[_Lemon_]

Earlier today I received a phone call from a number in Mountain View CA. It was Google letting me know in advance that Google Checkout was to be shut down (and asking to keep the call quiet). This was, to say the least, very surprising considering I have very little correspondence with Google Checkout and was actually thinking there was a huge problem with my account. Thankfully not but this is still bad news for myself and I presume the industry at large.

Google Checkout was very good with their fraud protection to the point that I did not have to think about it. In fact, over the years I have been growing my business Google have been my rock---never a real issue with them.

PayPal was a similar story but it also seemed to attract the sort of customer that would open a dispute at almost any issue (or just threaten it). You can also count me in one of their horror stories that indirectly cost me £5k and even got to the point where they just flat out refused refunds for my customers who wanted them.

I have a Stripe and GoCardless account as well and I've been trying to make it work but their fraud protection is just not up to scratch compared to Google and PayPal, which is a real shame. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to see enough data to get quite the same fraud protection. Stripe do look fun though.

Another perspective from a merchant: roll on Bitcoin. With exchanges offering guaranteed payouts in another currency (for me, GBP) I take on zero risk by accepting it and it solves so many problems. There's no wonder more and more websites are starting to accept it.

[thehodge]

Someone suggested Bitcoin today, as a merchant, what would you recommend to start accepting it? a third party service?

[_Lemon_]

Definitely a third party service. Then place the bumper sticker "No Bitcoins on our servers" somewhere :)

I integrated MtGox and BitPay. Compared to Google Checkout (XML mania) and PayPal (documentation drama) they take about 5 seconds to implement (test is another thing entirely).

I went with MtGox in the end since it was cheaper. I was then happy to offer a 3% discount to make up for the fees users got stung with purchasing BTC. However MtGox has a number of bugs that make it a show stopper for some customers.

If you ask the right questions they will acknowledge the bugs and tell you they are working on it and need plenty of time. I would probably not use MtGox if I had known about the bugs prior to integrating.

[sounds]

Just wanted to public thank you for detailing your experience as a merchant, setting up with MtGox and BitPay.

Just curious, would you give BitPay a second look?

Obligatory: I'm currently using MtGox and haven't really had the time to try BitPay, but the MtGox legal issues could be a reason to need a second option.

[_Lemon_]

Yes I would, I'd probably jump back to them. I've just not had time to sit down this year!

[quackerhacker]

Coinbase! I'm not with YCombinator, who is invested in Coinbase, but I checked out Coinbases API and they KEY WORDING: as a merchant accepting it, you're not subjected to the volatility of Bitcoin's exchange rate, if your batch at the end of the day is $1k you can expect that.

[rdl]

I'd personally go with Coinbase (we're going to add it shortly), since they have probably the best API.

All of the Bitcoin options suffer from a long delay between "oh, I want to use your product/service" and "can pay", if your user doesn't already have bitcoin. As long as 5 days.

What I'd recommend, if you're selling a service, is to do a 15-30 day trial AND take Bitcoin (or give someone free initial service IFF they pay with bitcoin, if you don't do demo anyway), to give them a chance to get started immediately. Unless you're shipping a physical product, losing 5 days of service if someone's bitcoin payment doesn't happen isn't a big deal, usually.

[clarkm]

I've heard good things about https://bitpay.com

[rpgmaker]

Let me guess, google wallet will require g+?

[jacquesm]

"The concept is simple: Google Wallet is an app, rather than just a website or an integration via MasterCard’s PayPass. It’s an actual payment app that lives on Android devices. Users can sign in using their Google+ username and account, and then pay for online purchases directly via the app."

From:

http://www.tnooz.com/2013/05/15/news/mobile-payments-get-ser...

[kitbrennan]

Hi _Lemon_

I work at GoCardless. I would love to hear your feedback about ways that you think we could improve our fraud protection!

Feel free to reply here, or give me an email (kit AT gocardless DOT com), or to call me on 020 7183 8674.