For eBay, Google Checkout doesn't register

eBay has banned Google's new Checkout program as a payment method on its site.

The online auction site allows people to pay using nearly 40 methods, in addition to its own PayPal system, but has not added the Google program to the list. According to a spokesman, part of the reason is that Checkout, which launched last week, is "new and untested."

"Google Checkout is, what, a week old? At this point we're saying it does not meet the factors needed to allow it as an accepted payment," eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said.

Google, it should be noted, does not accept PayPal for its AdWords advertising program.

Blog community response:

"It's ironic they would do this here, and in the same breath go to Congress and fight the Net Neutrality battle. You can't fight for an open internet one day and then implement policies that close the walled garden the next."
--eBay Strategies

"I'm sure eBay will come up with countless explanations as to why they cannot let their merchants be exposed to Google Checkout....Just like Google has lots of bullshit technical and user experience explanations as to why its publishers are banned from showing other contextual ads on pages that carry AdSense."
--Web X.0

"I see this as a rash move that might carry more negative implications than positive ones. Ebay needs to hang onto its customers one way or another and by banning Google Checkout they are opening the market up for people who do accept Google Checkout as a payment method."
--Postbubble