Google Wallet has been a great addition to the selection of choices that consumers and retailers are presented with when looking to buy goods or services online. Now with how integrated Google Wallet is into the web and the Android ecosystem, buying has never been easier even from our mobile devices. While Google Wallet largely remains a great service and will continue to be, Google has announced today that they will be saying goodbye to one aspect of the Google Wallet platform beginning next year, and will be ending support for the Google Wallet for digital goods API starting on March 2nd of 2015. That means if you’re a merchant, after that date you’ll no longer be able to accept Google Wallet as a form of payment for your digital goods like ebooks, games, or other software or services. As a buyer, well, that means you’ll no longer be able to use Google Wallet to buy those types of goods.
The good news is that this change won’t happen until March 2nd, so there is still time to use the platform for digital goods purchases up to that point. It’s also a good reminder that merchants and consumers should be looking into alternative options for buying and selling of digital goods before we reach that date so there is no upsets or interruptions in the way they do business. This means removing integration of the API’s by March 2nd for the merchants, however, Google has stated that Merchant Center access will continue beyond March 2nd of 2015, allowing for the ability to still process refunds, get payouts, and see reports.
Although Google Wallet for digital goods on the web is going away, this removal of the APIs for the web doesn’t affect those that accept Google Wallet for payment of apps or IAP’s via the Google Play Store, so rejoice developers, you’ll still be able to use Google Wallet as a form of merchant payment. Also worth noting, is that this does affect the use of Google Wallet for payment of recurring subscription services via the web as well, and not just one time purchases of digital goods. For consumers, if you subscribe to any digital good or service using Google Wallet, payments from your Google Wallet account will stop on March 2nd going forward unless the merchant proceeds to set up a new form of payment for those goods and services beforehand, at which point you’d likely be notified to update the form of payment. Google cites these changes as part of the maturation of the industry and the now numerous available options for online payment of digital goods, and this is one step in their process to evolve and improve their merchant tools while meeting new market challenges.