PayPal Prices Going ... Up

eBay/PayPal has a much publicized dust-up with Google in regards to Google Checkout. Google is providing Google Checkout at NO cost for 2007 in order to win share from PayPal.

To their credit PayPal has resisted the knee-jerk reaction of engaging in a pricing war to head off any potential mutiny from its merchant base. PayPal is far and away the on-line payment processing leader, and Google Checkout is still getting kinks out of the system.

When I received an email from PayPal today, the subject line was titled "Price Change..." Before I opened it up, I expected that I might be getting a discount due to the pressure that Google was putting on PayPal.

NOPE!!! My monthly fees are going up! What the f?

Funny way to try and retain your loyal merchants in the face of a new and hungry competitor.

I still believe that Google Checkout needs a little time to mature, but the temptation to switch has just gotten more compelling. Not only due to the price increase, but the message that PayPal is sending to its merchants. Maybe its just me, but what I am hearing is that Wall Street wants more from us (eBay/PayPal), and we can squeeze the little guy harder to get it done. :(