Friday on Google Checkout’s blog, a new gadget was announced that will allow you to set up a store on your site and start selling in just a few minutes! The gadget is being called “experimental,” but we know GMail was experimental for a long time too, so I assume and hope this will only get better.
1. Sign up for a Google Checkout merchant account. Checkout will process your orders and help you attract new leads, convert more sales, and enjoy advanced fraud protection. When Google Checkout users see the Google Checkout badge on your ad, they click on ads 10% more often, so Google Checkout has increased your traffic right there. I can imagine that unless you are already well known to be legitimate, prospective buyers will have more confidence when they see the Google Acceptance logo. I know if I am searching for an item and come across a website I’ve never heard of, I’d feel a lot better using Google Checkout than to give the strange website my credit card number and hope the merchandise really comes! Google offers comprehensive fraud protection, and this protection is totally free. Checkout not only detects orders that are fraudulent, it also helps increase sales by identifying legitimate orders that you might otherwise mark as fraudulent. Best of all, Checkout’s Payment Guarantee protects 98% of Checkout orders on average: when an order is guaranteed, you get paid even if it results in a chargeback.
2. List the products you want to sell in a Google Docs spreadsheet. When you open the template spreadsheet, tell it yes, create a copy. Then replace the sample inventory with your own. You can add other columns to the spreadsheet, but remember that the whole thing is going to be publicly available, so don’t include any private information in it. In order to make sure the spreadsheet shows correctly, be sure to click on “Share”, then “Publish as a web page”, and then “Start Publishing”. Also check that your spreadsheet is in the correct format: The first row of the spreadsheet must be the column names, such as title, content, price, quantity, etc.
3. Place the Google Checkout store gadget on your website. The gadget is embeddable on personal websites, Google Sites, Blogger, and iGoogle. You select from Large (800 x 400), Small (320×300), or Tiny (215×250), then Google provides Store Configuration Tools in each of those sizes, where you will provide a link to your inventory spreadsheet, your Merchant ID (from step 1 – signing up), and then just Preview and make any changes or adjustments you want.
Once you have the store the way you want it, click a button to Get the Code, then copy the HTML and paste into your site. Currently there are reported problems with the store configuration tool in Chrome and Safari, and Google is working on it, but in the meantime, everything should work in Firefox.
What does it cost to use Google Checkout? Well the fees start at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction when you have monthly sales of less than $3000, but become lower for every level above that and can be as low as 1.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, if you sell $100,000/month. I advise you try to get to that top level quickly! 
I have a lot of new friends on the web from around the world, so I searched to see if this is available for sellers in countries other than the U.S. Here’s what I got from the Checkout site:
Google Checkout is available to U.S. and U.K. merchants. U.S. Google Checkout merchants must have a U.S. bank account and U.S. address, plus either of the following:
* A Social Security number (optional) and a valid credit card
* A Federal Tax ID/Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Buyers from many other countries outside the United States and United Kingdom can also sign up for the service and make purchases through Google Checkout. While their purchases will always be processed in the currency matched to your address (U.S. dollars for U.S. merchants or Pounds Sterling for U.K. merchants), buyers’ credit cards will usually provide seamless currency conversion. Check the Location drop-down menu on the sign-up page to see if Google Checkout is available in your buyer’s location.
Merchants in Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, U.S. and U.K. can also use Google Checkout to sell applications on Android Market.
We’re working towards making Google Checkout more widely available. At this time, however, we cannot provide any details regarding when Google Checkout will be available in specific countries.
Google Checkout looks like a great way to sell products on your website, and the new gadget has made it that much easier. Check it out and let me know what you think!
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