiences of one retailer who's seeing 8% to 12% of its transactions closed using Google Checkout vs. 3% to 4% for PayPal.

Donna Bogatin blogs on ZDNet about comments made yesterday by Alan Eustace, Google SVP Engineering & Research during a Q&A at Citigroup's 13th Annual Global Technology Conference (webcast) in New York City. According to Eustace, "Payment right now on the Web is a disaster. Everybody who has ever tried to buy anything on the Web right now, you don’t know who the person who is selling the goods are, you have to input your credit card to a thousand different places out there, who knows what those people are doing with my credit card...."

Google has introduced a new incentive program for ecommerce providers to support Google Checkout. They're offering to pay 0.5% of all Checkout sales that a provider's merchants process for a year plus $25 for each merchant referred who processes at least $500 in sales and 3 transactions with Checkout. In addition, Google's offering extra bonuses to providers who bring merchants on by September 30th with Level 1 or Level 2 integration.

Brian Smith blogs on Comparison Engines about comments made yesterday in a research note by Piper Jaffray's Safa Rashtchy regarding retailer concerns about "ceding customer ownership to Google" if they implement Google Checkout. Rashtchy's survey of retailers raised "concerns about disintermediation, lack of system flexibility and the perception that Checkout provides Google too much visibility into their business, especially relating to Google search driven conversion rates."

Digital Transactions reports on comments by a PayPal executive that eBay's action barring eBay auction sellers from using Google Checkout is "aimed at barring new payment techniques until they can prove they control fraud and otherwise protect users."

Ben Charny reports for MarketWatch that "Levi Strauss & Co.'s main Web site has quietly stopped offering Google Inc.'s Checkout online payment feature."

Dave Taylor blogs about the differences between the merchant receipts provided for purchases using PayPal vs. Google Checkout - and strongly favors PayPal's approach. According to Dave, "the key difference between the two is that the Google Checkout receipt is a geeky "transaction log" sort of style, while Paypal offers up a much more understandable information block about the buyer including the all-important "note" section that lets them communicate directly with me as if it were an attached comment." Over on his "Ask Dave Taylor" blog, he's got a great writeup about how to add Google Checkout "Buy Now" buttons to your website.

The Official Google Blog reports this morning that "everyone who buys something for $20 or more through Google Checkout all day today (August 10th) gets a free (Google Checkout) T-shirt. So find something you want to buy, enjoy faster checkout online -- and make room in the drawer for your new apparel." The list of online merchants now using Google Checkout continues to expand. Google's also posted a new online presentation for merchants on how to process orders and support customers with Google Checkout.

Alan Rimm-Kaufman blogs about an interview he had earlier this week with Benjamin Ling, Product Lead for Google Checkout. According to Rimm-Kaufman, "Ben was quick to point out that (in his view) Google Checkout isn’t a payment type, but rather a checkout process. It wraps actual payment types (Visa, Amex, Mastercard, Discover); more payment types are possible. PayPal and BillMeLater were mentioned in this regard."

Ina Steiner reports for AuctionBytes about a new seller rating system introduced by Google Checkout and wonders if this represents another threat to eBay. More details about what Google calls "reviews" can be found in the online help for Google Checkout.

Aj Moss inc., an online retailer of bedding ensembles and linens, has put out a press release about the addition of Google Checkout to their e-commerce website. According to the retailer, they hope Google Checkout enables them to "reach an audience of people who seek more simplicity, security and speed in their shopping experience."   » Continue Reading

Blogger Kirby Witmer writes about some of his experiences trying to use Google Checkout to purchase from Buy.com. You can find and read more blog posts about Google Checkout using this Technorati search.

Gregory M. Lamb writes in today's Christian Science Monitor about Google Checkout, asks some questions about the resulting data that Google may collect from the service, and compares it to PayPal, and suggests "the service may quickly prove attractive to the vast number of online merchants, large and small, who pay to advertise using Google's AdWords program."

Digital Transactions reports that the executive in charge of Google Checkout, Benjamin Ling, has PayPal under consideration as one of the payment methods that the new service may eventually support. Ling's also critical of eBay's decision to not allow eBay sellers to use Google Checkout as a payment option.

Wade Roush writes for MIT's Technology Review about Google Checkout and the threat it could represent to PayPal for consumer ecommerce payments to merchants - even with its lack of a person-to-person payment capability. Roush suggests that, for consumers, it's a "relatively small step to give Google a credit card number and let the company track online purchases, especially when the promised reward is simpler transactions in the future, along with tools like the purchase history and transaction tracker."

