Up until now, Google Checkout has only been available to US buyers and sellers.

“Search giant Google has launched its payment service, Google Checkout, in the UK. Checkout will compete with both the mainstream card processing services used by many online merchants and auction site eBay’s Paypal service”.

Part of PayPals success is its reach. PayPal is available in most countries, and has been for some time. Google is playing catch-up, and haven’t announced when they will be expanding into Europe, or the rest of the world.

Google are a bit wary of direct PayPal comparisons, possibly because the two services don’t really compare, at present. PayPal have a commanding lead.

“And Google’s Obi Felton is also at pains to stress that Google Checkout buttons tend to sit alongside retailers’ other payment methods when it comes time for the customer to pay, rather than trying to supplant them”.