Using Google Checkout, you can quickly and easily buy from Salt & Light and many other stores across the web. Increasingly, websites are using third party payment processors to ensure security for card transactions. Google Checkout is one such processor (you may have heard of others, e.g. Paypal, Worldpay,...)

Why?

The Google Checkout service has many benefits, both to you (the customer) and to us (the merchant):

• It's simple and convenient! Google Checkout provides customers with a single checkout mechanism, so you don't have to share your credit card details with every store you purchase from. A single login is all you need for use across multiple stores. You can keep track of all your purchase in one place at Google.
• It's secure! It ensures that your credit card details are processed securely and immediately, ensuring that Salt & Light is compliant with new industry-wide card security rules (see for example, http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6072594.html)
• It's cost effective! It keep our costs as low as possible, enabling us to keep event fees as low as possible. Automated card charging is not only more secure, but cheaper than manual card charging. Google Checkout are currently the most competitive payment processor in the UK.

How does it work?

1. When you book for a Salt & Light event, using our online booking system, you will come to a page titled "Payment Details"
2. Choose "Pay by credit/debit card" and you will be taken to the Google Checkout website.
3. If you already have a Google Checkout account simply login; otherwise enter the cardholders name, address and card details to create a new account.
4. Once you have completed the payment, Google Checkout will tell our event system to confirm your booking. Within a few minutes you will receive an email both from Google Checkout and from Salt & Light.
5. If you do not complete Google Checkout, or supply card details that do not authenticate, your booking will be cancelled automatically.

Problems?

At the time of writing (late November 2007) we have received over 200 bookings via Google, both from UK and mainland Europe, with only a very small number of reported problems. Many of these problems have proved to be local problems, e.g. an email spam blocker catching emails from Google, or failure to properly verify your new account with Google.

For specific help with Google Checkout please visit http://checkout.google.com/support

Otherwise, if you continue to have problems using Google Checkout as you book for Salt & Light events, please contact our events office on events@saltlight.org, or call +44(0)161 865 1399.