"We're Passing the Savings Along to Ourselves!"

"We're Passing the Savings Along to Ourselves!"

Google is forcing some advertisers to stop using credit cards to buy ads.
 
Some businesses say could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight.

Google Forcing Some Advertisers Off Credit Cards

Google is eliminating the ability for some ad accounts to pay using a credit card — and some companies say that could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to their bill overnight.

Google last week sent an email to some advertisers saying their credit cards will no longer be accepted as payment at the end of next month, and they’ll need to set up a bank transfer or, hilariously, mail a paper cheque.

In the email, Google said accounts that don’t do this in time will have their ads account suspended, adding “There are no exceptions.”

Size doesn’t seem to matter.

The email goes on to say this impacts what Google calls “high-growth customers.”

But Nikki Kuhlman, Director of Search Strategy at JumpFly, posted:

On Reddit, there are countless comments along the same lines. One reads:

Why is Google doing this?

That depends on who you ask.

Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, said it was "To deliver a more consistent billing experience across our advertisers,” and said only a small number of advertisers were affected.

We asked how many is “small” and did not get a reply by deadline. It’s also not clear how this move would make anything more “consistent.”

Some speculate this isn’t any more complicated than Google trying to claw back the money that would have gone to credit card fees:

This could cost advertisers a lot.

One finance company founder said the change would cost them a quarter of a million dollars per year:

Another entrepreneur, Eric Mitz, posted:

But maybe there’s a bright side, as one person asked on social media:

There was no reply.

Correction: Last week, our trivia question was about the first ad blocker. Our initial search suggested the first one was in 2022. Some people believe the first ad blocker was “Internet Fast Forward” for Netscape, released in 1996. Thanks to Sean for catching that!