Dabs gives PayPal and Google payment methods green light

“We were pleasantly surprised by the number of people opting to pay using Google Checkout and PayPal,” said Dabs.com head of online marketing Michelle Helme.

“The speed of the take-up suggested that most of the customers were either users already or were well acquainted with the payment methods.

“We haven’t promoted them, beyond sending a notifying e-mail to existing customers, nor have we had to do user education, beyond the ‘All about Google Checkout’ and the ‘All about PayPal’ sections on the web site,” she added.

With Google Checkout and PayPal, customers log their financial details with an intermediary, rather than with the merchant they make purchases from.

Technical integration into the architecture of Dabs’ site was completed within weeks, including extensive testing to ensure everything worked.

Unrelated development work over the summer meant that Dabs introduced the alternative payment methods later than rivals such as Ebuyer.com. However, by adopting the system later, Dabs escaped the well-reported teething problems that followed Google Checkout’s UK launch earlier this year.

PayPal is an old-timer compared with Google Checkout and boasts 15 million accounts in the UK. PayPal’s position is propped up by its rise to dominate the online auction market, following its acquisition by eBay in 2002.

Despite the age gap between the two methods, there is a fairly even split between Google Checkout and PayPal purchases at Dabs, according to Helme.

It is not clear whether the introduction of the payment methods will lead to additional business for Dabs.

“In terms of the orders placed, it is a bit early to tell whether it’s simply being used as an alternative payment method or driving incremental revenue/orders, but we are working closely with both PayPal and Google on campaigns to drive incremental revenue,” Helme said.