Bitcoin Forum

On a whim and in the tradition of trying to keep the pressure on the established players to support bitcoin, I asked Google Checkout when they would support bitcoin for seller payouts.

The response wasnt yes, but neither was it a "no way". I was pleasantly surprised at the "maybe someday". So...we may be beyond the phase where "they ignore you".

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checkout-merchant-support@google.com   
12:53 PM (1 minute ago)
      
to me

Hello XXXXX,
Google Checkout currently doesn’t provide payouts using Bitcoin, though we may introduce this feature in the future. We’ll take your feedback into account as we move forward with product development.
We always welcome suggestions for how we can improve Google Checkout, so please continue to send us your comments in the future.

Sincerely,
Arthur
The Google Checkout Team

I'd say that's a perfect response =)

As long as they know Bitcoin is growing and customers increasingly ask for it, they will give it serious consideration.

With that said, I doubt any large company will touch Bitcoin until some legal precedent is set. Once set, they'll jump in quickly.

Um, what about Satoshi Dice and Wordpress? Those are both fairly large.  :P

I agree, sounds very cookie cutter.  I would suggest sending a follow-up request but substitute Bitcoin with LTC or conch shells or anything and see if you get a similar response.  Nice job on being proactive though.

It's a boiler-plate response.

Joe, how much time elapsed between the time you sent your message and the time you received a reply?

A longer time of several days, might indicate a non-boilerplate answer requiring some consultation upstairs.  

Whereas 24hs or less, probably implies a canned response.

We know Eric Schmidt knows about bitcoin and likes the idea.   I suspect their concerns are juridic.

Ask if they'll take Amazon Coins.

Google must be very very very sure about EVERYTHING before accepting bitcoins, they are a huge company

I added google check out as a payment option for my customers. Google will consider all evidence that you provide in the case of disputes unlike PP.

Google would not tell anybody in advance if they were researching bitcoin, unless they are sure the exchange rate can take the news. I.e. stiffer price resistance through widespread use, so a kid with 250.000 BTC can't send it on a month long correction.

Eric Schmidt of Google thinks positively of Bitcoin already, and already mentioned that Google scrapped an idea to create their own peer-to-peer currency exchange system due to legal liability. Source (scroll to bottom): http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_internet/index.htm (http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_internet/index.htm)

But with services like BitPay, Google can accept Bitcoin with 0 liability.

Ugh, of course Google would adopt another fiat based currency like Bitcoin (Bitcoins value is inherently tied to the USD). When are we going to have a currency with real value?

Or run away quickly, depending on the legal precedent.

And it would be a really nice way to counterbalance the newly released Ama-coins. Google would save itself the aggravation of having to design a currency (though Ama-coins are really a gift card), and the possibility of it getting hacked the minute it hits the internet.

Instead of using BitPay, I'm pretty sure they'd rather copy them and offer a similar service if it appears to them that BitPay is totally safe juridically. 

This makes no sense. Have you seen how the USD/BTC exchange rate has changed over the past couple months? Clearly they are not inherently tied together!

Newsbreak : Google to introduce payouts using Bitcoin in "may"

Seriously : Good try, Their reply is very polite yet uninformative.

Speculative bubble, that kind of growth isnt sustainable. Sell sell sell!