Ze Frank recently tried using Google Checkout to raise funds for his superb video show, and the deal is that you can sponsor an on-screen rubber duckie for anything up to $50.
On his Friday show, as transcribed by Inside Google, he reports:
Google Checkout, that amazing platform that doesn't support Canada, has determined it doesn't support donation sites.
Recently strapped with YouTube, Google seems to have a problem with videoblogs that can actually generate revenue.
Way to move the internet forward, jackass.
I guess micro-duckie sponsorship is just gonna to have to use PayPal.
Apart from being a PR disaster for Google, this is such an amazingly dumb move that it will probably be reversed, once Google Checkout locates someone with a brain. You're not making a donation, you're buying an electronic good: it's fundamentally an advert, even if you only use it to say Happy Birthday, Laura! As Inside Google says: "Bad Google Checkout, bad."
Update: According to Scoble, Google has now turned ze Frank's Google Checkout back on. That was quick!
