Google Checkout has just changed their fee structure.  Yes it is going to be more expensive

You can still sign up for free and they have no monthly costs.  However they now take a larger cut on each sale (pretty much the same as PayPal).

Here is the new fee structure:

You can read more about the changes on the Google Checkout Seller Fees page.

For those of you that use Google Checkout, you can now offer coupons to your customers! Google allows you to create coupons for a percentage off the order total or for a specific dollar value discount.

Here’s how you set up a coupon in Google Checkout:

1. Log in to your Google Checkout account and go to “My Sales”.
2. Click on the “Tools” tab at the top, then click on “Coupons” on the left side.
3. Click on “Create a new coupon”.
4. Fill out steps 1-3 to create your coupon and click “Create”.

When customers make a purchase with Google Checkout in your store, they will see a place on the order page to enter the coupon code. The discount will be applied right there and the person can pay as usual.

The coupon code and the discount will be shown on the order page in Flying Cart.

You can mail out your coupon codes to customers with a fan mailing or offer them to all shoppers by posting the code on your site. You could even mail a special coupon code in your shipping notifications to try to get repeat business. You can get pretty creative with your promotions.

You have to use Google Checkout for this, as the service is not offered for PayPal users.  Here are some directions on how to switch to Google Checkout.

You can now take care of all Google payment management from within Flying Cart. Look for the Google Payment Manager link on the bottom of each order page in the Headquarters. You can view the order payment history, monitor the payment status, send refunds, send messages, cancel an order, and view the risk level of the customer’s payment method.  The data shown on this screen matches what is in your Google Checkout account in real-time so this new feature can save you the trouble of going back and forth.

We are very excited to show off what we have been working on for the last month. A lot of love and elbow grease went into this.

Google Checkout is Here!

You asked for it, and we now bring you an alternative to PayPal. Process credit card payments using your Google account. Solid and reliable. Yippee!  Go to your Store > Settings tab to set this up.

Why we love Google Checkout:

• Its cleaner and easier to process payments
• More reliable (did we mention that?)
• If you advertise on Google (via Google Adwords) they will display “Google Checkout” under your ad

Using Google Checkout with Flying Cart is easy. Here are our step by step instructions.

Orders Nearly Manage Themselves

Well not quite, but close. Orders now have a nice little three-step process with matching icons:

1. Get Paid - shows you when the payment is in your account
2. Ship - click the icon when you have shipped the order
3. Archive - file the order in your archive to get it out of the way

That’s Not All

• Order numbers now correspond to your PayPal or Google Checkout order number
• A PayPal or Google logo on each order shows you how the customer paid
• Your customer’s billing information is displayed below the shipping information
• You can send email notifications to tell your customer that you shipped her/his order (see the Store > Settings tab)

Expanded Options for Charging Tax

You know what they say about death and taxes. Yep, inevitable.

In most states you only have to charge the customers in your state. Now you can easily apply a percentage to the total for customers in your state.

Simplified Shipping Page

Our old shipping page was a little confusing so we changed it around to be more straightforward. ‘Nuf said.

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Google Checkout allows you to accept credit card payments using a (free) Google account. In our experience, it is easier to use and more reliable than PayPal for a nearly identical functionality. Read more about Google Checkout here.

Follow these steps to use Google Checkout on your store.  Feel free to download and print these instructions out.

1. Sign up for a Google Merchant account.  It is free and easy.

Please Note: Google will make a small deposit in your bank account and you will need to verify the amount in order to complete your sign up.  This will take a day or two.

2. Login to your Google Checkout account and go to “My Sales”. Click on the “Settings” tab and then click on “Integration” on the left.

3. Make sure “My company will only post digitally signed carts.” is unchecked.

4. Locate your Google merchant ID and Google Merchant Key on the right side of this page.

5. Login to your Flying Cart store headquarters (in a new browser window).  Go to your “Store” -> “Settings” tab.  Scroll down to the Payment section and enter in your Google Merchant ID and Google Merchant key that you got from Step #4.

6. Highlight your API Callback URL from the Google Checkout section and go to Edit > Copy in your browser to copy it. Scroll down the page and click “Update Settings” at the bottom.

7. Go back to the window with your Google Settings and paste the API Callback URL into the field on that page.  Select “HTML (name/value pairs)” as the callback method.  Hit “Save”.

8. Go to your store, put something in your cart and notice that Google Checkout is now an option. Enjoy!

Google Checkout™ is a checkout process that you provide on your website to enable your customers to buy from you quickly and securely, using a single username and password. And once they make a purchase, you can use Checkout to charge their credit cards, process their orders, and receive payment in your bank account.

Top benefits to using Google Checkout:

• Attract more leads. Buyers that use Google Checkout actively look to buy from merchants that offer it on their websites. If you use Google search advertising, you can help these potential buyers find you by displaying the Google Checkout badge on your search advertisements.
• Convert more leads into sales. A fast, secure checkout process helps persuade shoppers to buy on your site and buy more often.
• Lower sales processing costs. For every $1 you spend on Google search advertising, you can process $10 in sales for free. If you don’t use Google search advertising or you use up your free transaction processing, you can process additional sales at a low 2% and $0.20 per transaction.
• Protect yourself from fraud. Google Checkout’s fraud prevention tools stop invalid orders from reaching you. And Checkout’s Payment Guarantee policy helps protect you from charge backs.

FAQ about Google Checkout:

• What is the buyer experience like?
• I am ready!  How can I integrate my store with Google Checkout?
• Where can I get more information about Google Checkout fees?
• What exactly does Google do to protect me from fraud?
• Where do I sign up for Google Checkout?