Google’s online payment system Gbuy is set to officially launch on June 28, further intensifying the battle against its competitor eBay.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, during the initial phase, the Gbuy service will be completely free. However, in later stages, sellers may incur transaction fees ranging from 1.5% to 2%. Regardless, this fee structure is still cheaper compared to eBay’s widely used online payment system, PayPal.
The WSJ analysis highlights that the “intelligence” of Gbuy’s seller-to-buyer payment mechanism lies in how Google processes the transaction data it collects.
Whenever a user clicks on the Gbuy button next to a sold item, they are automatically redirected to Gbuy’s site, where transactions are completed in an instant.
This allows Google’s payment system to monitor every search result link that users click on, determining which categories and groups they belong to.
With this data, Google gains authentic and specific evidence about the categories that users are most interested in, providing the highest return on investment for advertisers.
Moreover, this data helps Google identify which locations for placing sponsored links are the most “prime,” generating the highest traffic. As a result, they gain deeper insights into web users’ shopping habits. The outcome? Companies will flock to Google to purchase advertising space.
However, many companies express concerns that Google may exploit its position to “squeeze” sellers, for example, by requiring sellers to bid higher to reactivate certain keywords.
Nonetheless, the presence of the Gbuy logo next to sponsored links still holds significant appeal, according to the WSJ, as it conveys a sense of being a “reliable brand, certified by Google.”
Meanwhile, Forbes also suggests that this could be a “revolutionary” decision for Google. “At present, Gbuy poses more of a threat to eBay than it offers benefits to Google. But in the long run, it could change the entire game.”
Tien Yi
