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If the Wall Street Journal’s report is true, Google’s online payment system will be debuting this week. Technophiles, SEO wizards and just about anyone interested in Google and Internet commerce have been speculating about Google’s payment system–in turns called Google Wallet, GBuy and, lately, Google Checkout–since last fall.
To attract customers to the new service, Google plans to offer a rebate to people who make online purchases, the Journal said.
Ostensibly, GBuy would compete with eBay’s PayPal, which is the most popular online payment system, with about 25 percent of the online payments market. PayPal is reponsible for almost 25 percent of eBay’s $1.3 billion in quarterly revenue, and eBay purchases are responsible for about 70 percent of PayPal’s revenue. However, it is feasible that GBuy could work in concert with eBay, especially if eBay received a cut from every purchase.
In February, Google CEO Eric Schmidt denied that GBuy would compete with PayPal. In a previous Journal article, Schmidt said Google didn’t intend to offer a “person-to-person, stored-value payments system,” which many people consider a description of PayPal’s service.
eBay’s CEO, Jeff Jordan, said he didn’t believe Schmidt.
eBay acquired PayPal in 2002. The payment system was founded in 1998 and has about 100 million customers.