Google Checkout To Be Retired November 20

Google rolled out Google Wallet back in 2011, and now the time has come to retire Google Checkout. The news was made in an announcement earlier today, with Google notifying merchants using Google Checkout that in six months the service will go dark following a transition to Wallet. This follows the addition of Google Wallet to Gmail, allowing users to send someone money from within their inbox.

Google Checkout is officially being retired on November 20, requiring users selling physical items to use Google Wallet Instant Buy if they already have payment processing. If a merchant doesn't have payment processing, Google has partnered with three options: Freshbooks, Braintree, and Shopify. Via the partnership, Google Checkout users will get a discount when migrating to one of the three.

Individuals who use Google Checkout to sell items via a Google service, such as Google Play and the Chrome Web Store, won't have to migrate, instead being automatically switched over to Google Wallet at an unspecified date in the next few weeks. Those who sell both physical items and digital items via a Google service will only see their Checkout functionality disappear in November.

Google suggests that users switch to a different system from Checkout before the retirement date rolls around, advising that failing to do so could cause some disruption to the merchant's business if an alternative isn't in place by November 20. New orders will no longer be accepted on that date, while refunds can still be initiated for an extra month, with that ability going down on December 20.

November 21 will be the last day for merchants to ship orders, with all outstanding orders being automatically cancelled on November 27. Google says it won't be "proactively" informing Google Wallet users of this change, and so merchants should do that on an individual basis if they feel it is necessary. A replacement to Checkout APIs will be announced "shortly."

SOURCE: Google