I’m now wondering how the British diet has changed and if we would better going back to our traditional jellied eels, black pudding and chip diets…

Sorry, I know the table isn’t exactly pretty, but it was only meant to be a 20 minute piece of work compiling the information and formatting it…

Like many others, I’ve just received the email (below) from Google (yes, I’ve authenticated it: it came to a specific Google Checkout email address I’ve got setup, through Google’s servers and checked with SPF: it’s even on the Google Checkout blog) which basically state “We’re hiking up fees and cancelling the advertising discount”. What rate are they hiking up to? Well, their website shows the following fees and I’ve included Paypal’s Fees for comparison:

<sarcasm> Wow – so much difference. </sarcasm>

Yes, they are identically (ok, Paypal’s limits are “between £1,500.01 and £6,000″/”between £6,000.01 and £15,000″/”between £15,000.01 and £55,000″ so there is a penny difference in 5 exact cases!). (cough)Price fixing?(/cough)

But surely Google Checkout will be cheaper than Paypal for “cross-border” transactions (i.e. where the buyer and seller are in different countries):

So Google Checkout is actually more expensive then Paypal: and Google Checkout hasn’t got the market penetration than Paypal, hasn’t got the ease of integration of Paypal, hasn’t got the wide range of integration options than Paypal, hasn’t got the facilities of Paypal…

I’d just like to know why I should bother with Google Checkout instead of Paypal (baring in mind, the more payment methods offered the lower the theshold for discounts I’ll reach on any one of them and the more transaction fees I’ll pay). To me, it looks like Google Checkout is checking out and won’t be here this time next year…

Update:
11/Mar/09 21:46 GMT: Marketing Pilgrim isn’t sure if this is a sign of Google Checkout’s Success or Struggle (one of the commenters, James Wilton, there actually said what I first thought: “Perhaps Google is trying to kill Checkout by attrition? They certainly haven’t been investing resources into it.”
11/Mar/09 22:11 GMT: Just to confirm, it isn’t just the United Kingdom prices going up – it looks like a world-wide increase!
11/Mar/09 22:13 GMT: Explode On Twitter has already dropped Google Checkout for Paypal (as Paypal is simpler for all concerned). Has Google really sounded the death bell for Checkout?
11/Mar/09 22:22 GMT: There is a Google Support Forum Thread about this and it appears from a quick scan people are going to be dropping Checkout for Paypal after this fee increase (some are even talking about ditching Adwords!).
11/Mar/09 22:28 GMT: @jessicamerritt says she’s going to stick with Checkout because of their chargeback policy (in particular the fair treatment section on their fraud/chargeback page). I’ve not handled a chargeback through Checkout so I don’t know how good it is, but I’ve found Paypal a lot more “friendly” and accommodating than dealing with Lloyds TSB Cardnet chargebacks. Yes, Paypal (and others) do “freeze the funds”, but you do get the money back after the dispute (and from their point of view, it stops bad merchants “doing a runner” with the funds).
11/Mar/09 22:43 GMT: For comparison, here is the Paypal UK Discount Fee structure and the US one is here.
11/Mar/09 22:59 GMT: KingJ is no longer recommending Google Checkout as he(?) handles a large number of cross-border transactions and hence the transaction fee increase will cost him more than Paypal. Stanstech is also saying Goodbye to Google Checkout. I’ve also just checked and Paypal’s Chargeback fee of £7 is identical to Google’s new fee for chargebacks.. Hmm…
12/Mar/09 00:20 GMT: There is now also (as there always is) a Facebook group against the price rises. I’m personally not against the price rises on their own, I’m just against them it takes away the only benefits of using Google Checkout there was and the fact the prices match Paypal’s point for point: do they really both have identical operating costs?
12/Mar/09 11:59 GMT: ValleyWag chimes in asking whether this is the start of Google introducing higher fees for all their services.
12/Mar/09 12:01 GMT: EdSF nicely sums up the advantages Paypal has and the poor customer service he’s had from Google.
12/Mar/09 15:56 GMT:The Register now has an article of the Google Checkout fee increases. It’s getting wide publicity, but will Google realise how much they’ve annoyed merchants and that there are now no advantages to accepting Checkout?

Here’s the email in full:

Hello,

We’re writing to let you know that on 5 May 2009, Google
Checkout’s transaction processing fees will be changing. We will
be transitioning from our 1.5% plus £0.15 per transaction rate to
a new tiered fee structure, where the rates will vary depending on
the amount of your monthly sales processed through Checkout. The
rate you will be charged beginning on 5 May 2009 will be based
on your sales processed through Checkout during the month of April
2009. Each month thereafter, we’ll continue to use the prior
month’s sales volume to determine your transaction processing
rate. For more details about the new rates, please visit
https://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html?hl=en&gl=GB

We will also be discontinuing the AdWords free transaction
processing promotion on 5 May 2009. Any AdWords transaction
processing credits accrued during April 2009 will be applied
towards transactions that occur on 1-4 May 2009.