[Editor's note: Seems like Wade has his merchant value proposition reversed - our understanding is that Google provides a credit toward Google Checkout fees based upon the amount the merchant spends on Google AdWords - at the rate of a $1 credit for every $10 spent on AdWords. We also noticed last night that Google is running its own AdWords ads promoting Google Checkout with the language: "Running an eCommerce site? Learn how you can process sales for free."]

eBay has updated its Accepted Payments Policy to add Google's recently launched Google Checkout service to the list of payment services not permitted on eBay.   » Continue Reading

Nancy Hackett blogs a quick overview of Google Checkout and looks at what's in it for buyers, sellers and Google.

Steve Bryant posts on his eWeek Google Watch blog about the pros and cons of Google Checkout in "Five Reasons Why You Won't Use Google Checkout (and 5 Reasons You Will)".

Rafe Needleman posts on his CNET Web 2.0 blog that he believes Google Checkout is a serious threat to Amazon.com - because it makes checkout at non-Amazon merchant locations just about as convenient as buying via 1-Click on Amazon.com itself. He also points out that as a result of Google Checkout "no other online company will end up knowing as much about the spending behaviors of online consumers as Google."

A friend writes: "If I understand the Google Checkout service correctly, the point that all these analysts missed is that Google Checkout is a one-card wallet. Seems that point wasn't lost on Citi. In a one-card wallet, being first in the wallet, means you are top of wallet, so being first to market is a big deal. I suspect Google opted for a one-card wallet in order to create a very smooth customer checkout experience."

Anders Bylund reports for Arstechnica.com and concludes that its "not the PayPal killer many expected" largely because "this is not going to be a person-to-person payment system anytime soon".

Dennis O'Reilly of PC World writes about his first hand experiences with Google Checkout today. He says "I suspect the little green Google Checkout cart will soon be all over the Web."

Bruce Cundiff of Javelin Strategy and Research writes on his blog about PayPal vs. Google, thinking in terms of on eBay (where issues have been raised as to whether eBay would allow its merchants to accept a Google-provided payment service) vs. the off-eBay merchant opportunity (which is where he thinks the real battleground will be).

Google this morning launched the long rumored (and often called GBuy) Google Checkout, a new online payment option for ecommerce merchants and online shoppers that plays on many of the same consumer themes of safety and convenience that have been key to PayPal's success. Google Checkout allows consumers to store - in a new version of an online wallet - their payment and shipping address information with Google. (According to Laura Petrecca writing for USA Today, "Google says it also is in talks with online payment service PayPal to let Checkout handle payments by holders of PayPal accounts, which connect with its users' credit cards and banks.") Assuming merchant acceptance of Google Checkout ramps up, the new service appears to position Google as a major hub for ecommerce transactions on the web.   » Continue Reading

Ina Steiner reports for AucitonBytes.com on eBay's Safe Payments Policy introduced last October and speculates that it seems unlikely that eBay would allow its sellers to advertise any new Google payment service in their eBay listings - at least initially.

eWeek's Steve Bryant writes in his Google Watch blog about the implications he sees from a Google entry into payments - what the media has been calling GBuy and speculating is planned for announcement on Wednesday.

Mylene Mangalindan reports for the Wall St. Journal in Tuesday's edition saying that Google is planning to introduce a test version of its GBuy online payment service later this week. Mangalindan describes in the article how the GBuy service is expected to work - with icons placed in text ads displayed in search results highlighting those advertisers that are prepared to accept GBuy payments - although details could still change prior to the actual announcement of the service.

ZDNet blogger Garrett Rogers posts about Google Checkout - what he says the press is calling GBuy - and speculates, because of some domain name update activity earlier this afternoon, that it must be getting pretty close to launch.

Reuters reports on comments made yesterday at a conference in New York by Google CEO Eric Schmidt in which he said Google's plans aren't like PayPal at all - adding "It makes no sense for us to go into businesses that are occupied by existing leaders. We want to solve new problems in the payments space."

Desiree J. Hanford of Dow Jones Newswires reports on an interview with PayPal CEO Jeff Jordan earlier this week at eBay Live in which he comments on speculation that Google is preparing to launch an online payment service similar to PayPal.