Google Inc. disclosed pricing and application programming interface (API) updates to its Wallet at the Google application developers' conference, Google I/O 2012, held June 27 to 29, 2012, in San Francisco.
Pali Bhat, Product Manager, Google Wallet, introduced a new transaction fee pricing tier. He said developers told Google the 5 percent transaction fee the company has been charging is fine for micro transactions but is not as competitive with higher value purchases.
Bhat said Google will now charge either a 1.9 percent plus 30 cents transaction fee or a 5 percent transaction fee depending on which is the less expensive when applied to a new order. According to Bhat, Google Wallet will soon support recurring payments and subscriptions. For now, developers can use The Sandbox on the Google website to test their subscription payment method.
The Sandbox is a Google Checkout environment that allows a developer to test a recurring payment system without incurring charges by signing in as a buyer and placing an order. Bhat said developers should "watch for an announcement in the coming weeks for when subscriptions will be ready for external use."
Google released its new Save to Wallet API for Payment Cards at its I/O Conference. This tool allows banks to provide Google with card art and co-market Google Wallet or, with customer consent, push cards from their websites into Google Wallet.
"At Google I/O we demonstrated how Discover is working with Google on a concept that would enable Discover card members to save their cards to Google Wallet from the Account Center at Discover.com," Robin Dua, Google Head of Product Management, Consumer Payments and Wallet, reported. He said the Save to Wallet API for Payment Cards is currently being tested with bank partners.
Dua also stated Google has another new Wallet API, the Save to Wallet API for Offers. This API enables merchants to publish offers that consumers can save onto Google Wallet from a desktop or mobile website. The offers are redeemed by tapping mobile devices equipped with near field communication at the POS or by simply showing the offers and allowing merchants to scan them at checkout. The wallet automatically alerts consumers as offers approach their expiration dates.
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