Comment by breck | Hacker News Reader

Comment by breck | Hacker News Reader

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I believe it because it happened to me as well.

A year or two ago I used Google Checkout for an online product which sold a few hundred dollars worth. I got a couple of emails from Google saying to "Make sure to ship the products" or something like that. Since they were virtual goods, I didn't bother to go to Google Checkout and click "Shipped" or whatever.

Fast forward about a year, and I log in to Google Checkout to a message that says "Your account has been closed. We can't tell you why. There is no appeal".

The funniest part was I was trying to BUY something with Google Checkout.

I think it's bad practice to not tell someone why their account was closed. I understand if it was because I never clicked "Shipped" or whatever, but I don't even know if that's the reason.

Luckily there are alternatives to Google Checkout. I just wish Google treated their customers nicer. Especially because myself and my company spend over six figures a year on AdWords.

Ditto. Ditto Ditto. Sorry, but they did it to me. Was only $80.00, but Ditto.

Could you please tell if you were also selling digital products?

Wow. Memo to self - Avoid having business dealings with google if there are alternatives.

I wouldn't say that.

I mean, I use Google nearly 24/7. They are by far my favorite company and generally their products are awesome.

I even still use Google Checkout for some of my friends' websites.

It's just that in this particular case it would be nice if they improved things a bit.

There's a difference between "don't use Google" and "don't use Google for business."

A story like this turns me off Google in a big way if I'm using them for anything at all commercial. I don't want to have to worry about the stuff I'm doing. The idea of Google Checkout is to make my life easier. They're failing that in a big way.

It's not even a lack of trust of Google. I think Google's a good company that's just stupid in some ways. It's more a matter of, I don't want to bother with that stuff. I'll find somebody easier.

Thanks for picking up on the subtlety.

A commercial relationship is (or should be??) "higher touch" then a consumer one - but google don't want that at all. So that alone makes commercial usage a risk.

Unless and until you're bringing in real money for Google, make no mistake: you're in a consumer relationship with them, not a commercial one.

A merchant that's sold a few hundred dollars worth of stuff is never going to be important enough to Google to bother putting a real person on. It may suck, but that's the way it is.

If the vendor in question had a few more zeroes on their sales figures, Google would make sure that the complaints were valid before shutting them down.

But I agree fully with the basic point - any small vendor should think twice before relying solely on Google Checkout.

If it's a small amount of money, it's fine for them to shut you down with no warning and keep your money?

Imagine if a bank did that with your $200 checking account.

My account was open for a month or less when they closed it.

I consider using Adwords using Google for business and that is indispensable for most businesses.

Also, Google Apps has been stellar for business email so far.

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