Google Checkout "Gbuy" has me on Lock Down

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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Blackberry Email in Jeopardy

I have a client of mine that is very concerned that his Blackberry phone will not have the feature that he purchase the phone for in the first place. This whole patent infringement with the company NTP, Inc.

According to Gartner Dataquest's Todd Kort and various documents associated with the Research In Motion Ltd. case, the patent in question relates to work that NTP Inc.'s founder, Thomas Campana, did in the late 1980s as a subcontractor for AT&T Corp. AT&T wanted to add wireless e-mail features to its new Safari laptop computer, which it had acquired as a part of its purchase of computer maker NCR.

Campana had developed and patented a method of sending e-mail messages to wireless pagers, and it was a natural fit for AT&T. However, at the last minute, Kort said, AT&T decided not to use Campana's technology, and he lost a considerable amount of money as a result.

"So Campana and his guys sat on the [patents] for years," said Kort, until his holding company, NTP, contacted RIM in January 2000 regarding the patents. However, RIM claims that NTP "did not readily demonstrate any support for potential patent infringement." NTP filed suit against RIM in 2001.

"It's a little bit distasteful," Kort said of NTP's patent crusade, which he said is likely to extend beyond RIM to other companies with similar technology.

"What's happening is NTP is going back in time, asking people who have theoretically been violating their patents to pay up."

Even though my client does not have backup plan just yet I am going ask all who read this to make comments and suggestions on what the current blackberry users should do just in case this battle with NTP does not go their way.

Check out this article by Eric B. Parizo the editor of searchmobilecomputing.com to get additional information on this topic.

Personal vs Professional Life Email - Don't Squander Your First Internet Impression

Summary: They say first impressions are everything these days. So why are you turning business away by sending a free email address to your potential customer? Better yet, why are you giving away a perfect opportunity to promote your business?

My first email address was with compuserve.com back when you could only have numbers for an email address. They then allowed us to have letters as well on prodigy so I switched internet service providers or internet content providers as they are better known to us geeks. My next stop was with the number one provider AOL and my name became an extension of my love for jazz music and I have had that email address ever since. I also have a yahoo.com email address that I use strictly for its Spam filter and free virus protection software that is built into the website. Free email addresses are great and I suggest you take advantage of their many no cost features. But I only use them for personal reasons. The main reason I don't use them for business is because I refuse to give the free email services anymore free publicity and not get anything in return.

The use of email addresses that promote anything but your business is a waste of great branding potential. Every time you send and email to a potential client or customer you have a perfect opportunity to promote your business. Yahoo and MSN will gladly give you a free email address because you help market their business with every click of the send button.

Earthlink and AOL get you to pay them every month to promote their service. I ask you, what are the chances of wemakewidgets@aol.com winning a ten million dollar contract over yourname@wemakewidgets.com Who do you think will be taken more seriously? Don'’t get me wrong I am sure there are many multi million dollar deals done using these services. But how many of them keep using it to create a more corporate and professional image.
Why not go to a website like Proemailaddress.com and register your own little piece of electronic marketing. This can be done for as little as $9.95` for a years worth of keeping your businesses name moving back and forth through cyber space. And get this; yourname@yourcompanyname.com makes a much bigger impression on those you look to do business with in the future.
I can't tell you how many business cards I have received with yahoo, msn, hotmail and especially aol.com email addresses on them and thought do I really want to do business with this person. Are they just a fly by night business? Can I trust a person who can'’t take the time and effort most legitimate businesses use to make sure they are recognized and respected industry leaders?

At one time just having an email address on a business card was impressive because not everyone had an email address let alone knew how to use it as a marketing tool. Gone are those days and in their place one has to step up their game and make more of a first impression. Using a professional email address does just that and more. Not only does a professional email address bring more promise and prestige to your company but it is one of the most inexpensive forms of mass marketing there is today. You are able to market your business to many potential clients while at the same time keeping customers informed and up to date through correspondence.
So in reading this article if you only get one thing that you can use please see to getting a professional email address and give your business the optimum chance to show its true worth.

E-mail: Could you live without it?

I never considered myself a writer even still to this day of writing one of my first blogs but I do find myself realizing how very important writing e-mail messages has become in this world. My quest is to find out just how important e-mail or email is to people. There are some who say they wouldn't miss a beat if they didn't even have and email account. But most would say they could not live, let alone do business without it. Some need it and rely on it so much there is not a day or in some cases and hour that does not go by when they are not checking it. I am going to try and interview as many people as I can find who will share their e-mail story with me. I would like to know if they still remember the first time they received on email message. How did it make them feel then and how does it make them feel now so many months or years later about e-mail.