Google Wallet

Does anyone use Google Wallet to pay for things?

The reason I ask is because I am setting up the Boomershoot entry website to use Google Wallet for credit card payments. I get a better rate than with PayPal or Amazon and, at one point, their terms of service were more gun friendly. But now their current terms of service in regards to weapons aren’t much different from PayPal’s terms of service.

What I didn’t realize until I was doing some testing was that you have to create a Google Wallet account with name, address, as well as credit card information. You can’t just give your credit card information and pay. This takes more time and one more business has your credit card info and has the potential to lose your credit card info to thieves.

I expect far more people have Amazon and PayPal accounts than they do Google Wallet accounts.

If you were purchasing an entry to Boomershoot and paying with a credit card would the additional Google Wallet account creation be an issue for you? If it makes a difference you can still pay with a check money order via snail mail.


Mostly off-topic but I found this clause in Google’s buyer terms of service interesting:

2.2 USA PATRIOT ACT NOTICE

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each individual or business that opens an account or requests credit.

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10 thoughts on “Google Wallet

  1. Given those policies, I can’t see any good reason to do business with these fascists.

    • It’s tough to avoid anti-gun businesses and accept credit cards. Getting a merchant account requires extensive paperwork, approvals and MUCH higher rates (minimum fees of hundreds per month). Google, Amazon, and PayPal require a bank account, name, address, and email address.

      I always have a way to participate in Boomershoot anonymously. You can send a money order via snail mail or give me cash (in advance).

  2. I’d prefer to send a check, or pay cash. But then, being a Henchman ™, it’s less of an issue. But as a general rule, I avoid Google, because they forgot to not be evil.

  3. I’d prefer not to open another account with Google. But given the choice between that or missing Boomershoot, I’ll bite the bullet and give the evil overlords my info. (Though they probably already have it.)

  4. I have a Google Wallet account, as it is what is used to buy apps from the Google Play store for my Android devices.

    Used it to make payments when we adopted our baby girl, too.

    YMMV.

    PS: I won’t be attending Boomershoot, though. 🙁

  5. Your attendees would have to provide “name, address, as well as credit card information” to whichever one you choose. People in the Android ecosystem already have Google accounts that they can link a credit card to. An advantage with Google (and Amazon) is that people can buy gift cards and load them to their account so that they don’t have to use their credit cards. PayPal allows direct debit from checking accounts, which can be handy for some.
    All that said, why not add all three? I made a purchase from HumbleBundle[dot]com recently and they gave the buyer the option to use any of those three.

  6. Well, to the extent my opinion matters, I will never have a Google account. I have an Android phone without one, BTW, and it works fine.

    Sadly, unless my situation changes unexpectedly, I don’t anticipate attending.

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