Google takes on PayPal

Search giant launches it's own checkout service

13 April 2007 10:07 GMT / By Ryan Haynes

PayPal has a new challenger and this time it's the global search giant Google.

Moving into another area of online services it has launched it's own online payment service in the UK. Google Checkout has been operating in the US since June 2006, however it is yet to be released in the rest of Europe.

Expected to be a strong competitor to eBay's PayPal, the systems allows you to automatically pay for services or purchase products online, without having to get your credit card out of your wallet and tap in the long list of numbers asked for every time you make a transaction.

While PayPal has remained dominant in the US thanks to it being the main payment option for eBay users over Google's system, credit or debit card transactions processed through retailers' own systems are still used for the majority of purchases.

With the launch of Google Checkout there is likely to be a number of offers from its competitors, something to look out for.