Fees are the same for all payment types (Visa, MasterCard, UK Visa
Electron, UK Maestro, Solo) and there are still no monthly, setup,
or gateway fees. For cross-border transactions, there will be an
additional 1% fee assessed per transaction. To learn more about
Google Checkout fees, please visit
https://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html?hl=en&gl=GB

Discontinuing the AdWords free processing promotion involves a
change to our Terms of Service:
https://checkout.google.com/termsOfService?type=Seller#GB. In
order to continue to use Checkout from 5 May 2009 onwards, you
must login to your account and accept the new Terms of Service
between 18 March and 4 May. You may login to your account here:
https://checkout.google.com/?gl=GB&hl=en

Google is committed to the continued growth and development of
Checkout and to helping merchants increase sales by driving more
leads and higher conversions. Advertisers who use Checkout have
the opportunity to display the Checkout badge on their ads, which
has proven to be an effective way to differentiate ads and attract
user interest. Checkout users click on ads 10% more when the ad
displays the Checkout badge and convert 40% more than shoppers who
have not used Checkout in the past.

For more information about this change and how it affects the
product, please read our post on The Official Google Checkout
Blog: http://googlecheckout.blogspot.com/2009/03/google-checkout-fees-in-2009.html

If you have any questions, please visit our Help Centre at
http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?hl=en-uk&answer=134473
Thank you for using Google Checkout.

Kind regards,
The Google Checkout Team

Google Payment Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Services Authority.

Google Payment Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales
with company number 5903713. Its registered address is Belgrave
House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TQ.

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service
announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Checkout account.

This blog entry has been inspired by the Wikipedia entry for some medication I am currently taking. It’s been prescribed to me by a UK registered GP (General Practice Doctor) on an NHS (National Health Service) prescription and was dispensed by Superdrug (the 2nd largest health and beauty and pharmacy chain in the UK – 2nd only to Boots) to treat a bacterial otitis externa (ear canal infection). As you can guess then, the medicine is widely stocked, approved by the UK’s health board and is known by general doctors.

However, the Wikipedia article for the drug Ciprofloxacin states:

…[it is an] agent used to treat severe and life threatening bacterial infections….The licensed uses for ciprofloxacin in the United States are quite limited as ciprofloxacin is to be considered a drug of last resort when all other antibiotics have failed.

(Emphasis mine)

And that’s just from the summary!

Wow: what a dangerous drug my Doctor has prescribed me: I must be at death’s door (which explains why he told me not to go into work for a week: I may keel over and die at my desk!).

The “Patients Information Leaflet” (which must be supplied with all pharmacticual drugs in the UK) doesn’t state “The patient’s serum levels should be monitored during therapy to avoid a drug overdose” (Dosing) and the leaflet states “Very rarely, they may cause muscular pains or inflammation of tendon sheaths”: despite Wikipedia stating “Some of the serious adverse effects which occur more commonly with fluoroquinolones than with other antibiotic drug classes include CNS and tendon toxicity“.

Let’s try a slightly more official source: Netdoctor.co.uk. Its entry on Ciproxin (Ciprofloxacin) states:

Ciprofloxacin is effective against a large number of bacteria, some of which tend to be resistant to other commonly used antibiotics. It is particularly useful against a sub-group of bacteria called Gram-negative bacteria, including salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, neisseria, and pseudomonas. It is used to treat a wide range of infections, including infections of the chest, urinary tract and of the gastrointestinal system. It is also used as a single dose treatment for gonorrhoea.

It also warns that the tables should be swallowed whole, avoid milk, yoghurts etc at the same time, it does state “Quinolone antibiotics may rarely cause tendon inflammation (tendinitis) and tendon rupture.…Very rare (affects less than 1 in 10,000 people) ” (my emphasis).

Let’s just see what the British NHS has to say about it. Ciprofloxacin side-effects include:

• Between 1% and 10% of people suffer from diarrhoea or nausea
• Between 0.1% and 1% have back pain, blood problems, chest pain, fever, vomiting, loss of appetite, stomach pain, sleeping problems (I have the last three)
• Between 0.01% and 0.1% get arthritis, blood in urine, breathing difficulties, hallucinations, liver problems (potentially fatal), hypersensitivity (potentially fatal), increased muscle tone (that’s a bad side effect?), tinnitus, vertigo and seizures
• Less than 0.01% get: bone marrow problems, inflammation of the tendon and tendon rupture (there we are!), muscle weakness, migraine, Stevens-Johnson syndrome (potentially fatal), Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (potentially fatal) and worsening of Myasthenia Gravis (although it isn’t intended to be proscribed to MG sufferers)

Ok, you stand between an 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 10,000 chance of getting something slightly bad and less than 1:10,000 of getting the tendon issue which Wikipedia describes as “Common”!

