Free Google Checkout Transactions

Google is offering free transactions for Google Checkout for not only the holiday season this year, but all of next year, too.

For those unfamiliar with the service, Google Checkout is a payment service similar to PayPal where buyers can use the service for free, but merchants get charged a processing fee for handling credit card charges. There's more than a little speculation that this move is designed to entice merchants away from PayPal.

Well, of course it is, and taking over PayPal's market share won't be easy. Unlike Paypal, Google Checkout isn't a personal bank account where you can store money and send cash person to person. Google Checkout is strictly for merchants to accept payment. It's also very new, so it will take a lot of time for standard shopping cart software to allow people to incorporate Google Checkout.

Free processing will be an awfully big incentive. Google's goal, ultimately, is to try and sell more Adwords advertising from merchants using Google Checkout. If that happens, it's bad news for PayPal, and good news for AdSense accounts.

• Google Checkout
• Overview of AdSense