'Pay with Google' makes online shopping quicker and easier

[midian182]

While smartphones have become more popular than desktop for browsing the web, using a handset to buy goods can still be a pain. But Google is making the whole process quicker and easier through the launch of its online payment portal, Pay with Google.

The system works through association with linked Google accounts that contain users' credit/debit card info, such as YouTube, Android Pay, Chrome, and Google Pay. When purchasing from an app or website that offers Pay with Google, you simply click on the payment option and authenticate it with either a security code or your Android device. Google sends the merchant your payment and address details, so there’s no filling out forms on your part.

At launch, Pay with Google can be used in Android apps and the Chrome browser. It’ll work with 15 different services (shown below) across the US, UK, and Brazil, including Airbnb, Deliveroo, Instancart, Kayak, Fancy, HotelTonight, StubHub, JustEat, and Papa John’s, with more coming soon.

As an incentive to get more merchants to join, Google isn’t charging a transaction fee on purchases, and it takes “only a few lines of code” to add its payment option. 14 international payment providers have already signed up, and Google says more are being added all the time. Developers can find out more about the Google Payment API here.

The future of the system will likely see loyalty schemes being introduced by various retailers, as well as the ability to send money to friends through voice commands via Google Assistant.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71526-pay-google-makes-online-shopping-quicker-easier.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Yeah, it's always been very simple to pay since the beginning of time. But getting paid? Not so much. In fact it just gets more difficult and complicated.

 

[Uncle Al]

Frankly, with the piss poor security of so many of these companies I would just as soon send them a check .... no, seriously, a real one, not a rubber one .....

 

[Bubbajim]

Doesn't cost the merchant anything, doesn't cost the consumer anything - the "something nefarious is going on" alarm bells start to ring. What could go wrong in handing over even more info to Google?

 

[seefizzle]

Doesn't cost the merchant anything, doesn't cost the consumer anything - the "something nefarious is going on" alarm bells start to ring. What could go wrong in handing over even more info to Google?

It's all in the credit card processing fees.

Every time you swipe your card anywhere multiple people are getting paid. The credit card processor takes a small clice, the account rep takes a small slice, even the point of sale company that installed the credit card processing system probably takes a small sliver. So the way they offer this for free is that they take a slice for their troubles. Saying that it doesn't cost the merchant anything is a little misleading. All credit card processing costs money, what it's saying is that it doesn't cost any additional money besides swipe fees.

Google has been slowly and methodically making inroads into payment systems for years. They had a google pay prepaid gift card for a while. There's android based NFC payments which have gained traction in the last couple of years. This is just another logical step.

As a person who sets up credit card processing for a living, I'd put more faith into Google than I would any regular brick and mortar store set up by joe blow point of sale guy. Google invests billions into security. Joe's diner pays one guy hourly.