I know Wikipedia is “community written”, but this just aids as a reminder for a few key facts:

• Not everything you read on the Internet is true
• Do not rely solely on community generated content such as Wikipedia as it may be misleading at best, blatently incorrect at worst
• Do not self-medicate: rely on your Doctor or GP to prescribe the medicines and only take those that are prescribed to you – never take somebody elses!
• Check the source: I trust the NHS more than I trust the Patient Information Leaflet, I trust the PIL more than NetDoctor, and I trust NetDoctor a lot more than “random Joe contributing to Wikipedia”
• I’m on my death bed and there’s no more antibiotics that can be given to me!!! Donations to make my last days/weeks/months/years/decades on earth are gratefully received!

It’s quite fasincating to watch the machine accept the bike, store it and then spit it out afterwards: and with the Mayor Of London (@MayorOfLondon) looking at introducing hire bikes around London, then this could be the perfect idea. Have one of these Japanese Bike Parks near every major London tube/train station (maybe between Euston and Kings Cross St Pancras, Victoria, London Bridge, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Waterloo) with each unit having around 20-40 bikes available for hire (the rest of the bike park can be used for “public use”). Swipe an Oyster card (or other “token”) at the machine to hire a bike, and return it (bikes are RFID’d tagged for extra security) at any bike park to finish hiring it.

Of course, there is the slight problem with the “oh noes, terrorists could use it in x/y/z manner” doom-sayers, but determined terrorists will always find a way so in the words of a certain organisation “so don’t worry and just enjoy your life.”.

Thoughts?

Well, I suspect in the uk it’s the British library at bl.uk [5 characters] and in the .com range I suspect it’s Paypal’s x.com [6 characters], but an article on Valleywag has just altered me to the fact that Google has one of the shortest Chinese domain names g.cn [4 characters] and Ulster Television has u.tv, but even those are beaten by both the Western Samoa top level domain name has a website making ws [2 characters] and the Vatican’s va [2 characters] – making them the shortest domain name I’m aware of.

Why have some of them got full stops at the end of the links ( such as http://ws. and http://va. ): it’s to stop your browser trying to “fix the links” and change them to http://ws.com and http://va.com which are different sites.

The answer to the question of “how short can a domain name be” is currently 2 characters (unless a top level domain is started with less than 2). A full web based URI/URL has a minimum length of 9 (4 for the protocol ‘http’, 3 for the protocol separation ‘://’ and then 2 for the domain/host name). Of course, you could also use the FTP protocol which brings it down to 8 or be pedantic and insist the shortest web orientated URL is http://va.:80/ at 14 characters.

See also top level domains with websites.

Paypal charge a fixed fee of £0.20 and 3.4% of each transaction. To figure out the gross figure from the net, use the formula: (net+0.20)/(1-(3.4/100)).

Click and Buy charge a fixed fee of £0.35 and 1.9% of each transaction.

Google Checkout charges a fixed fee of £0.15 and 1.5% of each transaction.

NoChex’s Seller Account charges a fixed fee of £0.20 and 2.9% of each transaction.

Worldpay IMA charges a fixed fee of £0.15 and 3.35% of each transaction (along with a £15 monthly fee and £75 setup fee) [note this is for their current "New Business Deal", normally they charge £30 per month with a £200 setup fee and £4.50% on credit/charge cards and a flat £0.50 on UK Debit Cards: along with £0.06 per transaction for Fraud Detection]

SecureTrading charges 3.29% on each transaction (subject to a minimum fee of £15 per month with a further £15 per month service fee and a one-off setup fee of £300)

The highest fixed fee is ClickAndBuy at £0.35 (lowest is Google Checkout and Worldpay at £0.15) and the highest percentage is Paypal at 3.4% (lowest is Google Checkout at 1.5%)

To accept £10 via them, you would need to charge:
ClickAndBuy: £10.55
Paypal: £10.56
Google Checkout: £10.30
NoChex: £10.50
Worldpay: £10.50

To accept £100 via them, you would need to charge:
ClickAndBuy: £102.29
Paypal: £103.73
Google Checkout: £101.68
NoChex: £103.19
Worldpay: £103.62

Please consider making a donation in support of her jump from 29,000 ft (landing at 12,000 ft)! You can find more details and the link to donate here: http://www.jumpeverest.co.uk/

I would be very grateful if you would also consider passing this along to IT professionals in your personal network. The shortage of women in IT is a problem that affects us all, and all donations, no matter how small, will help.

(This was a public service announcement Now give her some dosh!)