[HCoop-Discuss] Google Checkout pros and cons

[Adam Chlipala]

As I just wrote on hcoop-announce, I think we have Google Checkout up 
and running.  I'd like to share some thoughts related to it.

Obviously, compared to PayPal, the lower fees are great, and it's 
convenient for me that proceeds are sent to our bank account 
automatically, instead of languishing in a special pool of 
pseudo-currency like on PayPal.

The first negative thing that's jumped out at me so far is that I 
haven't been able to find a way to let members send us arbitrary amounts 
of money.  Instead, I had to choose a number of common amounts spanning 
a wide range and configure each as a separate "product" to purchase.  
You'll see these in the drop-down box on the portal's front page.

The other negative thing is that I haven't found any equivalent of 
PayPal's support for linking to a payment page with a specified default 
value for a "comment" field.  We use that now to stamp members' 
usernames on their payments automatically.  Any suggestions for how to 
do this with Checkout?