Google Takes A Shot At PayPal

Google Checkout has been around for a while, and Google's been trying to encourage merchants to use their payment processing service instead of the far more established PayPal and other third party processors. My one gripe with Google Checkout is that its API isn't nearly as powerful as PayPal's so it's harder to tie shopping cart systems and the like to it. But Google's latest move might encourage more folks to use it or try to use it:

As you may know, for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 of Google Checkout sales for free. Just in time for the holidays, we're giving you even more by processing all of your Google Checkout sales for free through the end of 2006! Here's how it works:

* From November 8 through December 31, 2006, we'll process all of your Checkout transactions for free, even if you aren't an AdWords advertiser. If you're already an AdWords advertiser, we'll process your Checkout transactions for free regardless of what you spend on AdWords.
* Valid Checkout orders you receive during the promotion will automatically qualify.
* There's no limit: we're processing all of your Checkout sales for free.
* You can take full advantage of this promotion by encouraging your buyers to use Google Checkout on your site.