Google Checkout Has A Few Glitches Compared to PayPal

Since late June, Kirby Witmer has twice tried buying electronics for his customers using Google Inc.’s online-payment feature, Google Checkout.But all he got were a couple of Google (GOOG) T-shirts.The first arrived after Witmer, who runs an electronics business called KirbTech from his home in Carlisle, Pa., canceled his order for a flat-screen monitor from the Web site Buy.com, after learning it would take a month to process it.About two weeks later, he ordered another piece of gear for a customer, from Buy.com, using the Checkout feature. The wireless-access equipment also never arrived, but a second shirt sent by Google as part of a promotion did.”I might try Checkout again,” Witmer said. “But it won’t be for a while, and it won’t be for a critical customer order, that’s for sure.”Witmer’s experience is just one example of the early difficulties that users are having with Google Checkout, which the company introduced June 29 to take on eBay Inc.’s (EBAY) PayPal, the leading service for online payments.Some of Google’s problems have been caused by technology hiccups, which included a glitch in which Checkout icons were placed on hundreds of Web sites by accident, according to the search giant.

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