Building one wallet: Google Checkout is transitioning to Google Wallet

As you know, we’re big fans of keeping your shopping experience easy -- especially now that the holiday shopping season is here. Today, we’re starting to take all the great functionality and ease-of-use you’ve come to know with Google Checkout and merge it with Google Wallet to create a single wallet, whether you’re buying online or in-store. We’re also starting to integrate Google Wallet as the payment method on Android Market, YouTube, Google+ Games and many other Google sites.

For consumers: save time with Google Wallet online
For all you busy holiday shoppers, Google Wallet provides a simple and safe way to make online purchases. When you shop with merchants that accept Google Wallet or Google Checkout, just use your Google Wallet username and password to complete your purchase -- there’s no need to pull out your credit card or enter your shipping address with every transaction. Starting tomorrow, if you add a Citi MasterCard to the Google Wallet mobile app, it will also be available for use when you shop with Google Wallet online.

If you’re a current user of Google Checkout you can automatically transition your account to Google Wallet the next time you sign in or make a purchase online. All users can now access online purchase history and payment information at wallet.google.com/manage.

For merchants: no changes necessary
We're committed to upgrading our payment solutions for merchants while ensuring they’re able to process payments without interruption during the holidays -- so shoppers using Google Wallet will be able to make purchases seamlessly on merchant sites that accept Google Checkout. Early next year, we will work closely with our merchant partners to switch to the Google Wallet logo and share details on new and upcoming features.

If you have questions about this transition, please visit our Help Center to learn more. If you are looking for more information, you can visit google.com/wallet.

Posted by Ben Lee, Product Manager, Google Wallet

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Google Checkout to power donations for the 2011 CNN Heroes program

Over the past five years, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute has honored everyday people across the globe who are making extraordinary contributions to improve the lives of people in their communities. Each year Heroes are nominated by CNN viewers who are inspired by the hard work and commitment of these individuals. The 2011 Top 10 honorees were revealed recently by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with CNN to provide the donation functionality, through Google Checkout, for all contributions made to the causes championed by the Heroes. All donations are tax deductible. Google will cover the cost of the transaction fee to ensure that 100% of all donations go to the chosen organizations.

Explore the 2011 Top Ten Heroes’ stories in the video and show your support for their causes by donating now. You can donate as many times and to as many of the non-profit organizations as you’d like from now through December 31, 2011.

Want to learn even more about the Heroes? Read on!

Eddie Canales
Eddie Canales’ group, Gridiron Heroes, provides support to teenagers who suffered spinal cord injuries while playing football. Donate to Gridiron Heroes

Taryn Davis
Taryn Davis created the American Widow Project, which has provided support to more than 900 military widows since 2007. Donate to the American Widow Project

Sal Dimiceli
Through his newspaper column and his nonprofit, Sal Dimiceli helps about 500 people a year with food, rent and other necessities. Donate to Time Is Now

Derreck Kayongo
Derreck Kayongo's Global Soap Project recycles partially used hotel soap to save lives in impoverished countries. Donate to Global Soap Project

Diane Latiker
Surrounded by gang violence, Diane Latiker opened her Chicago home to area youth and started a program called Kids Off the Block. Donate to Kids Off the Block

Robin Lim
Since 2003, Robin Lim and her team have helped thousands of low-income women have a healthy birthing experience. Donate to Yayasan Bumi Sehat

Patrice Millet
Since being diagnosed with cancer, Patrice Millet has dedicated his life to helping Haitian kids through his youth soccer program. Donate to FONDAPS

Bruno Serato
Since 2005, Bruno Serato has been serving free pasta dinners to children, many of whom are poor and live in motels. Donate to Caterina's Club

Richard St. Denis
Since 2008, Richard St. Denis and World Access Project have provided hundreds of wheelchairs to people in rural Mexico. Donate to World Access Project

Amy Stokes
Using the Internet, Amy Stokes' nonprofit connects hundreds of South African kids with mentors from all over the world. Donate to Infinite Family






Posted by Jessica Smallman, Product Marketing, Google Commerce

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Gain support for your content

Just wrote a post on your blog and know your readers want to appreciate it with more than a +1? Sharing your new music track on the web rather than on the street with an open guitar case? Get the financial support you deserve with the Google Checkout Support button.

The Support button gives content creators an easy way to gather financial support for their efforts or their service. Bloggers, musicians, authors, developers and more who give away what they create for free may implement the Support button on their websites and enable their users to support their endeavors. If you’re already using Blogger, you can implement the Support button in 5 simple steps:

1. Sign up for a Google Checkout Merchant account at checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Be sure to enable the HTML API by going to the Settings tab, clicking the integration link and unchecking the “My company will only post digitally signed carts” checkbox. Also, copy the Merchant ID for use in step 5. 
3. Back in Blogger, on the Design | Page Elements tab click “add a gadget” where you wish to place the Support gadget. 
4. Add the "Support My Blog" gadget from the gadget gallery. 
5. Customize your support button settings. The Checkout Merchant ID is the one you copied down in step two. Save and you’re done! 

To generate a Support button for use on other sites, please visit the Checkout Developer Guide. For an example of the support button in action, check out http://bloggercheckout.blogspot.com/.

Posted by Peng Ying, Developer Programs Engineer

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Google I/O Commerce Recap

With Google I/O 2011 still fresh in our minds, we want to thank everyone who joined us for the Commerce track sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco or watched the sessions online from around the world.

This was the first time that Google I/O had an entire track devoted to Commerce and we are very pleased by the enthusiastic response from the developer community. The presentations covered a wide range of monetization topics and e-commerce tools from Google Checkout and a developer preview of In-App Payments for the web to Shopping APIs for content and search, eBooks and solutions for publishers who choose to charge.

All the sessions were recorded and are now available to watch on YouTube. If you weren't able to attend I/O, missed one of these great sessions or want to review a session again, please follow the links below for videos and session content:

• Google Checkout: A Foundation For Payments
• Introducing In-App Payments for the Web
• Introduction to Google Shopping APIs
• Google One Pass: A simple, flexible, Web API for Publishers
• Integrating to eBooks: APIs to Sell and Read eBooks for Affiliates, Retailers and Device Makers

And of course, we have also had several exciting new Google Commerce product announcements since I/O:

• Google Offers beta
• Google Wallet
• Developer API of Google In-App Payments for the web
• Google Books API now in Code Labs

We’re just getting started with many of these Commerce developer products, so stay tuned and keep following us @GoogCommerceDev for more news and announcements.

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Commerce Developer Advocate

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