I was so excited when the announcement first came out that Google.com was going to have its own version of a payment service. As soon as I was able I then applied and was amazed at the ease of signing up for the service. Then came my disappointment. After giving Google all the necessary information they needed to get an account I was put off by one major aspect of the payment process, GETTING PAID!
Turns out I currently have what Google Checkout calls a "Payout Limit" on my account.
Here are the findings when I click on the Payouts tab in my account
Your payout amounts are currently limited to $500.00 a month. To increase your monthly payout limit, upgrade your account.
We when I got to the upgrade your account link it just brings me back to my settings tab and does not give me any instructions on how to upgrade my account.
I have since emailed the Google Checkout team via their email form and I am still waiting for an answer. I did get a standard reply email that said that they currently have my account under review and will get back to me on their findings.
It has only been a few days since that email but I am still not happy with such a process.
Here are the official words from Google on why I have a payout limit from their own FAQ's
What's a monthly payout limit? How do I remove this limit?
A monthly payout limit is a restriction on the total amount of earnings you can receive at one time.
When you process transactions through Google Checkout, your payouts are sent to you according to the standard payout schedule. With a monthly payout limit, however, your earnings will be paid to you over a longer period. For example, say you have a monthly payout limit of $500. If your total sales in July equal $600, only $500 will be paid to you in July; the remaining $100 will be carried over to your August payouts.
Not all sellers have monthly payout limits. If you have a payout limit, the limit amount will appear on your Payout Summary page, Payout Summary Details page, and payment settings page. On these pages, you may also see a notification message asking if you'd like to remove your monthly payout limit. By clicking the link in the message, you can request that Google perform a simple review and remove your monthly payout limit so you can receive your payouts more quickly. (If you don't see these notification messages, you aren't currently eligible to have your monthly payout limit removed.)
To my understanding this is clearly a bad feature if it comes down to my account being limited this way. Let's look at their own scenario in a very possible sales transaction.
I have charged one of my customers say $2500.00 to create a website for them. They then goto my website and use a Google Checkout "Buy Now" button to complete the purchase.
According to Google Checkout they will only allow me to have $500.00 of that money this month and keep the other $2000.00 until the following month and only give me another $500.00 NOT the balance of my original transaction.
So I ask you does this seem fair.
Why can't I get all of the money that was due me from the beginning?
I hope Google Checkout has a good explanation for this, cause right now I won't be using this account anytime soon.
If you would like to get another oppinion on what Google Checkout is doing against the likes of Ebay/Paypal.com please check out Brent Leary's Blog.
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