Google Checkout - Charge Back Policy - Stinks

Why am I ticked off with Google Checkout -- Merchant Services? Before I go down this path I need to mention that I really like the value Google Checkout has provided us and that the minds at work at Google totally are exceptional. They have in the past 12 months saved us over 3% in operating costs and further more using Google Adwords we have earned more income via the web than with any other partner.

So why am I ticked? Our parent company and divisions we sell a lot of software over the web. Most of it is try - before you - buy. This method is widely used in the software industry to allow consumers to try out the entire product and make sure it meets the specifications and functionality before the consumer decides to buy the product. Thus, when the consumer decides to purchase any of our products they are making a conscience decision that this product meets their needs. There is no mistake about this.

When we get Google Merchant services notify us that a customer 4 months ago decided to ask for money back and reverse the charges. We clearly get ticked off with such a request, since we have a policy that all sales are final.

To make things worse we decide to sign-up for Google Payment Guarantee Policy -- which means that we will abide by all policy rules setup by Google. Guess what merchant services tell us...wait better yet -- let me post the exact e-mail:

-----Original Message-----
From: Google Checkout Chargebacks [mailto:checkout-cb-buyer@google.com]
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 11:29 AM
To: 'Anowar
Cc: 'LicenseDNA Project Manager'
Subject: Re: [#260793832] Chargeback Resolution for Order #139104110024676

Hello,

Thank you for the feedback. There are several requirements that must be fulfilled for an order to be covered by the Payment Guarantee Policy.

However, orders involving intangible goods and services cannot be eligible for the Payment Guarantee Policy.

For more information regarding the policy, please visit

http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=42863

Sincerely,
The Google Checkout Team

=================================

Did you read that intangible goods and services cannot be eligible -- did i miss something? I do believe Google Adwords is intangible goods and services -- maybe after 4 months of using Google Adwords - I should report to my credit card company that I need a refund. Wait better yet, maybe we need to make a statement - get a million publishers to join us and report that Google's provides intangible services thus we should all ask for a refund - just for 1 day of service. That will work real great.

In any case, I am ticked off at Google because of them being in the Software Services Space and provides Credit Card Processing Services --- and they have a policy that software and digital products are intangible.....I guess Google's intellectual capital has no value -- because our products apparently have less value since we are virtually delivering our products.

Ok, I will rest my case. In all fairness we have less than 1% of sales that fall within this charge back and to make things even worse these guys -- Google charges us $10 for each charge back event.

I read this statement somewhere today: "You need to act in your life, not react to the actions of others!" -- So I will move forward and let this blog hang out in cyberspace for others to read and maybe some Sr. EVP from Google Merchant Services will read this and examine the policy and include intangible goods and services into the policy -- I won't hold my breath for this to happen!

Any idea what we will do next to ensure that this does not happen?

Anowar Shahjahan, CEO
www.LicenseDNA.com