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How do I add "buy now" buttons with Google Checkout?

I just read about Google Checkout (at your site, actually: Introducing Google Checkout and I"m inspired to add "buy now" buttons for this service to my page in addition to the Paypal buttons I already have. Can you step me through the process, please?


Dave's Answer:

Sure. You are fast off the mark - the service was only introduced five hours before I got your query! Fortunately, it's pretty easy, so I'll step through how I added a 'buy now through Google Checkout" button to my Buy Dave a Chai page on the site.

First off, you'll need a Google account, which you probably already have if you use Google Mail, personalized search, Google Spreadsheets or any of the myriad of other Google services available. Then go to the signup page, where you'll learn that you need:

Google Checkout: signup

Assuming you have those data points available, you'll need to specify whether you are a current AdWords advertiser, have a Google account or are a newbie to the Google service (though I had to log in to get to this screen so I am unsure how you could ever check #3 here). I picked #2 since my AdWords campaigns are more tests than real advertising, then was asked if I wanted to use the same account settings or have a different account for Google Checkout. I chose the same settings for simplicity.

I had to sign in again and this time was whisked to a new page that asked for lots of contact information, including contact name, business name and address, and so on. More importantly, I also had a chance to read the Google Checkout Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Content Policies to ensure I was not going to use it in ways that our friends in Mountain View didn't like.

I clicked "Save & Continue" and was asked for some financial information about the company (to assign a max daily limit, I expect), including current sales volume and estimated average order. I also had to supply either a Federal Tax ID or SSN & credit card information. I filled these out -- beware, their "smart" credit card entry box messes you up with the Safari browser. Take your time and triple check your card number -- and again clicked "Save & Continue".

This is so I can buy stuff, which is confusing. The next step is to specify a bank account so I can have Google Checkout deposit money into my account:

Google Checkout: bank account setup

As with Paypal, Google Checkout drops a small amount in your account and then asks you to confirm the amount to validate your account data. Easily done, though I'll have to come back here in two days and verify the transaction.

Next up, you'll need to specify yet more information about your site. Your public business URL (which is kinda daft: Google notes that if your AdWords ads point there, you'll get a tiny Google Checkout badge, but AdWords best practices have different landing pages for each campaign. I don't see how that's integrated into this service yet), your product type, customer support information, and similar profile info.

You also need to specify both your return and shipping policies, as appropriate, and, a nice touch, you can specify what you want to appear on your customers' credit card billing statements. I presume that's in addition to "Google Checkout", but someone will have to buy me a cuppa and we'll see what they get on their statement!

With everything specified, finally, we can just click on the "Buy Now buttons" and get down to the business of actually building a button or two!

Google Checkout: Buy Now button creator

As you can see, it couldn't be much easier, as I expect from Google.

To create a "Buy Dave a Chai" button, I'll specify the "Button with options" and let people easily select between the four chai options: buy me a chai ($4.50), buy me two chais ($9.00), buy me and my wife a chai each (also $9.00) and buy me a Starbucks gift card ($25.00).

I choose a colored background since it's so much prettier, and type in the specifics of each item:

Google Checkout: Creating a Buy Now button

Looks good, so I click on "Create button code" and find out that particular feature isn't Apple Safari compatible: nothing happens when I click on it! BLECH!

So I start up Firefox and log in to my new Google Checkout account, and try again.

This time it works, and I get the code displayed:

Google Checkout: The Code for Buy Now buttons

Here's what it looks like as a button, too:

Try it! Buy me a cuppa, and here's what you'll see (once you've set yourself up with Google Checkout, of course):

Google Checkout: Purchase!

That's all there is to it. Is Google Checkout better than Paypal? It's too soon to tell, but Google tends to be successful with its efforts, so I'm betting that it's smart to at least have both available as options for people wanting to pay you / buy your products.

Hope that's helpful!

By the way, here are some places you can read blogger thoughts on Google Checkout and how it compares to Paypal and other payment services: The New York Times, TechCrunch, CNet News, Search Engine Watch, TechDirt, ClickZ, ReveNews, and, of course, Google's Official Blog.


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Categorized: Auctions and Online Shopping , HTML, JavaScript and Web Site Programming   (Article 6653, Written by )
Tagged: buy now buttons, google checkout, online payment systems, paypal, paypal merchant account, shopping carts
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Reader Comments To Date: 9

DeAnna said, on June 29, 2006 5:00 PM:

Thank you so much for writing this tutorial. I added google to my virtual assistant site. I also blogged about it and linked to you in that post. Have a good day!

rayray said, on August 21, 2006 12:39 PM:

hey do u know how to add the buttons to a email address were i can send a payment button through email to other people?

i know it can be done cause i guy on ebay did it and sent me one but u dont understand how he did it im totaly lost any help would be great thanks

Mritunjay Kumar said, on December 28, 2006 12:31 AM:

I created bank account in sandbox of Google checkout & I want to verify my account. How can verify this. I didn't see any link or button to review my bank accout to "look for a small deposite from google". This deposited amount is necessary for account verification.

Plz. help me

Regards
Mritunjay Kumar

John said, on April 20, 2008 4:35 PM:

You can't adjust the quantity on the checkout page... that sucks.

Kim said, on September 22, 2008 10:18 AM:

Dave,

Once you have a google checkout account, you can make google payment buttons with photo and description at EzPaymentButtons.com.

It's free and a handy tool for site and blog owners.

It also works with creating paypal buttons.

Thanks Dave!

Kim

GChatzop said, on March 17, 2009 3:56 AM:

Excellent tutorial. Thanx!

dakota boo said, on March 19, 2009 11:02 AM:

Is there any way to avoid bloating out my HTML when I use Google checkout or the Google buy now buttons? Looking at the code it generates I get the impression it will (i) significantly increase the size of each page and (ii) reduce the content to code ratio, thus rendering my page less SEO friendly. Any thoughts?

Jasen Burkett said, on March 24, 2009 4:44 PM:

Quick question... If I need the ability to allow viewers to change the quantity before they hit
the 'buy now' button. How is that done?

thanks
Jasen

Pete said, on February 21, 2010 6:23 PM:

Hi dave

hoew can I have a text area wher I can insert my Merchant Id and then submit the form along with
product name,price to google checkout.
Kindly pete.

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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