3 ms·

> What if buying something was as easy as Liking it? You’d probably buy a lot more, and buy it through whoever made it so damn simple. Exactly. There is Paypal

by frik 12y ago

> What if buying something was as easy as Liking it? You’d probably buy a lot more, and buy it through whoever made it so damn simple. Exactly. There is Paypal. Afaik, Amazon and Google discontinued their similar service that was in competition with Paypal (API for third party website payments) - but why? (I think that were the services: Amazon WebPay, Google Checkout)

chrischen 12y ago
Also Apple Pay inside apps, and for retailers.
- frik 12y ago
  That's not the point. Inside their walled garden, Amazon's and Google's payment works fine too. The point was it used to be easy to use their services outside in the open internet on normal websites like Paypal.
  - chrischen 12y ago
    A very big Walled Garden. As an owner of an ecommerce site, I can tell you it's very tempting to create an App version just to take advantage of one-tap thumbprint orders. Also I don't think Amazon or Google have a TouchID payment system.
downandout 12y ago
Google Checkout shutdown because it had reputational issues among merchants, and culture clash issues with the rest of Google. Payment platforms require human support personnel, and this is something that Google is diametrically opposed to. They algorithmically suspended many merchant accounts early in the service's life, with no explanation as to why and no one to talk to about it. This happened to me; I wound up filing a BBB complaint and they responded saying the reasons that they effectively stole thousands of dollars from me after months of operations without a single chargeback were "proprietary and confidential". I was not alone; the Google Checkout support forums were filled with stories like mine. This is why no one should ever use Google for any critical function that may require support (cloud servers etc.). Google just doesn't do the whole "human" thing very well. If it goes terribly wrong and they refuse to talk to you, good luck suing them unless you are a Fortune 500 company.
- xyby 12y ago
  Im not in the US, so I wonder: If big company like Google owes you money - isn't there some institution that will help you get it? Maybe the BBB? Especially if Google wrongfully kept the money from many customers. I would think some government run institutions would get going. Something like the "public prosecutor's office" or so.
  - adventured 12y ago
    If Google were doing this at a large scale, the US Government or state government/s would usually be willing to sue them over it. At a medium scale (in # of cases), you might find a law firm willing to take on a lot of cases, in exchange for a big cut. You can also choose to pursue your own situation individually. At a small scale (just your case let's say, and a small'ish sum of money), you're going to mostly be limited to small claim's court, which can work perfectly well sometimes: http://consumerist.com/2008/01/21/suing-big-companies-in-small-claims-court-is-fun-and-easy/ http://consumerist.com/2008/01/21/suing-big-companies-in-sma...
    - dhimes 12y ago
      But isn't it illegal? Isn't there a criminal prosecution aspect to it?
      - adventured 12y ago
        The correct answer to that is: it depends, aka not necessarily. Most likely what Google is doing, is dancing in the gray area. For example, is it criminal when PayPal hits you with a chargeback because a customer lies about x y or z? Given their size there's no question they do that a lot. Google would argue their business choices, like shutting down someone's wallet account (with money in it), falls into a similar category of business discretion - rather than being criminal. This is why almost all of what the SEC does is civil enforcement, fines, etc. In business there are almost always cases of financial loss due to ignorance, incompetence, discretion, risk taking and so on - most of that is not properly going to be criminal, but rather civil. Were Google doing something inappropriate in an area involving business discretion, the government may decide it's not ok, but not criminal (eg lacking the intention to defraud). In that case, they'll typically try to put a stop to the behavior, and use fines to do so. At times it can be incredibly difficult to show a company is intending to defraud its customers, the Feds would need a hard trail of evidence (emails, communication, etc. showing Google was trying to defraud customers).

by frik 12y ago

chrischen 12y ago

Also Apple Pay inside apps, and for retailers.

frik 12y ago
That's not the point. Inside their walled garden, Amazon's and Google's payment works fine too. The point was it used to be easy to use their services outside in the open internet on normal websites like Paypal.
- chrischen 12y ago
  A very big Walled Garden. As an owner of an ecommerce site, I can tell you it's very tempting to create an App version just to take advantage of one-tap thumbprint orders. Also I don't think Amazon or Google have a TouchID payment system.

downandout 12y ago

Google Checkout shutdown because it had reputational issues among merchants, and culture clash issues with the rest of Google. Payment platforms require human support personnel, and this is something that Google is diametrically opposed to. They algorithmically suspended many merchant accounts early in the service's life, with no explanation as to why and no one to talk to about it. This happened to me; I wound up filing a BBB complaint and they responded saying the reasons that they effectively stole thousands of dollars from me after months of operations without a single chargeback were "proprietary and confidential". I was not alone; the Google Checkout support forums were filled with stories like mine. This is why no one should ever use Google for any critical function that may require support (cloud servers etc.). Google just doesn't do the whole "human" thing very well. If it goes terribly wrong and they refuse to talk to you, good luck suing them unless you are a Fortune 500 company.

xyby 12y ago
Im not in the US, so I wonder: If big company like Google owes you money - isn't there some institution that will help you get it? Maybe the BBB? Especially if Google wrongfully kept the money from many customers. I would think some government run institutions would get going. Something like the "public prosecutor's office" or so.
- adventured 12y ago
  If Google were doing this at a large scale, the US Government or state government/s would usually be willing to sue them over it. At a medium scale (in # of cases), you might find a law firm willing to take on a lot of cases, in exchange for a big cut. You can also choose to pursue your own situation individually. At a small scale (just your case let's say, and a small'ish sum of money), you're going to mostly be limited to small claim's court, which can work perfectly well sometimes: http://consumerist.com/2008/01/21/suing-big-companies-in-small-claims-court-is-fun-and-easy/ http://consumerist.com/2008/01/21/suing-big-companies-in-sma...
  - dhimes 12y ago
    But isn't it illegal? Isn't there a criminal prosecution aspect to it?
    - adventured 12y ago
      The correct answer to that is: it depends, aka not necessarily. Most likely what Google is doing, is dancing in the gray area. For example, is it criminal when PayPal hits you with a chargeback because a customer lies about x y or z? Given their size there's no question they do that a lot. Google would argue their business choices, like shutting down someone's wallet account (with money in it), falls into a similar category of business discretion - rather than being criminal. This is why almost all of what the SEC does is civil enforcement, fines, etc. In business there are almost always cases of financial loss due to ignorance, incompetence, discretion, risk taking and so on - most of that is not properly going to be criminal, but rather civil. Were Google doing something inappropriate in an area involving business discretion, the government may decide it's not ok, but not criminal (eg lacking the intention to defraud). In that case, they'll typically try to put a stop to the behavior, and use fines to do so. At times it can be incredibly difficult to show a company is intending to defraud its customers, the Feds would need a hard trail of evidence (emails, communication, etc. showing Google was trying to defraud customers).